The President reportedly quit smoking, are you ready?
Reports from Washington today say the President hasn't smoked in almost a year. He said last summer he's spent his adult life trying to give up cigarettes. Research shows that quitting is easier if you have help - Arizona Smokers' Helpline can help you. We have resources on the phone, online and even medication to help you achieve your goal. [...]
Maximizing Birth Outcomes
Although we know a lot about the role of proper nutrition, exercise and general health in having a healthy baby, occasionally a baby is born with a special health condition or a birth defect. Our Newborn Screening Program tests babies for 29 special health conditions including hearing loss. These conditions, like phenylketonuria (PKU), can be managed by medication, diet or [...]
Marijuana Use & Earlier Onset of Psychosis?
A number of published studies have found that using marijuana (and other psychoactive substances) is associated with an earlier onset of psychotic illness (notice I said “is associated with” rather than “causes”). National mental health surveys have repeatedly found more substance use, especially cannabis use, among people with a diagnosis of a psychotic disorder. A new study published today on-line [...]
Behavioral Health Trifecta
This month we also distributed to stakeholders (and posted on our website) a new resource called “An Introduction to Arizona’s Public Behavioral Health System.” It's a high-level summary for people who wish to better understand who we are and what we do. The short document covers the service delivery structure and the continuum of care available, member enrollment and demographics, funding, [...]
Integration Forum and Materials
Our primary care and behavioral health folks put together a fabulous forum called the Arizona Integrated Models of Care in Behavioral Health and Primary Care Forum. Our team joined with the Milbank Memorial Fund to sponsor a forum on January 25 and 26 in Chandler, AZ, for policy makers in both the mental health and community health center fields. One [...]
Groundbreaking Statewide Outcome Dashboard Goes Live
One of our primary objectives over the last couple of years in behavioral health has been to shift the focus of our performance measures away from process and procedures toward actual outcomes. In other words, we don’t want to measure our success on whether someone’s paperwork is right, but on whether the services we provide actually help folks achieve their [...]