Regulatory Reform Finish Line
We owe a big round of applause to our Licensing & Rulemaking teams- who’ve spent the better part of 2 years working with hundreds of folks from numerous associations and licensed facilities as part of our regulatory reform initiative. This afternoon we filed an overhaul of 20 Articles of regulations for healthcare institutions and behavioral health service agencies including hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, outpatient [...]
Your Health is in Your Hands
This week many of us are heading out for vacations or picnics to celebrate the nation’s birthday. And when we’re out of normal routines, we may forget basic health prevention – such as washing our hands. Even though we know that it is the best way to prevent spreading germs, a new study shows that one in ten people don’t [...]
U of A Public Health Snags National Recognition
The Arizona Center for Rural Health in the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health at the U of A was recently recognized as an Outstanding Rural Health Organization for 2013 by The National Rural Health Association. The Center partners with Arizona’s rural communities to improve access to healthcare, reduce the costs of care, and to enhance the quality [...]
What’s Meaningful Use, Anyway?
You’ve probably heard the words “meaningful use” thrown around… but what is it? Basically, it’s using electronic health record technology to: 1) Improve quality, safety, efficiency, and reduce health disparities; 2) Engage patients and family; 3) Improve care coordination, and population and public health; and 4) Maintain privacy and security of patient health information. Using electronic health records in a [...]
Vaccine Driving Down US HPV Rate
This week, The Journal of Infectious Diseases published a study looking at the number of human papillomavirus infections in females before and after HPV vaccine was created (back in ’06). The study found impressive results: a 56% decrease in HPV since the vaccine was introduced in 2006 (among girls between 14-19 years old). This is a big deal because HPV is the most common [...]
Our Newest Decision-making Tool
The core of our decision-making as an agency relies on evidence. Evidence can be scientific like surveillance or research or it can be administrative or financial. Whichever way you slice it- the key is to get good reliable information so that our teams can make effective decisions as we execute our mission. One of the tools that the statewide public [...]