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Confirmation of 4 Florida agency heads going to Senate floor

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The confirmation of four agency heads in Florida Gov. Rick Scott‘s administration will be headed to the Senate floor. The Ethics and Elections Committee on Monday voted in support of the confirmations of Jeffrey Bragg as Secretary of Elderly Affairs, Dr. Celeste Philip as Surgeon General, Justin Senior as Secretary of Health Care Administration and Glenn Sutphin as Director of Department of Veterans Affairs. All four are expected to be approved by the full Senate. Last year, Dr. John Armstrong…

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Florence Snyder: Florida’s opioid crisis, Part 5 – Hey Florida, talk to the hand!

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One hour isn’t much time for a Senate subcommittee “confirmation hearing” on the heads of the agencies as important to “health and human services” as the Department of Health and the Agency for Health Care Administration. But that’s what Health and Human Services Subcommittee Chair Anitere Flores allotted, and not one second longer. So, you’d think that AHCA’s acting secretary Justin Senior and DOH’s Interim Surgeon General Celeste Philip would each get a half-hour of the committee’s time … but you…

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Florence Snyder: What does it take to get fired at DOH?

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Lola Pouncey, a Florida Department of Health (DOH) “bureau chief” making $90,000 a year in “medical quality assurance,” set up a jewelry store in her state office. She commandeered state workers, state time, and state property in her for-profit business, according to the agency’s inspector general (IG), whose findings were available to DOH Secretary Celeste Philip well before the rest of us found out from Miami Herald reporter Glenn Garvin. Seventeen days after Garvin’s story, Pouncey is still on the state…

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Personnel note: Michele Tallent becomes deputy secretary at Department of Health

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Budget whiz Michele Tallent has become the Florida Department of Health‘s full-time deputy secretary for administrative services after acting as interim since January. The department announced the move in a Monday press release. “Her years of service and extensive experience with finance and management will help ensure the department’s capacity to provide essential public health services,” said State Surgeon General and Secretary Dr. Celeste Philip in a statement. Tallent oversees the Divisions of Administration, Disability Determinations and Medical Quality Assurance, and Office…

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Latest in Zika battle: Enlist kids to ‘Spill the Water’

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As the number of Zika cases in Florida mounts — 11 new cases were reported on Wednesday, including one in Hillsborough County — state health officials have launched a campaign to educate children on the dangers of the virus and to enlist their help in stemming the spread of disease-toting mosquitoes. The Florida Department of Health’s “Spill the Water” campaign is encouraging kids to venture out into their backyards and dump vessels in which standing water may accumulate. Water like that,…

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Health department responds to Tampa Bay Times report on changes to HIV stats

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The Florida Department of Health is pushing back on a report by the Tampa Bay Times over the weekend that said health department had removed hundreds of HIV cases from the books. The newspaper found that the department’s division of disease control lowered the number of HIV cases from 6,147 to 4,613 in 2014. The report found that the state occasional updates the numbers, and doesn’t consider the data final until July when it is reported. However, the Tampa Bay…

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Rick Scott appoints Celeste Philip Acting Surgeon General, lauds outgoing John Armstrong

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Gov. Rick Scott appointed Celeste Philip as Acting Surgeon General on Friday. He also praised outgoing Surgeon General John Anderson as having done an “outstanding job.” Anderson was the first state agency head in 20 years to be shown the door after the Senate refused to confirm him by the end of the 2016 Legislative Session. Scott lauded Armstrong in a three-paragraph news release. Scott said, “Dr. John Armstrong has done an outstanding job serving our state as Florida’s Surgeon General…

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