Category: HEALTH POLICY
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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...
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Fayette County becomes 11th Kentucky county to recommend that all its residents be vaccinated for hepatitis A
As the number of hepatitis A cases continues to climb in Kentucky, health officials in Fayette County are recommending all Lexington residents get vaccinated, Mike Stunson and Karla Ward report for the Lexington...
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State’s new health commissioner, Dr. Jeffrey Howard, is called ‘a breath of fresh air’ by a local director who’s seen six of them
Commissioner Jeffrey Howard talks with Kentucky Health News reporter Melissa Patrick. (Photo by state spokesman Doug Hogan) By Melissa Patrick Kentucky Health News FRANKFORT, Ky. – Kentucky’s recently installed health...
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Veteran of Medicaid in several states named commissioner in Ky.; health cabinet creates new post to deal with health-care providers
The state Cabinet for Health and Family Serviceshas named Carol H. Steckel commissioner of the Department of Medicaid Services. Steckel is a Medicaid and managed-care expert with more than two decades of...
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At first SOAR summit session only about health, speakers agree local cooperation is needed to address Appalachia’s health issues
By Melissa Patrick Kentucky Health News PIKEVILLE, Ky. – From top to bottom of the health-care system, speakers agreed local cooperation is essential to improving health in Appalachian Kentucky. They...