General

/General

Here you will find topics ranging from current events that affect public health in Arizona to overall information about the Arizona Department of Health Services

Border Bi-national Public Health

By | June 18th, 2013|Affordable Care Act, General|

You can think of the border public health advocacy network as a bi-national matrix of public health partners that collaborate to improve conditions along the US-Mexico border.  The network includes national organizations like the U.S.-Mexico Border Health Commission along with state based partnerships like the Arizona-Mexico Commission and the annual Border Governor’s Conference.    As part of my job [...]

Comments Off on Border Bi-national Public Health

Arizona Mexico Commission Goes Well

By | June 15th, 2013|General, Prevention|

The annual plenary session of the Arizona-Mexico Commission wrapped up last night with some important health events.  We signed a Cooperative Agreement with the Secreteria de Salud Publica in Sonora to educate people on both sides of the border about the importance of buckling up children and infants.  In the last Child Fatality Review report [...]

Comments Off on Arizona Mexico Commission Goes Well

Our “Interim Compensation Strategy”

By | June 14th, 2013|General|

One of the elements of last year’s state personnel reform is the ability to reward staff who do great work and have tangible results to prove it.  Our first opportunity to take advantage of the incentives are coming this month with something called our “interim compensation strategies”.  It’s basically the first stop in the road for applying incentives [...]

Comments Off on Our “Interim Compensation Strategy”

Employee Wellness Standards Locked In

By | June 11th, 2013|Affordable Care Act, General|

The Fed’s issued their final regulations for worksite wellness programs under the Affordable Care Act this week.  The final rules are designed to incentivize workplaces to develop and execute health promotion programs.  The goal is to improve health and wellness among workers and to limit growth of health care costs moving forward.  The regulations outline [...]

Comments Off on Employee Wellness Standards Locked In

What’s Our Most Popular Report?

By | June 7th, 2013|General|

It's called the 2011 Arizona Health Status and Vital Statistics Annual Report... and last year's report got hit upon 2,000,000 times.  It gives our most granular public health information of the year including refined health statistics on pregnancies, births, reportable diseases, deaths, inpatient hospitalizations, emergency room visits, marriages, divorces and population for Arizona.  The report provides critical data for health policy formulation, [...]

Comments Off on What’s Our Most Popular Report?

Clinician Website Up and Running

By | June 4th, 2013|General|

I’m happy to announce that we rolled out our state-of-the-art Arizona Clinician Website this week.  The site provides a one-stop-shop for Arizona clinicians.  The new Clinician Website is designed specifically for clinicians, so they can go to one website and access information directly from the site.   With our old system, if a physician wanted to [...]

Comments Off on Clinician Website Up and Running

AZ Hospital Compare

By | June 3rd, 2013|General, Licensing|

Today we launch our new AZ Hospital Compare website which (for the first time) provides an online searchable database to help Arizonans make educated decisions about their healthcare. The new website will allow patients and their families to explore the care and outcomes, costs and charges of Arizona’s licensed hospitals.  The transparency that the site provides [...]

Text4baby Sends Valuable Info to Your Phone

By | May 31st, 2013|General|

Congratulations! You just found out you’re going to have a baby. It can be an exciting time for a family, but there’s also so much to learn. Thankfully there are free resources to help, including on your phone from Text4baby.  When you sign up for Text4baby you’ll get 3 text messages a week timed to your due [...]

Comments Off on Text4baby Sends Valuable Info to Your Phone

Another Medical Marijuana Lawsuit

By | May 30th, 2013|General, Licensing|

We got sued again this week regarding our Medical Marijuana Program.  This time we’re getting sued because the Plaintiffs think that our 1-year deadline for getting a dispensary up and running is too restrictive.  Basically, the Plaintiffs allege that the legal issues that have arisen in response to the White Mountain Health Center, Inc. (a [...]

Bats, Foxes, and Bobcats

By | May 29th, 2013|General|

Every year we get reports of wild animals with bizarre behaviors like approaching people rather than running away, charging vehicles, latching on to arms of joggers and refusing to let go, even walking into a bar.  In many cases, these animals are found to be rabid. Bats are usually our most frequent reservoirs for rabies in AZ…  [...]

Comments Off on Bats, Foxes, and Bobcats