Month: May 2016
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State Medicaid boss says program won’t charge premiums but may have fewer benefits; Bevin’s office says all is still on the table
The state’s revised Medicaid program won’t require any beneficiaries to pay premiums, but it may offer fewer benefits, Medicaid Commissioner Stephen Miller told Adam Beam of The Associated Press. But...
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Clark County schools to provide mental health services via contract with agency that can bill Medicaid or private insurance
Facing a surge in behavioral health cases among students, the Clark County Board of Education has contracted with a mental-health agency services for all preschool through high school students in...
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Pediatricians’ national group calls for at least one nurse in every school; Ky.’s schools have a long way to go to meet that goal
By Melissa Patrick Kentucky Health News Kentucky’s high schools fall far short of new recommendations by the American Academy of Pediatrics that call for every school in the United States...
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Study says if Ky. cut its smoking rate to the national average, it could save $1.7 billion in health-care costs the very next year
Illustration from University of California-San Francisco By Melissa Patrick Kentucky Health News If Kentucky could cut its smoking rate to the national average, it would save an estimated $1.7 billion...
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Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky seeks nominations for seats on its board of directors and Community Advisory Committee
The Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky is seeking nominations for two seats on its board of directors and three seats on its Community Advisory Committee, which drive the foundation’s policy...
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Medicaid stakeholders OK with healthy behavior incentives, oppose penalizing recipients who don’t take part in cost sharing
By Melissa Patrick and Al Cross Kentucky Health News Groups of people concerned about changes in Kentucky’s Medicaid program are open to the state offering incentives for healthy behaviors, but...
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Woman stuck by needle faces up to one year of testing for HIV and hepatitis; dirty needles becoming common in public places
By Melissa Patrick Kentucky Health News A Monroe County woman was stuck by an insulin needle found in a pair of sweatpants she purchased at the Walmart in Tompkinsville and...
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Health-insurance companies ask state for rate increases averaging 17 percent; failure of non-profit insurer blamed
Department of Insurance website Health insurers want rate increases averaging 22.3 percent in 2017 for individual policies in Kentucky. Counting small-group plans, the overall increase would be 17 percent, “continuing...
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Kentucky is the only truly Appalachian state to have put a brake on fatal overdoses from narcotics
Kentucky is the only truly Appalachian state to have put a brake on fatal drug overdoses, report Rich Lord and Adam Smeltz of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette as part of a series...
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Bevin says he will transform programs for kids with special health needs constructively and in a ‘forward-thinking way’
Gov. Matt Bevin told stakeholders for children and youth with special health-care needs May 25 that his administration is “committed to transforming, in a positive, constructive, proactive and forward-thinking way,...