Extreme Heat Water Drive
This has been a super hot week- and we’ve even had a couple of extreme heat warnings in the southern deserts with more to come this holiday weekend (it might get to 120o Saturday). Homeless folks have the highest risk for heat-related illness because they have limited access to cool spaces and finding water to drink can be a challenge. A number [...]
Providing Transparent Inspection Results is a Key to Effective Compliance
Our Division of Licensing Services monitors a wide range of facilities including hospitals, assisted living and skilled nursing centers, behavioral health facilities, child care facilities, and group homes for folks with developmental disabilities. Our teams of surveyors conduct inspections, on-site surveys, and complaint investigations to make sure all of our licensed facilities promote quality care and safety and meet their [...]
New Child Care Website
Our cross-cutting team from Childcare Licensure and IT have been overhauling the Childcare Licensing Website over the last few weeks- and the new site went live this week. We’re very excited about the changes. After the “face lift” it got 18 months ago, I didn’t know what to expect next – which is just as well, because any expectations would [...]
AZ is Public Health Ready
The results are in, and 14 of Arizona’s 15 county local health departments will be recognized through the Project Public health Ready recognition program. Coconino County led the way and was the first AZ local health department to receive recognition. When we saw how well the program worked in Coconino County, the counties and our preparedness team decided to make [...]
Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan Lowering Premiums July 1
Some of the folks that we serve in our diverse mission have complicated medical conditions and may have had trouble in the past finding health insurance because of a pre-existing health problem. The federal Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan (PCIP) may be able to help some of these folks, especially since the premiums for the Plan will drop by 40% in Arizona beginning July 1. [...]
Empower Program Stepping it Up- Nationally
This is a story about making great-tasting sugar free lemonade from lemons. About a year and a half ago the legislature passed a bill that eliminated our general funds for licensing (nursing homes, assisted living, hospitals, behavioral health, child care etc.). In exchange, the Bill included a provision that gave us “exempt” rulemaking authority to collect fees to run our licensing [...]