This week, the Arizona Legislature killed two major bills that would have introduced tighter regulations and accountability to entities that provide both medical and residential services to the state's addicts and elderly.
A bill brought by Navajo tribal member and Senator Theresa Hatathalie (D-Coal Mine Mesa) failed in the House...
A pair of bills that would increase protections for long-term care (LTC) residents advanced through the House Rules committee this week, and the American Osteopathic Association has launched a campaign in support of "truth in advertising in health care."
Representative Quang Nquyen (R-Prescott) introduced HB 2653, which would allow...
Last week, legislators returned to the Capitol for the start of the 2024 Arizona Legislative Session and Governor Katie Hobbs gave her annual State of the State address.
Lawmakers have a significant challenge before them when it comes to balancing the budget this year, as the state is projected to end the fiscal year this summer in...Arizona News
Criticism of the Arizona State Hospital's (ASH) operational issues and ability to provide adequate care to patients is coming to a head as the Arizona Legislature gears up for its annual session.
Last session, the legislature passed a bill that imposed additional transparency onto the Arizona State Hospital (ASH). This included the...
Last week, the Arizona Senate hosted the Novel Coronavirus Southwestern Intergovernmental Committee, which heard testimony from several dubiously-credentialed health professionals on the Arizona response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This week, the National Institutes of Health released data demonstrating Arizona had a much higher rate of...
This week, Governor Katie Hobbs vetoed a number of Republican-supported bills, including measures that would redefine the beginning of life under the Arizona Constitution. Also, a newly revised striker bill would limit public health emergencies to seven days.
On Monday, Gov. Hobbs vetoed four bills including HB 2427, which would add...
In the Arizona Legislature this week, the Senate Health and Human Services Committee passed a slew of health-related bills and the community weighs in on some bills that could directly impact health care providers.
The Senate Health and Human Services Committee had a busy docket this week, with six bills under close watch by the...
Arizona lawmakers made progress on several bills related to healthcare and COVID-19 this week.
Last Tuesday, the Arizona Senate Health and Human Services Committee approved HB 2474, which would prohibit schools from requiring immunizations issued by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) under emergency use authorization for...
This week, the Arizona State Hospital (ASH) gets closer to being led by an independent governing board as the Arizona Senate approved SB 1710, sponsored by Senator Gowan.
As the Arizona Public Health Association (AzPHA) notes, the bill is widely supported because it resolves the current conflict of interest for the Arizona Department...Arizona News
The bill introduction deadline for both chambers of the Arizona State Legislature has passed with 1,625 bills introduced this year. On Tuesday, the Senate Health Committee voted unanimously to move the purview of the Arizona State Hospital out of the Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS) and to an independent committee.
The...Arizona News
The Arizona Legislature convened its 56th First Regular Session on January 9, and a slew of bills were introduced that could have lasting impacts across the Arizona healthcare landscape. Throughout the legislative session, the Hertel Report will monitor the progress of bills identified by stakeholders, advocacy organizations, other...Arizona News
Arizona has a rocky history with women’s reproductive freedoms. In a special Arizona Public Health Association report, readers get a history lesson.
Since territorial days women’s reproductive rights have been restricted in the state. Recently, the lift of a 1973 court injunction means women in Arizona are facing a near total...
Three Arizona counties are reporting high community transmission levels of COVID-19 this week and despite the Food and Drug Administration's authorization and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) recommendation that children between 6-months and 5-years-old receive the COVID-19 vaccine, Arizona parents have been slow to...
The American insurance-based health care industry certainly has downsides, but none so notorious and archaic as medical debt. Nearly one in five U.S. households have medical debt, and as a result many Americans have lost their homes, assets, had their credit scores lowered beyond repair or been denied subsequent health...
This month's mass murders in Uvalde and Buffalo have reignited a call to address firearm violence in America as a public health crisis. "Our inaction has allowed it to spread through this nation like a deadly virus. We must find the courage — and the creativity — to stop it," said the president of the National Academy of...
Arizona may still have a chance to extend the time frame of postpartum Medicaid coverage from 60 days to one year after birth. The bill, SB 1272, passed the Arizona Senate and the House Health and Human Services Appropriations Committees with nearly unanimous support.
However, the bill has stalled while the Legislature negotiates the...Arizona News
As the Arizona State Legislature proceeds with weighing and passing bills related to healthcare and the medical industry in Arizona, a number of healthcare advocacy and stakeholder groups provide researched assessments of bills as they pertain to their fields. The following organizations publish updates on their legislative agendas, and...
Halfway through the 2022 Arizona State Legislative Session, each chamber is now in the process of hearing the other's bills. Several concern healthcare delivery in Arizona, specifically with regards to the state's Medicaid program, the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS).
A bill to expand the list of health and...
COVID-19 cases in Arizona, as well as hospitalizations and deaths, are in decline throughout the state following the surge related to the Omicron variant of the coronavirus. On Wednesday, February 23, there were 1,236 new cases of COVID-19 reported and 39 new deaths.
This information comes courtesy of the Arizona Department of Health...
Arizona officially has the distinction of ranking second nationally for COVID deaths per capita, currently trailing Mississippi. The state has now surpassed 26,000 COVID-19 deaths and is averaging nearly 14,000 new cases per day. On Wednesday, there were 24 new COVID-19 related deaths and 8,329 new cases reported.
This information...
