Last week CMS said it has taken steps to advance a package of state-led reforms that could result in thousands of uninsured Georgians gaining access to coverage. Specifically, CMS announced the approval of Georgia's new Medicaid section 1115 demonstration called "Pathways to Coverage."
CMS began implementing work requirements for...Arizona News
Medicaid work requirements, which the Trump administration has strongly backed, are on hold in many states following federal district court and appellate court rulings holding that such policies are not consistent with the statutory objective of the Medicaid program to provide coverage, according to Modern Healthcare.
Of the 10...Arizona News
The Commonwealth Fund’s Scorecard on State Health System Performance assesses all 50 states and the District of Columbia on 49 measures of access to healthcare, service use, costs and quality of care, health outcomes, and income-based healthcare disparities.
Prior to COVID-19’s emergence, the 2020 scorecard documents state-level...Arizona News
Located in Flagstaff, Arizona, Aspire Transitional Care is now managed by The Goodman Group, a Minnesota based company with over 50 years of experience designing and managing senior living and health care communities, residential communities and commercial properties.
Aspire is a transitional care community featuring 50 private rooms...Arizona News
Located in Scottsdale, Arizona, CommonSpirit’s Lab alone will increase the country’s COVID-19 test capacity by up to 70,000 tests per week.
CommonSpirit, a national health system serving communities in 21 states, including Arizona, announced the opening of its Reference Lab, which will more than triple current COVID-19 testing...Arizona News
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has strongly encouraged nursing homes to increase their efforts in controlling COVID-19 inside facilities after the number of residents infected reached a record high, and as new deaths have started rising once again.
Arizona is close to reopening nursing homes to visitors after...Arizona News
Modern Healthcare honored Scott Nordlund, chief strategy and growth officer at Banner Health, as one of this year’s Top 25 Innovators nationwide. This national award is given to those who "shape the industry."
Modern Healthcare noted that this year’s Top 25 Innovators were incredibly successful at creating solutions that are...Arizona News
The Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS) received a $900,000 grant from the Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration to increase treatment services and support for pregnant and postpartum women with substance use disorders. Services supported by this grant are not limited to Medicaid...Health Related Groups
Banner Health's revenue increased year over year in the first six months of 2020, but ended the period with a net loss.
Like most other health systems, Banner faced serious volume losses this spring that started to recover in May as stay-at-home orders were lifted, but then COVID-19 cases in Arizona surged, where the majority of...Arizona News
On August 6, a report from from the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children's Hospital Association showed that Arizona led the nation in COVID-19 infections in children.
Arizona's rate of cases in children and young adults ages 19 and younger is 1,206.4 per 100,000. Most cases of COVID-19 in children are less severe than...
Local school districts will be guided to reopen by the number of coronavirus cases in their county per capita, the percent of positive cases from testing and the percentage of people hospitalized with COVID-19.
Community spread in each Arizona county will be broken down into "minimal, moderate or substantial" categories.
AZDHS...
Nursing homes, hospices, and inpatient psych facilities are getting some long overdue attention and can expect to see pay bumps come Oct. 1, albeit slightly less than previously proposed by CMS.
The final rule finalizes a 2.2% increase in overall payments to skilled nursing facilities in fiscal 2021. CMS says this means payments...Arizona News
The only fully comprehensive heart failure treatment center in Arizona now operates out of Banner University Medical Center in Phoenix.
Banner University Medical Center Phoenix (BUMCP) was approved to perform heart transplants at the end of 2019 by the United Network for Organ Sharing (a private, nonprofit organization that manages...Arizona News
A few weeks ago, Arizona was leading the nation in coronavirus infections per capita, as the virus spread across many Sun Belt states that had opened quickly in late spring. In response to a request from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the state of Arizona, the Tucson and Phoenix Veteran Affairs Healthcare Systems are taking...Arizona News
Gov. Doug Ducey is expected to make a decision on schools reopening by the end of July, as concern grows over how children will be kept safe if they return back to school in the fall during the pandemic.
Eighty-seven doctors signed a letter to Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey urging him to keep schools shut for at least the first quarter of...Arizona News
Phoenix mayor Kate Gallego said Arizona opened too soon, fueling a boom in new cases among young people. This week, one in four COVID-19 tests returned positive in Arizona - or 25% - the highest in the nation.
According to the Arizona Department of Health Services, as of June 8, there are 108,614 reported cases of COVID-19 in the...Arizona News
Crisis Response Network announced last week that the new Resilient Arizona Crisis Counseling Program will provide entirely free and confidential support and connections to resources for Arizona residents impacted by the COVID-19 Pandemic.
The partnership between the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS) and the...Arizona News
Remdesivir is one of the first widely used drugs for COVID-19. It received an emergency use authorization from U.S. regulators in May after a big trial found the medicine sped recovery by about four days in hospitalized patients.
The Department of Health and Human Services announced an agreement to secure large supplies of the...Arizona News
Last week Arizona hit a new high when for the first time, more than 3,000 new COVID-19 cases were reported in one day.
On June 19 the American Hospital Association (AHA) called on The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to extend the public health emergency declaration set to expire on July 25 until testing capacity...Arizona News
Arizona’s state health officials urge hospitals to fully activate emergency plans to cope with a surge of COVID-19 patients.
Hospitals in Arizona are seeing a sharp increase in patients and emergency-room visits. Last week marked the largest week-to-week increase of coronavirus cases in both Arizona and Pima County since the...
