News

Buprenorphine Training for AZ Physicians

Posted: Dec 3 2018

AZ Physicians can take online buprenorphine training to help Arizonans with recovery and treatment of opioid use disorder. We can help Arizonans access much needed treatment in rural areas of the state. Check out the 8 hour online training here: https://learning.pcssnow.org/p/onlinematwaiver. Continue to refer patients to Opioid Treatment Centers of Excellence until you’re MAT waivered. Check out this link for a list of treatment locations: https://tinyurl.com/y8y3nuxq

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Health Insurance Open Enrollment Slow So Far in Arizona

Posted: Nov 30 2018

Arizonans who don't get health insurance through their employers or qualify for Medicaid don't appear to be rushing to buy individual plans for 2019 despite a looming Dec. 15 open enrollment deadline.

Nov. 29, 2018, at 6:36 p.m.

BY BOB CHRISTIE, Associated Press

PHOENIX (AP) — Arizonans who don't get health insurance through their employers or qualify for Medicaid don't appear to be rushing to buy individual plans for 2019 despite a looming Dec. 15 open enrollment deadline.

Experts say the reasons for the nearly 20 percent drop in the first four weeks of the annual open enrollment period for Affordable Care Act plans aren't completely clear. But a major cut in outreach efforts and the elimination of a tax penalty for those who don't buy insurance next year probably are factors. And a growing economy likely means more people are getting employer-sponsored insurance.

"Those are all legit questions, unfortunately there's no answer, it's just total speculation as to why," Allen Gjersvig, who oversees enrollment outreach for the Arizona Alliance for Community Health Centers, said Thursday.

Enrollment surged last year just before the deadline. Many people who are covered and choose to automatically re-enroll won't get counted until open enrollment closes.

Enrollment figures released Wednesday by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services show that since Nov. 1, only about 41,000 Arizonans have chosen a plan on the healthcare.gov website, compared with nearly 52,000 at that time last year.

That means more than 100,000 people who currently have plans haven't signed up for coverage that takes effect Jan. 1. Nationally, enrollment is down 13 percent compared to this point last year.

As of June 30, about 145,000 Arizonans had active individual marketplace plans, and 10.2 million people had them nationally. The vast majority of Arizonans with coverage get it either through their jobs or the state's Medicaid plan for low-income residents.

More insurers are selling individual plans in Pima and Maricopa counties for next year, and premiums are stable across the state. Maricopa County saw a big drop, with 21 percent lower premiums being offered for next year as three new insurers enter the market. Two new players begin selling in Pima County.

That's a big change from two years ago, when prices skyrocketed in Arizona. Premiums went up by an average of 116 percent in 2017 as insurers realized they were losing big money and many fled the federal marketplace in the state.

"For all intents and purposes, rates remain stable compared to last year and last year the rates were stable as well," Gjersvig said. "So essentially we've had now going on three years of relative stability."

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona remains the only insurer in the 13 smaller counties. This year, only Ambetter offered plans in Maricopa and Pima counties. Next year, Cigna, Oscar and Bright Health join Ambetter in Maricopa. Ambetter, Blue Cross and Bright Health also will offer plans in Pima.

That increased competition is probably one of the reasons premiums for the average mid-coverage plan in Maricopa will drop by 21 percent next year, said Dr. Daniel Derksen, a University of Arizona health care policy expert who examined rates in all 15 counties. Other counties also saw drops or just small increases.

Nationally, the Congressional Budget Office predicted that 4 million people with coverage could drop it next year because of the tax penalty elimination and other changes enacted by the Trump administration, including big cuts to advertising and "navigator" programs that help people choose insurance plans.

National advertising was cut from about $100 million in 2016 to $10 million last year and this year. Grants to nonprofit groups that hire navigators in Arizona have gone from $1.1 million to $300,000 this year. Gjersvig's group was the only grant recipient this year.

Derksen said those services are important to consumers, because insurance is a complicated purchase that requires comparisons of premiums, co-pays, deductibles and other factors like premium tax credits, which nearly 90 percent of people buying on the marketplace receive.

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Number Of U.S. Kids Who Don't Have Health Insurance Is On The Rise

Posted: Nov 29 2018

After years of steady decline, the number of U.S. children without health insurance rose by 276,000 in 2017, according to a Georgetown University report released Thursday.

While not a big jump statistically — the share of uninsured kids rose to 5 percent in 2017 from 4.7 percent a year earlier — it is still striking. The uninsured rate typically remains stable or drops during times of economic growth. In September, the U.S. unemployment rate hit its lowest level since 1969.

"The nation is going backwards on insuring kids and it is likely to get worse," says Joan Alker, co-author of the study and executive director of Georgetown's Center for Children and Families.

Alker and other advocates for children's health place the blame for this change on the Trump administration and the Republican-controlled Congress, saying the Republican policies and actions have cast a pall on enrollment in health plans.

The number of children in the United States without coverage rose to 3.9 million in 2017 from about 3.6 million a year earlier, according to census data analyzed by Alker's Georgetown team.

The overall uninsured rate for people of all ages — which plummeted from 2013 to 2016 following the health law's implementation — remained unchanged at 8.8 percent last year.

The share of children with employer-sponsored health coverage rose modestly in 2017, Alker says, but not by enough to make up for the drop in children enrolling in Medicaid or getting coverage from Obamacare insurance exchanges.

While no states made significant strides in reducing the percentage of children who are uninsured, nine states saw their numbers go the wrong way. The largest negative changes occurred in South Dakota (where the rate of uninsured kids rose from 4.7 percent to 6.2 percent), Utah (up from 6 percent to 7.3 percent) and Texas (from 9.8 percent to 10.7 percent).

More than 1 in 5 uninsured children nationwide live in Texas — about 835,000 kids — by far the highest number of any state.

Florida had 325,000 uninsured kids last year, as its uninsured rate for that age group rose 0.7 percentage points to 7.3 percent. California had 301,000 children without insurance — its number remained virtually unchanged, relative to the previous year.

Other states with significant increases were Georgia, South Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee and Massachusetts.

The uninsured rates for children increased at nearly triple the rates in states that did not expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, according to the report. Studies have shown that children whose parents are insured are more likely to have health coverage.

Georgetown has been tracking these figures since 2008, when 7.6 million children — or about 10 percent of kids — lacked health coverage.

Because nearly all low-income children are eligible for Medicaid or the federal Children's Health Insurance Program, the challenge is making sure parents are aware of the programs, Alker says, and getting the kids enrolled and keeping them signed up as long as they are eligible.

Congress let the CHIP program funding lapse for several months in 2017, putting states in a position of having to warn families that enrollment would soon be frozen. Congress restored federal funding in early in 2018.

In addition, low-income families were bombarded by news reports last year that Congress was threatening to repeal the health law that expanded coverage to millions. And, in the past two years, the Trump administration has slashed funding for Obamacare navigators who help people sign up for coverage.

Alker points to the Trump administration's September proposal, known as the "public charge" rule as another factor that may have led to fewer children getting health insurance. The rule could make it harder for legal immigrants to get green cards if they have received certain kinds of public assistance — including Medicaid, food stamps and housing subsidies. Green cards allow these legal migrants to live and work permanently in the United States.

OLE Health, a large health provider based in Napa Valley, Calif., that serves many immigrants, says it has seen patients leave the Medicaid rolls in the past year. CEO Alicia Hardy says many have dropped coverage over fears the help could jeopardize their immigration status.

"They are afraid of being deported," she says.

All those events may have deterred families from getting their kids covered.

"The welcome mat has been pulled back," Alker says, "and as a result we see more uninsured children."

She says the easiest way to change the trend would be for more states to expand Medicaid under the health law. Fourteen states have yet to do so. Though the expansion largely affects adults, as parents enroll, their children are likely to follow.

Kaiser Health News, a nonprofit news service, is an editorially independent program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, and not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente. KHN's coverage of children's health care issues is supported in part by a grant from the Heising-Simons Foundation.

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Health Disparities Among American Indians/Alaska Natives — Arizona, 2017

Posted: Nov 29 2018

Health Disparities Among American Indians/Alaska Natives — Arizona, 2017

Monique Adakai, MPH; Michelle Sandoval-Rosario, MPH; Fang Xu, PhD; et al.

https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/67/wr/mm6747a4.htm?s_cid=mm6747a4_e#suggestedcitation

Compared with other racial/ethnic groups, American Indians/Alaska Natives (AI/AN) have a lower life expectancy, lower quality of life, and are disproportionately affected by many chronic conditions (1,2). Arizona has the third largest population of AI/AN in the United States (approximately 266,000 in 2017), and is home to 22 federally recognized American Indian tribal nations.* The small AI/AN sample size in previous Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) surveys has presented analytic challenges in making statistical inferences about this population. To identify health disparities among AI/AN living in Arizona, the Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS) and CDC analyzed data from the 2017 BRFSS survey, for which AI/AN were oversampled.

Compared with whites, AI/AN

Had significantly higher prevalences of sugar-sweetened beverage consumption (33.0% versus 26.8%),
being overweight or having obesity (76.7% versus 63.2%),
diabetes (21.4% versus 8.0%),
high blood pressure (32.9% versus 27.6%),
report of fair or poor health status (28.7% versus 16.3%), and
leisure-time physical inactivity during the past month (31.1% versus 23.0%).
AI/AN also reported a lower prevalence of having a personal doctor or health care provider (63.1%) than did whites (72.8%).

This report highlights the need to enhance surveillance measures at the local, state, and national levels and can inform interventions centered on confronting social inequities, developing culturally competent prevention strategies, and facilitating access to care to improve population health and work toward health equity.

Citation:
Adakai M, Sandoval-Rosario M, Xu F, et al. Health Disparities Among American Indians/Alaska Natives — Arizona, 2017. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2018;67:1314–1318. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm6747a4.

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UA to Provide Free Training to Increase Number of Certified Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners in Rural, Underserved Areas

Posted: Nov 29 2018

The University of Arizona Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, in collaboration with the UA College of Nursing, received a $1.49 million federal grant to provide training to increase the number of certified sexual assault nurse examiners in four states and the U.S.-affiliated Pacific islands.

The Western Region Public Health Training Center at the University of Arizona Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, in collaboration with the UA College of Nursing, has received a $1.49 million, three-year federal grant to provide sexual assault nurse examiners training and certification to expand services to sexual assault victims in rural areas.

Sexual assault nurse examiners are registered nurses who have completed specialized education and clinical preparation in the medical forensic care of patients who have experienced sexual assault or abuse. The regional training center provides free training and continuing education for the public health workforce in Region 9 of the Health Resources and Services Administration, an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, covering the states of Arizona, California, Nevada, Hawaii and the U.S.-affiliated Pacific islands.

In Region 9, many rural communities lack access to certified sexual assault nurse examiners. The funding for the training program is provided by the Health Resources and Services Administration Advanced Nurse Education Sexual Nurse Assault Examiner program.

“We focus on the areas that have limited resources to obtain training,” said Douglas Taren, PhD, professor and associate dean of academic programs at the UA Zuckerman College of Public Health and director of the Western Region Public Health Training Center. “In addition to training nurses, we will work with local authorities to strengthen the infrastructure to provide individuals access to sexual assault exams and support for our students to work with local schools and community organizations to educate the public about relationship violence and sexual assault.”

Faculty members from the UA College of Nursing will teach the online courses. The curriculum will prepare practicing registered nurses and graduate nursing students for the International Association of Forensic Nurses exam.

“Nurses require special training to effectively manage the nuances of working with individuals who have been sexually assaulted,” said Rene Love, PhD, clinical associate professor and director of the Doctor of Nursing Practice program at the College of Nursing. “The UA College of Nursing is very excited to collaborate with the UA Zuckerman College of Public Health to promote this training and education in rural and underserved areas so that nurses can be prepared to provide sexual assault examinations. The training can be completed online, but two of our qualified faculty members also visit underserved areas to provide on-the-ground training in areas that need it most.”

Abigail Stoica, associate director of the Western Region Public Health Training Center, said more than 138,000 public health professionals have registered for courses through the center since 2015.

“The Western Region Public Health Training Center is an incredible resource for health departments and community agencies throughout the United States,” said UA President Robert C. Robbins, MD. “The collaboration between the College of Public Health and the College of Nursing allows for the sharing of resources that will help nurses better serve rural communities. While it is crucial that we work toward prevention of sexual assault, it is vitally important that there are nurses who are specifically trained to work with people who have experienced sexual assault or abuse, and I am very proud of this program. It is a perfect example of our university’s commitment to improve and protect the health of people here in Arizona and across the nation.”

Patricia Haynes, PhD, CBSM, associate professor and licensed clinical psychologist, and Lisa Zhang, applications systems analyst and developer at the College of Public Health, will work to develop online methods to support the mental health of the students in the program who in turn work with victims of sexual assault.

For information about the sexual assault nurse examiners training program, please contact Erica Freese, MPH, at ebfreese@email.arizona.edu.

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Time is short, December 15 deadline looms

Posted: Nov 28 2018

The Health Insurance Marketplace Open Enrollment for 2019 coverage is more than half over, December 15 is the last day to apply. If you miss the deadline, you must apply and qualify for a special enrollment period to enroll after December 15.

Most people get health insurance through their employer, but if you are self-employed and earn too much for AHCCCS (Medicaid), now is your chance to shop and qualify for financial help (it’s like a discount). Nearly 9 out of 10 people in Arizona that get coverage from HealthCare.gov receive tax credits – financial help – to make coverage more affordable. You don’t know what you will pay, unless you shop.

Surprisingly, each year many Arizonans meet with an Assister, thinking they will buy a HealthCare.gov plan, but find out they are in fact eligible for AHCCCS (Medicaid). Some learn their children are eligible for very low cost KidsCare (Children's Health Insurance Program). If you don’t shop or apply, you will never know what coverage will cost.

To find out what a comprehensive plan may cost you, go to www.healthcare.gov/see-plans. By simply entering your zip code, age, number of family members and projected 2019 income, you can look at available plans and find out if you qualify for a discount. If a single person earns less than $48,560 they may qualify for financial help. A family of four can earn up to $100,400 and qualify for financial help.

No matter where you live in Arizona, help is available. You can call 1-800-377-3536or go to www.CoverAZ.org and click on “Send a Message” to get your questions answered, or visit www.CoverAZ.org/Connector and make an appointment to meet with a local Assister. If you are looking for an insurance agent/broker, go to healthcare.gov and click on Find Local Help.

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Governor Doug Ducey Announces Retirement of AHCCCS Director Tom Betlach

Posted: Nov 16 2018

Betlach To Retire After A Distinguished 27-Year Career In Public Service To Arizona

PHOENIX – Governor Doug Ducey today announced that Thomas Betlach, director of the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS), will retire in January 2019, after 27 years of distinguished service to the state of Arizona. Mr. Betlach led Arizona’s Medicaid agency for the past nine years and served as its deputy director for the prior eight years.

“Tom is the model of a servant leader, someone whose innovative thinking paired with institutional knowledge motivated and inspired,” said Governor Ducey. “I value his health care and finance expertise, and deeply appreciate all he has done to lead a nationally recognized, cost-effective program that provides quality health care for our state’s most vulnerable populations.”

“It has been my privilege, honor and blessing to serve as the AHCCCS director. I want to express my deep appreciation for the opportunity to serve Arizona and to work with the talented team at AHCCCS who’ve inspired and educated me every day,” said Mr. Betlach. “AHCCCS is an amazing, mission-driven organization that positively impacts every community in our state.”

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Amanda Aguirre Recognized as a 2018 National Rural Health Day “Community Star”

Posted: Nov 13 2018

On the third Thursday of November every year, the National Organization of State Offices of Rural Health leads National Rural Health Day, an annual day of recognition for those who serve the vital health needs of nearly 60 million people residing in America’s rural communities, estimated to be 1 in 5 Americans. NOSORH is the member organization serving all 50 State Offices of Rural Health (SORH) with Arizona headquartered at the Arizona Center for Rural Health at the University of Arizona in Tucson.

SORHs provide support to rural hospitals, clinics, and first responders in several ways including technical assistance, funding that supports workforce development, population health management, quality improvement initiatives, and more.

In 2015, NOSORH asked SORHs to nominate hospital and emergency first responder teams, community health, and volunteer service heroes on the front lines of rural health who were making a positive impact on rural lives. Soon after the stories started coming, the book of National Rural Health Day Community Stars was published.

Amanda Aguirre will appear in the 2018 edition that will be available on the https://www.PowerofRural.orgwebsite, the official hub for National Rural Health Day and the Power of Rural movement, beginning November 15, 2018.

Former Arizona State Senator Amanda Aguirre presently serves in the capacity of President & CEO of the Regional Center for Border Health, Inc. since 1991 and its subsidiary San Luis Walk-In Clinic, Inc., a primary care rural health medical center. Ms. Aguirre has been involved for more than 33 years in health care and business administration. She possesses a life-long commitment to education and in 2007 she established a licensed post –secondary vocational training center in the area of allied health training, which has generated job opportunities for over 1200 individuals. Ms. Aguirre has built these corporations that have become multi-million dollar corporations providing employment for 156 employees in a slow recovering economy. Ms. Aguirre also worked for Arizona Western College from 1995-1999 as the South Yuma County Campus Director.

Ms. Aguirre has lived in Yuma, Arizona for the last 29 years. Her commitment to education is lifelong since she was raised by parents who both were elementary school teachers. Her Democratic values come from her parent who taught her to work hard and to serve her community before everything else.

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Promising Practice: Arizona Center for Rural Health SHAREs Health Insurance Information, Gets People Enrolled

Posted: Nov 5 2018

National Organization of State Offices of Rural Health | by Beth Blevins | Oct 31, 2018

People in Arizona communities are becoming more aware of their health insurance options through Project SHARE (Students Helping Arizona Register Everyone).

Project SHARE, run by the Arizona Center for Rural Health (AzCRH), trains University of Arizona health sciences students as Certified Application Counselors (CACs) that provide information on enrollment through the Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace. Alyssa Padilla, who supervises the SHARE program for the Arizona State Office of Rural Health (AzSORH) under the AzCRH, said that the program helps not just the patients but also the students, who become more rural and health insurance literate.

“SHARE gives the students a better understanding of social support services and how to connect individuals with those services,” Padilla said. Through SHARE, the students earn volunteer credits that allow them to graduate with distinction. But, more importantly, Padilla said, graduates of the program “are better equipped to answer patients’ questions about coverage on the spot.” To become a SHARE participant, students take five to 10 hours of online federal training in addition to in-person session training, Padilla said.

When surveyed afterwards, participants have said the program has given them a better understanding of the ACA, health insurance premiums and deductibles, and the value of expanding Medicaid in Arizona, Padilla said.

Lauren Dominick said she has already benefited from the program. Dominick, an MD candidate and Project SHARE leader for the UA-College of Medicine–Phoenix, joined last year hoping to develop the skills that will help her better serve current and future patients. “I have gained so much knowledge of how the marketplace works and how to navigate it,” Dominick said. “I’ve helped patients complete their ACA applications and seen the empowerment they experience as they take better control of their health care. The program opens up their opportunities to seek preventative health care rather than just when they have an acute, major issue.”

» Read full article at link below:

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A Sense of Alarm as Rural Hospitals Keep Closing

Posted: Nov 1 2018

The New York Times | By Austin Frakt | October 29, 2018

The potential health and economic consequences of a trend associated with states that have turned down Medicaid expansion.

Hospitals are often thought of as the hubs of our health care system. But hospital closings are rising, particularly in some communities.

“Options are dwindling for many rural families, and remote communities are hardest hit,” said Katy Kozhimannil, an associate professor and health researcher at the University of Minnesota.

Beyond the potential health consequences for the people living nearby, hospital closings can exact an economic toll, and are associated with some states’ decisions not to expand Medicaid as part of the Affordable Care Act.

Since 2010, nearly 90 rural hospitals have shut their doors. By one estimate, hundreds of other rural hospitals are at risk of doing so.

In its June report to Congress, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission found that of the 67 rural hospitals that closed since 2013, about one-third were more than 20 miles from the next closest hospital.

A study published last year in Health Affairs by researchers from the University of Minnesota found that over half of rural counties now lack obstetric services. Another study, published in Health Services Research, showed that such closures increase the distance pregnant women must travel for delivery.

And another published earlier this year in JAMA found that higher-risk, preterm births are more likely in counties without obstetric units. (Some hospitals close obstetric units without closing the entire hospital.)

Ms. Kozhimannil, a co-author of all three studies, said, “What’s left are maternity care deserts in some of the most vulnerable communities, putting pregnant women and their babies at risk.”

In July, after The New York Times wrote about the struggles of rural hospitals, some doctors responded by noting that rising malpractice premiums had made it, as one put it, “economically infeasible nowadays to practice obstetrics in rural areas.”

» Read complete article at link below:

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Will the Midterms Transform our Health System?

Posted: Oct 30 2018

Dan Derksen presents talk As part of the UA Arthritis Center lecture series on October 3, Dr. Daniel Derksen, AzCRH Director, discussed how the midterm elections could dramatically impact health insurance coverage, access, costs, and health outcomes at the national and state levels. » Download a PDF of his talk here. Or view complete video here.

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Pima County residents have more options in 2019 Affordable Care Act marketplace

Posted: Oct 29 2018

TUCSON.COM | By Mikayla Mace Arizona Daily Star | Oct 29, 2018

Pima County residents can expect more plan choices and little to no change in monthly premiums when signing up for health insurance under the 2019 Affordable Care Act.

Open enrollment for 2019 begins Nov. 1 and runs through Dec. 15. ACA plans sold during open enrollment begin Jan. 1, 2019.

More than 165,000 Arizonans got coverage through ACA plans, also known as Obamacare, according to the Arizona Alliance for Community and Health Centers. Arizona, like most states, sells plans on the federally facilitated marketplace — healthcare.gov

Most of those signing up qualified for federal subsidies to help them pay for the insurance, which is available to working-age adults who are not covered by health insurance at work or through another government program.

Nearly 25,000 Pima County residents enrolled in ACA plans last year, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid.

» Read more at link below:

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Honoring Don Proulx, 1945-2018, for his service to rural health in Arizona

Posted: Oct 25 2018

Don Proulx Donald E. Proulx, former Associate director of Arizona AHEC and former staff member of the Arizona Rural Health Office, passed away on Oct. 21, 2018. The Arizona Center for Rural Health wishes to extend its sincere condolences to his family and recognize his service to rural and underserved communities in the state.

Don Proulx was a valued colleague of Andy Nichols, founder of the Arizona Rural Health Office. He was tapped by Andy to head up a new AHEC in the Miami/Globe area, and then to preside over the Rural Health Office's Education Unit.

Don was featured prominently in the book, "Four Decades in the Desert: The University of Arizona's Center for Rural Health 1970-2015" by author Michael Joe Dupont, excerpted here:

“I invited Andy Nichols early on as a guest lecturer in my classes,” remembered Don Proulx, who was then Associate Dean of Health Sciences at Pima Community College, during a 2013 interview. Andy was interested in how our exchange program went, and after I invited him to my class, we hit it off. He was a true advocate of disadvantaged communities, and so we bonded because of my cross-border experiences. We were into the same things, and Andy was basically my counterpart at the University of Arizona in terms of community health."

"Don Proulx developed his devotion to what he calls “disenfranchised people” by the most organic of means. He lived it. “I was born poor,” he explained. …“Right now my interest is in promotoras, who are community health representatives. It’s actually a concept that came from Mexico, and these are people who are trusted members in their own neighborhoods. They’re helpers and promoters of good health, and they do a lot of home visits and work with their own people. I love the concept and the work is exceptionally good. Well, we didn't know what promotoras were back then, but growing up, I sure could have used one.” …“AHEC clicked for me because I was always interested in medicine,” Proulx explained. This was my opportunity to go into the Rural Health Office with Andy, and become an AHEC director, so I applied and the community steering committee selected me as founding director."

Below are some fond memories of Don from his UA colleagues:

Jill Guernsey de Zapien - So many folks at the Rural Health Office remember all the wonderful work that Don accomplished as the Assistant Director of the Arizona AHEC and indeed there was so much to remember! But I like to recall how passionate and committed Don was to community health workers! Don had a vision for building a strong CHW program with community colleges throughout the country and pioneered so much of what has become the recognized core competencies and skills of community health workers in our country. Today, his original JUMP START curriculum serves as the guiding force to almost all training programs for community health workers in our state. Don was an active member of our Arizona Community Health Worker Workforce Coalition and was delighted when a bill passed in the last legislative session recognizing voluntary certification of community health workers. He will be missed by so many, but his legacy with community health workers will live on.

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New Options, New Prices - Healthcare.gov

Posted: Oct 23 2018

Consumers who buy their health insurance from HealthCare.gov will have new options and new prices to consider before they make a decision for 2019 coverage.
If you live in Maricopa County, rather than just one insurance company, you will have a total for four companies to choose from and each company offers several different plans. Pima County will go from one to three companies for 2019 and the remaining 13 counties will continue to have BlueCross BlueShield of Arizona as their HealthCare.gov insurance company.

Because financial assistance for Affordable Care Act (ACA) plans is tied to the price of the price of a Silver plan in each county or zone, Arizonans will generally see more financial assistance and little, if any, change in their current monthly premium. Nearly 9 out of 10 Arizonans who get coverage from HealthCare.gov receive financial assistance in the form of refundable tax credits to help lower their monthly premium.

If you are uninsured, remember November 1 to December 15 is open enrollment; your opportunity to shop, compare plans and make a decision. If you thought health insurance was too costly last year, it is wise take a second look this year. You may find that based on your income, family size and county that it is more affordable than last year. If you don’t look, you will never know.

If you have HealthCare.gov coverage already, you will receive information from HealthCare.gov and from your insurance company. But, it is wise to shop and compare plans and use a current 2019 income estimate before you decide which plans meet your needs. If you auto-enroll, your 2018 income will be used to calculate your 2019 tax credit. If you income has changed, it is smart to use current information.

It is also important to be aware that new insurance products may be advertised as much cheaper than plans from HealthCare.gov. So called “Short Term Plans” usually cost less than an ACA plan, but they offer fewer benefits and usually cover less of your medical expenses.
For 2019 coverage the wise Arizonan will shop, compare prices and benefits as well as understand that non-HealthCare.gov plans may require you to qualify based on your health and may not cover specific conditions and prescriptions that are vital to your family’s health.
Free, local help from unbiased health insurance Assisters is available by calling
1-800-377-3536 or by visiting CoverAZ.org/Connector.

You can reach Allen at alleng@aachc.org.

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Arizona course on science behind vaccines canceled after parental backlash

Posted: Oct 18 2018

Stephanie Innes, Arizona Republic | Oct 18, 2018

The state of Arizona has canceled a vaccine education program after receiving complaints from parents who don't immunize their school-age children.

The pilot online course, modeled after programs in Oregon and Michigan, was created in response to the rising number of Arizona schoolchildren skipping school-required immunizations against diseases like measles, mumps and whooping cough because of their parents' beliefs.

But some parents, who were worried the option course was going to become mandatory, complained to the Governor's Regulatory Review Council, which reviews regulations to ensure they are necessary and do not adversely affect the public. The six-member council is appointed by Gov. Doug Ducey, with an ex-officio general counsel.

Members of the council questioned the state health department about the course after receiving the public feedback about it, emails show. The state responded by canceling it.

The complaints that ended the pilot program came from about 120 individuals and families, including 20 parents who said that they don't vaccinate their children, records show.

"We're so sorry we couldn't make a go of this — strong forces against us," Brenda Jones, immunization services manager at the Arizona Department of Health Services, wrote in an Aug. 6 email to a Glendale school official, along with a notification about the course's cancellation.

In an email to two Health Department staff members on Aug. 14, Jones wrote that there had been "a lot of political and anti-vaxx" feedback.

"I'm not sure why providing 'information' is seen as a negative thing," said state Rep. Heather Carter, R-Cave Creek, who spent the last three legislative sessions as chairwoman of the House Health Committee and helped create the pilot program.

"Providing information doesn't take away a parent's choice to seek an exemption. ... This is a major concern. Vaccines have saved lives for generations. We all want to live in safe and healthy communities."

» See full article at link below:

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