Author: Al Cross
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Oral health care for the poor in Kentucky suffers under managed care as dentists leave Medicaid; how about your county?
Kentucky’s serious oral-health problems are getting worse because fewer dentists are participating in the Medicaid program — a result of “new paperwork issues compounding Medicaid’s reputation” for low payments to...
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Weekly paper in Hazard says Beshear should expand Medicaid
Gov. Steve Beshear should expand the Medicaid program for the poor under federal health reform to improve the health and welfare of Kentuckians, The Hazard Herald said in its editorial...
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Beshear says he will decide in four to five weeks, or July 1 at the latest, whether or not to expand Medicaid
By Al Cross Kentucky Health News This story has been updated. Gov. Steve Beshear said Monday that he will decide within the next four to five weeks, or maybe by...
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Beshear vetoes prompt-pay bill but takes several steps to address problems in Medicaid; he and Haynes say it’s working
Gov. Steve Beshear has vetoed the bill designed to make Medicaid managed-care firms pay health-care providers more quickly, but is taking administrative steps to address the issue. Beshear said he...
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Death rates for heart and pneumonia patients at critical-access hospitals are rising nationally, study finds
Death rates are rising at rural critical-access hospitals for Medicare patients who have heart attacks, heart failure and pneumonia, according to a study published in the Journal of the American...
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Attorney general says UK should hand over records on children’s heart surgeries, which have been suspended pending review
Attorney General Jack Conway has ruled that the University of Kentucky hospital violated the state Open Records Act by refusing to give a reporter for the university-owned radio station records...
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Smoking ban gets ‘a good scrubbing’ before Judiciary Committee
By Al Cross Kentucky Health News The bill for a statewide smoking ban is favored by three-fifths of Kentucky adults, but is dead for this session of the General Assembly....
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Legislature sends fix of last year’s pill-mill bill to Beshear
“After more than a year of debate, a bill that would revamp Kentucky’s prescription-drug law to more strictly focus on pill abuse and ease requirements on patients is heading to...
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Take care with a big cold-weather killer, the space heater
Warm weather isn’t far away, but winter remains, and precautions should be taken to steer clear of a big cold-weather killer — the space heater — for the season’s remaining...
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Bill for statewide smoking ban appears to have been extinguished
The bill to enact a statewide smoking ban in Kentucky appears to be dead for this session of the General Assembly. The House sent House Bill 190 back to committee...