Category: HEALTH POLICY
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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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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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Federal judge strikes down state law Bevin cited, requiring abortion clinics to have agreements for ambulance service
Kentucky abortion clinics do not need to have written agreements with an ambulance service and hospital for patient care in the event of an emergency, because such restrictions are unconstitutional,...
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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...
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65 kids a day are abused or neglected in Ky., third in nation; officials urge safe sleep practices, care about who provides care
By Melissa Patrick Kentucky Health News FRANKFORT, Ky. – When it comes to keeping babies safe, three of the most important things are safe sleep practices, recognizing that bruising in...
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Arkansas drops thousands from Medicaid for non-compliance with work requirements; Ky. official says ‘Kentucky is not Arkansas’
By Melissa Patrick Kentucky Health News Arkansas is the first state to implement work and community-engagement requirements for some of its “able-bodied” Medicaid beneficiaries, just like Kentucky is trying to...
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Kentucky public-health nurses in N.C. helping deal with Florence
Commissioner Jeffrey Howard, far right, posed with the team headed to North Carolina. Back row, L-R: Nancy Hamilton (Department for Public Health), Sherita Hall (Louisville Metro Public Health and Wellness), Christopher Smith (Lexington-Fayette...
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Four years into Obamacare, Kentucky’s uninsured rate leveled out, and probably rose. Why? It depends on whom you ask
By Melissa Patrick Kentucky Health News In the fourth full year since the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was implemented, the percentage of Kentuckians without health insurance remained about...
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Pilot program, ‘community paramedicine,’ reduces ambulance runs to ‘super-utilizers’ and gives them appropriate care
Kentucky has several “community paramedicine” pilot programs that allow specially trained paramedics to visit the homes of patients who frequently use the ambulance service to be taken to the emergency...