State Profiles

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Arizona

State Office Director

Gary Hart, PhD
(520) 626-6258
garyhart@email.arizona.edu

Specialty Areas / Background

Rural health, health workforce (physician, nurses, oral health personnel, rural geographic taxonomies, access to care, rural state and federal policy, and rural healthcare for the elderly, infants, and the underserved).

State Office Director since 2006

 

Flex Coordinator

Joyce Hospodar, MPA, MBA
(520) 626-2432
Hospodar@u.arizona.edu

Specialty Areas / Background

Health Care Marketing and Planning

Flex Coordinator since 2002

 

Joyce Hospodar

Flex Program Evaluator

Howard J. Eng, DrPH
(520) 626-5840
hjeng@email.arizona.edu

Specialty Areas / Background

Rural and border health, public health, health economics and financing, healthcare quality/performance improvement, diffusion and adoption of new healthcare technology, pharmacy, health services research, and evaluation.

Flex Program Evaluator since 1999

 

Assistant Research Scientist

Kevin Driesen, PhD
(520) 626-5837
kdriesen@email.arizona.edu

Specialty Areas / Background

Medicaid policy, border health, research, and grant writing.

Assistant Research Scientist since 2009

 

Administrative Assistant

Oscar Parra
(520) 626-0721
oscardp@email.arizona.edu

Specialty Areas / Background

Office Administration

Administrative Assistant since 2008

 

Oscar Parra

Top Three Flex Activities in 2009

  1. Quality Improvement
  2. EMS
  3. CAH designation

Flex Program Success Story

The Arizona Flex Program introduced the state’s critical access hospitals (CAH) to the benefits of acquiring Level IV trauma designation. As a result six CAHs have applied, or are in the process of applying, with Flex funds to support their efforts. Three received the designation early in 2009. The Flex program is currently supporting Rural Trauma Team Development training opportunities for CAHs.

Most Significant Achievement

The Arizona Flex Program was instrumental in getting the state legislature to allocate funding for Arizona’s critical access hospitals through the state’s Medicaid program (Arizona Healthcare Cost Containment System). Funding is distributed to the CAHs from a $1.7million pool, based on Medicaid volume reported by the CAHs.

Flex Program Details

Location: Mel & Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, The University of Arizona
Number of CAHs: 14
Web site: http://cah.arizona.edu/

State Rural Health Plan
Rural Assistance Center State Resources