Several prevention-related health services will be covered without cost sharing in new health plans as of a couple of weeks ago as a result of the Affordable Care Act. The changes are designed to help lower costs and outcomes for a variety of preventative women’s services. Previously, some insurance companies didn't cover some of the [...]
One of the things I’ve always been jazzed about is coming up with simple and easy policy interventions to drive public health change. The Governor signed a bill that’s a good example. SB1059 addresses liability concerns of schools when opening outdoor facilities to the public outside of the school day. This is a critical first [...]
Our prevention and county health folks will be spending more time working to help counties, schools, and communities to adopt policies that will reduce obesity, chronic disease and disparities. One area of focus will be Border Health where the objectives include reducing motor vehicle accidents and substance abuse. There will also be more going on [...]
The CDC released their grant guidance for the upcoming Community Transformation Grants a couple of weeks ago. The objective of the grant is to support the implementation (and evaluation) of evidence-based community preventive health activities to reduce chronic disease rates, prevent the development of secondary conditions, address health disparities, and develop a stronger evidence base [...]
Last year we received funding from CDC to implement the Communities Putting Prevention to Work, which aims to achieve broad reaching, highly impactful, and sustainable change to reduce chronic disease burden associated with obesity and tobacco. This week CDC notified us that Arizona is a “high performing” state. What does this mean? CDC will soon be [...]
Will a marijuana dispensary pop up in your neighborhood at the old payday loan store? It depends. If the Arizona Medical Marijuana Act passes, there could be up to 120 dispensaries (and their indoor cultivation facilities) setting up shop across the state. Where they actually go will depend on what kind of local zoning restrictions [...]
I thought I’d do a piece on school environmental health now that school’s back in session. About 1 million Arizona kids and 100,000 adults spend a big chunk of their day in Arizona’s public, private and charter schools. Because schools can often be crowded environments, it’s important operate them in a way that maximizes a [...]
