By Governor Gary R. Herbert As Published in the Deseret News 2/26/12  As 2014 looms and the requirements of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act threaten to become permanent, virtually every state is seeking a solution to an impending Medicaid-induced budget crisis. In Utah, Medicaid consumes 21.5 percent of our budget, nearly double what [...]

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released a number of proposed rules which would govern the operation of state health exchanges which are mandated by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA).    Utah is one of only two states in the country with an operational exchange.  Although the Utah Health [...]

By Kristen Cox Executive Director Utah Department of Workforce Services Throughout my career, I’ve experienced a wide range of leadership styles with a corresponding range of results. One would expect that the better leaders possessed traditional qualifications such as strong communication skills, technical competence, organizational skills, and vision.  For me, these are a given. In my [...]

By Gary R. Herbert Governor Tomorrow, we will mark the 10-year anniversary of one of the darkest days in our nation’s history:  September 11, 2001.  On that day, the lives of nearly 3,000 innocent individuals were taken in barbarous terrorist attacks. We honor the lives and memories of those who perished at the World Trade Center, [...]

By Norman Thurston, Ph.D. State Health Reform Implementation Coordinator In the past few weeks, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has released five separate proposed rules regarding states’ role in federal health reform (see links below).  Our health reform staff is currently working our way through each of these and we hope to [...]