Arizona Hospital and Healthcare Association Weighs in on the (Leaked) State Budget

NEWS RELEASE

For Immediate Release │ May 20, 2019
Media Contact: Greg Ensell │602-694-5510 │[email protected]

Phoenix — The Arizona Hospital and Healthcare Association (AzHHA), the organization giving Arizona hospitals a voice to collectively build better healthcare and health for Arizonans, has mixed feelings about the leaked House budget going around the State Capitol today.

According to insiders, the KidsCare program will see an infusion of $1.6 million that will eliminate the freeze in spending and enrollment for this program. This is a huge win for both children and mothers.

On the other hand, AzHHA is disappointed that the Graduate Medical Education (GME) bill is excluded from the State budget. With the rate at which Arizona’s population is growing, we will be facing even more extreme shortages in accessing timely and specialty health professionals in the future. AzHHA highly encourages legislators to include GME funding in the final version of the budget, before falling even further behind in this primary care shortage.

“AzHHA applauds Gov. Ducey and legislative leaders for eliminating the KidsCare enrollment freeze in the budget proposal,” says AzHHA President and CEO Ann Marie Alameddin. “However, we believe they have missed an opportunity to combat the physician shortage by funding programs like Graduate Medical Education.”

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About the Arizona Hospital and Healthcare Association
AzHHA is the association giving Arizona hospitals a voice to collectively build better healthcare and health for Arizonans. As the champion for healthcare leadership in Arizona, AzHHA and its member hospitals explore ideas and take collaborative action at the state capitol, in hospitals and at home to attain the best healthcare outcomes for Arizonans. Through Better Care, Better Health, and Lower Costs, we will make Arizona the Healthiest State in the Nation. Visit https://www.azhha.org for more information.