Category: FEATURED
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Need for improved staffing in nursing homes and hospitals was among timely topics at annual Health Watch USA conference
By Melissa Patrick Kentucky Health News Several speakers at the Oct. 4 Health Watch USA Healthcare Transparency and Patient Safety Conference in Lexington talked about the importance of adequate staffing in nursing...
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Legislators say nursing-home staffing issues need a hearing soon, but co-chair of health panel suggests there’s no time before 2019
State legislators want a hearing on nursing home staffing in Kentucky, following a series of stories in the Lexington Herald-Leader that showed how some residents have died as a result of neglect. “A Republican leader...
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Smoke-Free Coalition will lobby for state law to ban tobacco products and e-cigs from all school property and activities
By Melissa Patrick Kentucky Health News Concerned that historic declines in youth tobacco use will be undermined by the “exploding popularity” of Juul and other e-cigarettes, Kentucky’s Coalition for a Smoke-Free...
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Panel at health policy forum cites alternatives to opioids for pain, and the need for a culture shift on the topic
By Melissa Patrick Kentucky Health News Kentucky has a new law restricting painkiller prescriptions to three days for acute pain, but an anecdotal story from one of the state’s leading...
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Red Bird dental clinic fixes teeth of people in drug treatment, preparing them for work and cutting need for painkillers
A dental clinic in southeastern Kentucky, with help from dental-school students, is pulling teeth and providing dentures for residents of drug-treatment centers “in hopes of building their self-confidence and putting them...
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Share of uninsured Kentuckians in rural areas and small towns dropped to 13 percent from 40 percent after Medicaid expansion
OPINION By Emily Beauregard Executive director, Kentucky Voices for Health Medicaid expansion has made an overwhelmingly positive impact on rural Kentucky. Our state was among the top three leaders in...
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U.S. Medicaid boss defends work rules and other ‘community engagement’ requirements, says they will thwart dependency
By Al Cross Kentucky Health News The director of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services gave a spirited defense of work rules and other “community engagement” requirements in state Medicaid programs,...
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Kentucky loses a health champion who advocated for health equity and community-based solutions; Dr. Gil Friedell was 91
By Melissa Patrick Kentucky Health News Dr. Gilbert Friedell, who was a fierce advocate for health equity and finding community-based solutions to the many health issues that plague Kentucky, died...
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Herald-Leader goes after understaffing at Ky. nursing homes
State Sen. Ralph Alvarado, R-Winchester, opposes bills that would set minimum staffing requirements for nursing homes because those jobs can be hard to fill. “It’s a job that a lot...
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Congress agrees on bipartisan opioid package
Congress has agreed on a comprehensive package to address the opioid epidemic, which includes both law-enforcement and public-health measures. President Trump is expected to sign it. The 653-page bill has...