CEO Christine Ehrich Honored as Mercy Care’s RISE Award Winner for Innovation

CEO Christine Ehrich’s groundbreaking efforts to improve access to autism evaluations and treatment are standing out — last week, Mercy Care recognized her with the RISE Award for Innovation at its annual Mercy Honors celebration. Honoring individuals for Resilience, Innovation, Service and Empowerment, the awards program celebrates individuals and organizations in the community who are working to make the lives of others better.

Headquartered in Phoenix, Mercy Care is a not-for-profit health plan offering integrated care to children, adults and seniors eligible for AHCCCS benefits. Axis partners with Mercy Care to provide autism diagnostic services to families in need, faster.

With great vision and drive, Christine has developed a model for streamlining autism diagnosis that’s slashing exorbitant wait times for Arizona families, ensuring they can access life-changing intervention and therapies faster. More than 15,000 Arizona children are currently on a waitlist for an autism evaluation, often waiting more than a year for a diagnosis. Axis for Autism cuts the evaluation process to less than 60 days.

“It’s an incredible honor to be recognized by Mercy Care,” said Christine. “This organization offers care with the utmost foresight and compassion, and they have been an integral partner in helping us increase access to autism evaluations.”  

The RISE Award comes on the heal of another important recognition — Christine was recently honored among Az Business’ AZ Big 100 for her innovation and desire to affect positive change in the community.

Learn more about Christine and the team behind Axis for Autism.