Getting Well: How the Arizona Health Improvement Plan will Achieve This

Learn More: Please visit azhealth.gov/azhip if you would like to learn more about the AzHIP or contact the AzHIP team (AzHIP@azdhs.gov) to find out how you can participate.

With a vast array of health issues impacting Arizona, it becomes critical to set priorities to focus actionon where it is needed the most. The Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS) hastaken on this task and articulated a set of healthpriorities with plans to implement actions to address those priorities.

The Arizona Health Improvement Plan (AzHIP) AzHIP was first established in 2016to provide a five-year roadmap with 17 health priorities covering issues like chronic disease,mental health, injury prevention, maternal & child health, access to care, and the builtenvironment. The process brought together a network of partners to align resources and efforts so that the plan reflects collective action taken by multiple partner organizations to achieve the goals and actions set forth. ADHS and its partners are preparing to measure theirimpacts and transition activities as the five-year life span of the plan closed at the end of 2020.

Currently, the development of the next five-year plan for 2021-2025 is underway. The new AzHIP will focus on a smaller number of priorities which underlie multiple health issues and disparities. Priorities were informed by data in the Arizona State Health Assessment and established with community input and guidance from the AzHIP Steering Committee.

The 2021-2025 priorities are:

• Health Equity

• Health in All Policies/Social Determinants of Health(with an initial focus on housing)

• Mental Well-being (including a focus on social connectedness, substance use, and suicide prevention)

• Pandemic Recovery

• Rural Health & Urban Underserved (including a focuson access to care)

While health equity stands as a distinct priority of new AzHIP, it is core to achieving progress in all of thepriority areas and is intended to be integrated throughout the plan. The AzHIP Health Equity Core Team offersthe following definition of health equity, adapted from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: “Healthequity is defined as every person having a fair and just opportunity to “attain their full health potential,” and isachieved when individuals who are impacted by injustices are co-creating solutions and policies. When systems areresponsive to communities, health equity is achieved and health injustices are eliminated. Health injusticesinclude differences in length of life; quality of life; rates of disease, disability, and death; severity of disease; access to treatment; and/or disadvantages due to race or other socially determined circumstances.”

The development, and impact, of the AzHIP is the result of the hard work of public health professionals, advocates and community stakeholders at the state, county and community levels. The AzHIP is a plan for the entire state and reflects the commitment to improving public health by multiple partners.

Get Involved

ADHS encourages Arizona physicians to engage in opportunities to address these health priorities in the communities and systems in which you work and live. Suggestions for consideration include:

• Join the Arizona Maternal Health Taskforce and lend your clinical expertise in addressing health disparities in maternal health outcomes and learn more about our Governor’s Goal Council Action Plan. Contact us at maternalhealth@azdhs.gov

• Learn more about how to get involved with the Arizona Area Health Education Center (AHEC) and the five statewide Arizona AHEC regional centers that support local efforts to develop health professions workforce education programs in rural and urban medically underserved areas.

• Ensure your patients that may be at risk of an opioid overdose have a prescription for naloxone and family members or friends know how to use it.

• Consider how the social needs of your patients impact their health. Refer patients to 211 (211arizona.org/ or dial 2-1-1) for information about assistance for financial needs like utilities and rent, for crisis counseling, and for other resources.

• Create opportunities for all public facing/frontline staff to receive evidence-based suicide prevention training.

• Become knowledgeable of insurance coverage options for non-opioid therapies for pain management services.

• Learn how to identify signs and symptoms of loneliness related to social isolation.

By Sheila Sjolander, Assistant Director, Arizona Department of Health Services, Division of Public Health – Prevention Services