Dispensary Selection Results
For about four hours this morning, balls were hopping in the bingo machine as we randomly chose one dispensary for each of the 68 competitive districts. All the drawings are online for you to watch - there were 404 applications considered in the 68 drawings. There were also 29 CHAAs where there was only one eligible applicant. There were two [...]
Affordable Care Act Info
Now that the Supreme Court has spoken regarding the Affordable Care Act- States have a lot more clarity around the decisions they'll need to make and what they need to do to implement the law. The Governor kicked off a process to review the options and engage Stakeholders for their input this week. Additional meetings are being scheduled in the coming weeks including public meetings toward the end [...]
One Day at a Time
The AZ Attorney General issued an Opinion and a media release this afternoon about the Arizona Medical Marijuana Act. The Opinion states, in part, that the voter approved Act is pre-empted by Federal Law – specifically the part that allows the cultivation, selling or distribution of marijuana. It references 2 recent court cases that states cannot ‘authorize’ actions that are [...]
The Road to Lifelong Health Begins with Breastfeeding
The first week of August is World Breastfeeding Week and it has been for 20 years. This year’s theme is The Road to Lifelong Health Begins with Breastfeeding. Those long-term benefits apply to both mothers and babies. When babies are fed human milk, they are more likely to avoid obesity, less likely to die from SIDS, and have a lower [...]
Acting Deputy for Behavioral Health
Thanks for your patience as we developed our continuity plan for leadership in our Division of Behavioral Health. I know you’re all anxious to hear the transition plan for after Dr. Nelson leaves on August 24. Fortunately, we are very lucky to have so many strong leaders here at the agency, including a really great team of DBHS Branch Chiefs [...]
New RFP Dates & Brief Update
Our behavioral health RFP Core Team (Bob Sorce, Victoria Navarra, Teresita Oaks, and Chris Leavitt) and our entire cast of characters have been doing a full court press for the last 7 months to put together the Scope of Work that we’ll use when we go out for bid for the massive behavioral health services contract in Maricopa County later [...]