Performance Pay Reduction The state budget that was recently signed included an indefinite (probably permanent) suspension of performance pay (2.75%) beginning May 29. The effective date of the bill (HB2003) is June 15- so that's the day that the reduction will be actually implemented. But since this is in the middle of a pay period, we won't begin to actually [...]
Performance Pay Reduction The state budget that was recently signed included an indefinite (probably permanent) suspension of performance pay (2.75%) beginning May 29. The effective date of the bill (HB2003) is June 15- so that's the day that the reduction will be actually implemented. But since this is in the middle of a pay period, we won't begin to actually [...]
Thursday afternoon the Governor signed the budget bills that the Legislature passed that prescribed budgets for the remaining part of FY 2010 and FY 2011. The deal is complicated and contains lots of details. Most of the provisions for our agency pertain to reductions in services that will begin next fiscal year (which starts July 1)- including orders to [...]
Today, we announced who will handle behavioral health care in Arizona except for Maricopa County starting in July. Northern Arizona Behavioral Health Authority, Cenpatico Behavioral Health of Arizona, and Community Partnership of Southern Arizona won the contracts. We're excited about the content in these new contracts. They are taking consumer choice and voice to a [...]
I haven't written much about the Arnold v. Sarn lawsuit because its so complicated and difficult to explain. Basically, it's a lawsuit filed against ADHS in 1981 (adding the Governor as a defendant in 2000) that has held the Department accountable to certain court orders about community-based behavioral health services for adults with serious mental illness in [...]
Folks that face challenges with mental & behavioral health tend to smoke at a higher rate than others. That makes this group a high priority for interventions to reduce their smoking rates. Throughout 2010, we’ll be focusing on various intervention strategies for important health topics along these lines- and March is the final month of [...]
Folks that face challenges with mental & behavioral health tend to smoke at a higher rate than others. That makes this group a high priority for interventions to reduce their smoking rates. Throughout 2010, we’ll be focusing on various intervention strategies for important health topics along these lines- and March is the final month of [...]
Post-surgery infections cost a fortune. Health care–associated infections cause 1.7 million extended hospitalizations each year. A study published last week in the Archives of Internal Medicine looked at the clinical and economic costs from these infections which are poorly understood. The researchers looked at national hospital discharge records to find sepsis (blood borne infections) and [...]
We’re coming up on the 3 millionth view of our hand only chest compression CPR video that we posted on the Arizona Department of Health Services channel. Technically, right now we’re at 2.8M views now. This is by far the most watched video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5huVSebZpM) on our YouTube channel. Close to 1M of those views are [...]
High blood pressure is at the source of roughly one in six deaths among adults annually. About one in three adult Arizonans have blood pressure that’s too high, putting huge economic demands on Medicaid, Medicare (AHCCCS) and our private health insurers (plus, of course, the loss of life). The Institute of Medicine put out a [...]
