healths

Health officials said the state is considering eliminating Medicaid coverage to almost 500,000 Kentuckians because the program is facing a nearly $300 million shortfall. During a review of the 2018 fiscal budget and the outlook for 2019, Health Secretary Adam Meier told members of the legislature's Budget Review Subcommittee for Human Resources on Aug. 30 that Kentucky will be $296 million short by 2020, Adam Beam  reports  for The Associated Press.  He added that dental, vision and pharmacy benefits are also on the table. "That's certainly not anything we would want to do," Meier said, but "We also have a constitutional obligation to come in under budget. Unlike the federal government, we can't just print more money. We can't run a deficit." Kentuckians at risk of losing coverage are the ones who gained it through the state's 2014 expansion of Medicaid, under the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, to those who earn up to 138 percen...

Breathitt County youth using fitness equipment at Douthitt Park. (Photo: Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky) As a $3 million Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky grant program that focuses on children's health moves into its fifth and final year, the foundation says it will conduct the final evaluations of the seven grantee programs at the end of this year and then share the results with other communities. The evaluations will asses not only policy changes and built environment additions, but also the extent to which the grants led to broader community engagement, a stronger coalition and the ability to leverage foundation funding for new and enhanced programs, says the release. Most recently, the foundation reviewed the progress of the Breathitt County Health Planning Council for Children , which is part of the "Investing in Kentucky's Future" grant program. The initiative is intended to reduce the risk that today's school-aged children will develop debilitating chr...

By Melissa Patrick Kentucky Health News Though Kentucky's proposed Medicaid plan was vacated by a federal judge just days before it was set to go into effect on July 1, regulations for the changes have been proposed, and public comments were taken at a hearing Aug. 27. The new plan, called Kentucky HEALTH for "Helping to Engage and Achieve Long Term Health," would require able-bodied adults who are not primary caregivers to work, attend school, take job training or volunteer 80 hours a month, or enroll in a drug-treatment program if appropriate. It also includes small, income-based premiums and lock-out periods for non-compliance, among other things. A federal judge in Washington, D.C., vacated the plan on June 28, saying that the  U.S. Department of Health and Human Services  had not sufficiently considered the state's estimate that in five years Kentucky's Medicaid rolls would have 95,000 fewer people with the plan than without it, largely for non-compliance wit...

The Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky has named two new Healthy Kentucky Policy Champions: Paducah Mayor Brandi Harless for her leadership in enacting a stronger city smoking ban, and Dr. Van Breeding of Whitesburg for leadership in fighting the substance-use crisis in Eastern Kentucky. Before being elected mayor in 2016, Harless worked with several community organizations to strengthen Paducah's existing smoke-free laws to include vaping of e-cigarettes, according to Michael Muscarella, executive director of ambulatory services at Baptist Health Paducah , who nominated her for the award. "She was instrumental in helping us communicate our message to the city council and the public to gain support. Our coalitions could not have done this without Mayor Harless' wisdom and keen sense of timing," Muscarella wrote. Harless is also the CEO and co-founder of  PreventScripts,  a company that promotes automated preventive medicine, through daily tracking, to help people main...

'Anyone buying health insurance this fall faces a daunting task: having to choose among multiple, often-complex options that offer widely varying degrees of protection," Trudy Lieberman of the Rural Health News Service reports in her latest column , syndicated to supporting organizations. The new options include association health plans for small-business groups, short-term policies that may last from only a few months to a year (but can be renewed for three years in some states). "Then there are plans offered by church ministries that look like insurance but really aren�t," Lieberman writes. "Plus, multiple and complex options remain from the Affordable Care Act." Trudy Lieberman, Rural Health News Service Lieberman advises, "Before you comb through the fine print in an insurance policy, think about these major factors: The more you pay in premiums, the more you get in benefits. Many of the new options don�t have to cover all of the Affordable Care Ac...

The state  Department of Insurance has approved the 2019 rates for federally subsidized health-insurance plans under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, setting a slightly higher average rate for the state's leading insurer than the company requested. Rates for Anthem Health Plans of Kentucky will increase an average of 4.3 percent. The company had filed requests for rates averaging an increase of 3.5 percent. CareSource of Dayton, Ohio, which is partnering with Louisville-based Humana Inc. , will get the average 19.4 percent increase it requested . "Since the actual premium charged will vary by individual and the plan level selected, some individuals may see a decrease in rates," the Insurance Department said in a news release. More detailed 2019 rate filing information is at  http://insurance.ky.gov/ratefil . Anthem will expand its coverage area into 34 counties it once served. Those counties will have a choice between Anthem and CareSource. However, in 1...

CJ photo by Michael Clevenger The U.S. Senate has passed an appropriations bill that "takes aim at the next wave of the opioid crisis: drug-fueled infections like HIV and hepatitis that plague Kentucky," reports Laura Ungar of the Louisville Courier Journal . "The bill contains $5 million for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to improve tracking, treatment and education efforts targeting HIV and hepatitis B and C, which can be spread by shooting up drugs. Overall, it provides more than $3 billion in opioid-related funding." Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he pushed for the funding. �The CDC is directed to prioritize high-risk areas, including 54 counties in Kentucky,� he said in a speech on the Senate floor. Ungar notes, "Those counties were among 220 across the nation that the CDC identified as most vulnerable to an HIV outbreak." The funding is in the appropriations bill for the Department for Health and Human Services...

By Melissa Patrick Kentucky Health News In Kentucky, one person dies by suicide about every 11 hours, making it the 11th leading cause of death overall, according to data from the federal  Centers for Disease Control and Prevention . Efforts to increase suicide prevention and awareness often include "Out of the Darkness" community walks -- and those are still happening -- but the Louisville Health Advisory Board is adding something new this year called " Bold Moves Against Suicide Louisville ," which will offer suicide prevention training in more than 85 locations between Sept. 9 and 15, which is National Suicide Prevention Week. Dr. Val Slayton, a member of the advisory board's behavioral health committee, told Lisa Gillespie of  Louisville's  WFPL  that the training is part of the committee�s effort to bring suicides in the city down to zero. Gillespie reports that there were 584 deaths by suicide in Jefferson County from 2011 through 2015; during that...

Reuters photo  All 17 companies that were warned in May to stop marketing their electronic cigarette liquids in packaging that resembled "kid-friendly food products," like juice boxes, candy and cookies, have stopped done so, says the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. "Removing these products from the market was a critical step toward protecting our kids," FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said in a  news release . "We can all agree no kid should ever start using any tobacco or nicotine-containing product, and companies that sell them have a responsibility to ensure they aren't enticing youth use." HealthDay News gave  examples of the products that were targeted in the warning letters, including: One Mad Hit Juice Box, which resembled children's apple-juice boxes; Whip'd Strawberry, which resembled a dairy whipped topping; Twirly Pop, which resembled a Unicorn Pop lollipop and was shipped with one; and Unicorn Cakes, which included images of a ...

Somerset-based Health Watch USA will hold its 12th annual Healthcare Transparency and Patient Safety conference Oct. 4 in Lexington. This year's conference will look at the importance of nursing in the prevention of adverse events, how infectious disease puts both patients and staff at risk, the importance of patient access to their medical records and the value of patient advocacy. Christine Pontus, associate director of the Division of Health and Safety for the Massachusetts Nurses Association , and Jonathan Rosen, the principal consultant for AJ Rosen & Associates, which provides occupational-safety and industrial-hygiene services to labor unions, government agencies and organizations throughout the U.S., will review key occupational hazards confronting nurses, including the importance of safe staffing and infection control. Jayne O'Donnell, USA Today 's health-care policy reporter, will discuss what she's learned while covering patient safety and will offer str...

Dr. Barry Hardison of Greenville runs a drug-treatment clinic in Muhlenberg County. "What Hardison has to say isn't scientific," Beth Warren of the Louisville Courier Journal reports . "It's personal," because he is a recovering addict. "Hardison's predicament isn't rare. Other doctors struggle with addiction, but most suffer and recover in the shadows," Warren writes. Hardison, certain he was on the path to death, did something years ago that few do. He reported his own addiction to state medical board officials � the ones who could end his career." About 10 percent of Americans develop some type of addictive disorder, and the percentage is about the same for doctors, Warren reports: "Hardison, who is 60 and has been sober nearly 25 years, speaks out to help destigmatize the brain disease and spread his message of hope." Every addict's story is different. Hardison's began with his anxiety as a young doctor in his ho...

The chief federal prosecutor for the eastern half of Kentucky says his office is getting a new prosecutor dedicated to fighting fentanyl, the powerful opioid that was found in more than half the people who died of drug overdoses in the state last year. U.S. Attorney Rob Duncan "We will aggressively prosecute cases involving the distribution of fentanyl and other synthetic opioids � because with these drugs, there is no such thing as a small case," U.S. Attorney Robert M. Duncan Jr. wrote in an op-ed for the Lexington Herald-Leader . Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced in July that Kentucky was one of eight states that would be getting a total of 10 fentanyl prosecutors. "The Eastern District of Kentucky is at Ground Zero in the overdose crisis," Duncan wrote. "During 2017, in the 67 counties comprising our district, we had 894 overdose deaths, approximately 61 percent of the resident overdose deaths for the entire state. More alarmingly, the top five cou...

Two Kentucky organizations have received $100,000 grants from the federal Health Resources and Services Administration that will be used to address two different health issues that plague our state: opioids and childhood obesity. The Northeast Kentucky Area Health Education Center will use its grant money to establish a regional Opioid Crisis Response Network in collaboration with St. Claire HealthCare , Pathways Inc ., Sterling Health Solutions , and the Gateway District Health Department . �Due to the scope of the opioid epidemic, no single organization can hope to solve it alone,� David A. Gross, administrative director for education and research with St. Claire, which hosts the education center, said in a news release. �But by bringing together a regional medical center, a district health department, a clinic system, and a behavioral health entity, I am confident we will come up with ideas that have the potential to make a meaningful impact on the epidemic within northeastern Ken...

Image: The National Council for Behavioral Health A 43-year-old woman went on a search for a short-term health insurance plan in Louisville that would cost less than an Obamacare exchange plan and found one for $393 a month -- but then she read the policy's fine print. �I started looking at the details,� Dania Palanker told Lisa Gillespie of WFPL . �They only covered $3,000 towards prescription drugs, but if I ended up needing an expensive drug, I�d end up hitting a max. They exclude certain pre-existing conditions, birth control, pregnancy coverage and mental health.� She added: "Some hospital services aren�t covered, [like] if you�re admitted on a Friday or Saturday for a non-emergency. If you didn�t know to read through your insurance, to think that could become problematic.� "In that situation, the policyholder would have to pay for the hospital visit," Gillespie reports . She notes that Palanker doesn't really need health insurance and is actually an assista...

The expansion of Medicaid to nearly 500,000 more Kentuckians "must be preserved," according to a group of hospital executives who launched a campaign to persuade legislators to expand the state tax on health-care providers to help pay for it, Deborah Yetter reports for the Louisville Courier Journal. Norton Healthcare Vice President Riggs Lewis, the group's president, said at an Aug. 22 news conference in Frankfort that the expanded tax would raise enough revenue to fund the expansion, even as Medicaid costs continue to increase, Yetter reports. "Our group believes that conservative, comprehensive health-care tax reform can make that a reality," Lewis said. According to Gov. Matt Bevin's administration, Kentucky's Medicaid budget is facing a $200 to $300 million shortfall over the next two years and that will nearly double when Kentucky's federal Medicaid match increases from its current 6 percent to 10 percent in 2020. Yetter reports that the grou...

Under new leadership, the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky  "led or funded work to change dozens of state and local laws and policies in 2017 to help make Kentuckians healthier," including much greater efforts to "reduce smoking and exposure to tobacco emissions," the foundation says in its annual report. The foundation is "making tremendous strides in transitioning from a relatively small health philanthropy toward an influential statewide advocate for policies that improve health across large populations," said Mark Carter, chair of the foundation's board of directors and CEO of Passport Health Plan . Foundation CEO Ben Chandler and Gov. Matt Bevin announce a plan to help keep Medicaid beneficiaries keep their coverage under Bevin's changes in the program. ( AP photo by Adam Beam) Ben Chandler, a former congressman and state attorney general who became president and CEO of the foundation two years ago, said the effort accomplished "the la...

Dr. Dan Martin (Photo from Madisonville Messenger) Dr. Dan Martin, a leader in rural health for Western Kentucky, died Aug. 14 at the age of 92. The Harvard Medical School graduate moved to Madisonville in 1965, where he served in many roles to improve the health of his community and surrounding areas. He served for many years as medical director of the Hopkins County Health Department , where he established a dentistry clinic, later named in his honor. He was the executive director of the Trover Clinic Foundation and was instrumental in bringing a medical residency program to Madisonville from the University of Louisville ; and he helped found the Western Kentucky Area Health Education Center and a nurse anesthetist program. He is also credited with much of the growth of the Madisonville Community College and helped create health and human-services organizations throughout the community. . In appreciation for his service, the Kentucky Rural Health Association created an annual a...