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Executive Summary
The Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS) is among the largest and most complex of
state agencies. With over 1,600 employees and an annual budget in excess of $1.8 billion,
ADHS provides a wide variety of services and a diversity of programs housed within its five
divisions: behavioral health; licensing; planning and operations; public health prevention; and
public health preparedness. The two-fold mission of public health services includes prevention
and preparedness for the state. The public behavioral health system oversees services for
150,000 enrolled clients and the state’s only public psychiatric hospital, the Arizona State
Hospital. The division for licensing is charged with certification of nursing homes, assisted
living and child care centers, hospitals and other health care
facilities. The division of planning and operations oversees
the budget, procurement, audit and special investigations,
information technology, workforce development, rule
making, human resources, policy, continuous quality
improvement, and accreditation.
Changes in state funding have dramatically impacted
ADHS and the way we have traditionally provided public
health services. Adapting to the new mandates, ADHS saw
an opportunity to reprioritize our programs and center
attention on what is most important. The Department is
working to be more efficient at delivering services to those
populations most in need to keep our Arizona communities healthy and safe. ADHS believes
every change is an opportunity to align and leverage our resources to achieve our mission.
ADHS’s Strategic Priorities for the next three to five years are:
•
Impact Arizona’s Winnable Battles
•
Integrate Physical and Behavioral Health Services
•
Promote and Protect Public Health and Safety
•
Strengthen Statewide Public Health System
•
Maximize ADHS Effectiveness
The strategic priorities are the pathways by which we plan to achieve targeted improvements in
public health outcomes. ADHS is committed to moving along with our partners in local health
departments toward voluntary public health accreditation. The work towards accreditation will
require the agency to look at the statewide public health system as a whole, collaborate with
stakeholders, and provide evidence that our work meets the ten essential public health services.
The ten essential services were set as a national standard in 1994 by a steering committee
consisting of all US Public Health Service agencies and representatives from other major public
health organizations. Accreditation focuses on quality, transparency, and partnerships.
Through the accreditation process, our leadership will identify strengths, weaknesses, and
opportunities for continuing to build public health infrastructure in a way that will best align our
resources with key priorities. ADHS plans to bring quality improvement, lean methodologies,
best practices, and strategic alignment to all we do.
ADHS plans to bring
quality improvement,
lean methodologies,
best practices, and
strategic alignment to
all we do.
