If you did, you can thank the Affordable Care Act. When you buy health insurance- the percentage of your premium dollars that your insurance company spends on providing you with health care (as opposed to what it spends on administrative, overhead, and marketing) is called a “Medical Loss Ratio”. The Affordable Care Act limits how [...]
The Affordable Care Act will establish various tiers of health insurance coverage beginning in 2014. The baseline “tier” will be a minimum amount of coverage that people need to have to satisfy the federal mandate to have health insurance (or face a tax penalty). Insurers will be required to offer plans that fit within four levels [...]
Teen pregnancy is a key public health indicator because of the profound negative health outcomes related to a lack of education and economic opportunity. For example, only about 50% of teen mothers receive a high school diploma versus approximately 90% of their peers. The disadvantages caused by a teen pregnancy can last a lifetime- and even spill over to [...]
Cara Christ, MD and her team put together a dynamite new PowerPoint presentation on the role of AZ physicians under AZ’s Medical Marijuana Act. The goal of the presentation is to provide a resource for physicians to be better informed about their role under the Act- and to learn about the checks and balances that we [...]
When I got into public health 25 years ago, it was kind of a boutique profession. Since then, it’s really gone mainstream- and public health is increasingly being recognized as a key element in driving down our country’s increasing health care costs. So if you’re a beginning or mid-career professional- get in on the ground [...]
We’ll be having a “Request For Information” session regarding our “ Recovery Through Whole Health, the Regional Behavioral Health Authority with Health Homes” project (a.k.a. the upcoming Request for Proposal for behavioral health services in Maricopa County) on March 21 from 1- 5 pm at the Radisson City Center at 3600 N. 2nd Ave. in Phoenix. We’ll [...]
In the world of health care- the clinician works with patients individually. They examine various indicators of health for their patient including direct observations and laboratory or other diagnostic tests and implement interventions to help their patient improve their health. Providers also encourage their patients to live healthy lifestyles and take safety precautions- and help [...]
We’re partnering with the AZ Division of Emergency Management to conduct the biggest preparedness exercise ever to be held in Arizona. It’s called the 2011 Arizona ”Vigilant Guard” Exercise. It’ll involve around 5,000 folks from various backgrounds including emergency management, public health, health care, law enforcement, fire, military, and the private sector. The exercise will be [...]
You'll remember that ADHS and AHCCCS jointly applied for and received a $750K Planning Grant to explore integrating primary health care and behavioral health care- especially for folks with serious mental illnesses. Our teams have been very busy over the last couple of weeks getting the initiative underway. One of the concepts we're exploring is a specialty Regional [...]
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 [...]
