Month: March 2013
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Most Kentucky adults don’t know that drug overdose is the leading cause of death in the state, but those in the east do
Drug overdoses, driven largely by prescription drug abuse, overtook motor vehicle accidents as the leading cause of unintentional deaths in Kentucky back in 2010 and remain the state’s leading cause...
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Legislature eases physician assistant rules; nurse practitioners’ prescription power, Medicaid prompt-payment bills, others linger
By Molly Burchett and Al Cross Kentucky Health News The Kentucky General Assembly has joined other states in easing the restrictions on physician assistants’ medical practice, but has held up...
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Kentucky families struggle to care for violent, mentally ill children, and say their plight has been made worse by managed-care firms
Kentucky families struggle to care for violent, mentally ill children, and say their plight has been made worse by managed-care companies that fragment mental-health care and make it harder to...
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Kentucky receives an F grade for its low funding of mental-health services; supply falls short of demand
Kentucky’s supply of mental-health services is much lower than demand for those services, in terms of state funding, and the state spends only 45 percent of the national average in mental-health...
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Kentucky hospitals gave $1.96 billion to communities in 2011, including $576.7 million cover of Medicare, Medicaid shortfalls
In 2011, despite economic and financial obstacles, Kentucky hospitals’ estimated value of benefits to their communities up 17 percent from the year before, to $1.96 billion. So says the Kentucky...
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Poll shows Kentucky health-care providers often fail to discuss HIV testing with patients
A new poll suggests that most Kentucky health-care providers follow guidelines for discussing HIV screening with their patients, despite the the importance of early treatment to prevent its progression to...
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Conway, other AGs ask FDA to require generic prescription pain pills to be abuse-resistant, tamper-resistant
Generic versions of popular pain relievers must be made harder to abuse, in order to curb prescription drug abuse that is epidemic in many states, Attorney General Jack Conway and...
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Bill encouraging schools to stock EpiPens to stop deadly allergic reactions will become law
A bill encouraging Kentucky schools to stock EpiPens, or epinephrine auto-injectors, to stop anaphylaxis, a life-threatening allergic reaction, has passed will soon be signed into law by Gov. Steve Beshear....
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Feds letting Arkansas privatize Medicaid expansion; idea could spread like wildfire, as in Florida, but cost questions remain
Arkansas has turned heads nationally with its preliminary plan to expand Medicaid using the private insurance market, showing that the Obama administration is willing to give states more flexibility than...
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Deadly, recalled pills still circulating in Pennyrile Region
A pain reliever that has been recalled and declared dangerous by the Federal Drug Administration is still circulating around southern Kentucky. The drug marketed under the name Reumofan Plus is...