As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, an Initiative called the Arizona Medical Marijuana Act will be on the Ballot this November. We organized several teams (behavioral health, substance abuse, public health, licensure, rules, IT, and administrative council etc.) to examine the Initiative over the last few weeks. You can read a news article this week [...]
I’m happy to announce that Laura Nelson, M.D. will be taking on some additional responsibilities in her expanded role as the ADHS’ Chief Medical Officer. She will continue in her role as the Deputy Director for Behavioral Health Services as well (notice the “Acting” label is gone now). As is the case with many of [...]
Daniel T. Cloud, Jr., M.D., one of Arizona’s most dedicated health and public health professionals, passed away last week. We’ll miss him, but his life work lives on. Dr. Cloud made his dream come true to establish a children's hospital in Arizona- and became the Founding President of Phoenix Children's Hospital in 1983. He was [...]
One of the behavioral health challenges that we’ve been facing in the valley over the last several years has been the lack of places that are available for urgent psychiatric care. Oftentimes persons in an acute psychiatric crisis end up being treated in an emergency department where they might not have the expertise to provide [...]
The Trust for America’s Health released their annual obesity report. Overall, the national trend toward increasing obesity rates continued it’s march forward. Arizona ranked in the middle of the pack, but the pack itself in increasingly unhealthy. More than two-thirds of states have adult obesity rates above 25 percent. In 1991, no state had an [...]
I have a new bookmark spot for you. It’s called Science Clips, and it’s the CDC’s newest weekly publication. Each week selected science clips will be posted on the site for the public health community with the goal of enhancing awareness of emerging scientific knowledge. The focus is applied public health research and prevention science [...]
Whooping cough (pertussis) is a vaccine preventable disease that causes a severe and chronic cough. It’s a nuisance for adults and adolescents, but it’s potentially lethal for infants. California is having a serious outbreak right now with 4 times the normal number of cases this year. Our numbers are up too, but nothing like in [...]
Our behavioral health team has been working for months to ensure a smooth transition to the new behavioral health service package for our folks that are receiving services but don’t qualify for AHCCCS benefits. We’re continuing to update our Guidelines Fact Sheet and our guidance to contractors regarding services to Non-Title XIX members with serious [...]
I have a new bookmark spot for you. It’s called Science Clips; it’s the CDC’s newest weekly publication. Each week selected science clips will be posted on the site for the public health community with the goal of enhancing awareness of emerging scientific knowledge. The focus is applied public health research and prevention science that [...]
Earlier this month, the US Department of Health & Human Services announced a new public-private effort that aims to help Americans understand health and health care performance in their communities and to help spark and facilitate action to improve performance. It’s called the Community Health Data Initiative l. The goals are to provide Community Health [...]
