Smoking & Stillbirth
It’s been almost 50 years since the 1st Surgeon General’s report on the health dangers of smoking and we’re still fighting the battle. About 43 million Americans smoke despite decades of warnings. Science continues to uncover dangerous aspects of tobacco use. A new report highlights the threat to unborn children. The study published in Obstetrics and Gynecology used blood samples [...]
Tweaking the EMS Cost Curve
A couple of years ago I had our folks in the Bureau of EMS and Trauma System write a guidance document on what we believe is appropriate to include in ambulance contracts. We noticed that these contracts were getting very complicated and included a whole lot of stuff that was very expensive… but that didn’t have much to do with improving clinical care [...]
Rural Metro Bankruptcy Confirmed by Court (but not yet effective)
We received Rural Metro’s bankruptcy documents this week. The Delaware bankruptcy court confirmed the company’s reorganization- including the business plan and capital structure. The plan states that the company will be continuing all material contracts in AZ- which is good. They’ll officially emerge from Chapter 11 once its reorganization plan is declared “effective”… meaning that all closing conditions are met. [...]
Arizona Public Health Association gets National Recognition
Congratulations to Arizona Public Health Association (AzPHA) for gaining national recognition for its work- snagging the 2013 National Affiliate of the Year Award from the American Public Health Association. For 85 years, AzPHA has helped shape public health in Arizona working to create smoke-free environments and access to healthcare. In this year alone, the Arizona affiliate reviewed more than a 1,000 [...]
Next Stop On the Due Process Express
As Cory mentioned in his blog last week, the ADOA recently affirmed our award of the Maricopa County integrated behavioral health services contract to Mercy Maricopa Integrated Care and lifted the Stay on transition activities. The Order from ADOA marked one more step in the process of implementing an integrated care model for folks living with a serious mental illness in Maricopa County. Magellan elected to exercise their right to [...]
Solve the Outbreak 2.0
CDC just updated the free iPad app called Solve the Outbreak... which turns you into a virtual disease detective. The free app now has six newly released outbreaks. Get clues, analyze data and solve the case. Do you quarantine the village? Interview the sick? Do you run more lab tests before you draw conclusions and conduct interventions- or will the extra [...]