Category: YOUR HEALTH
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Appalachian Regional Healthcare asks federal judge to make managed-care firm keep it under contract
Appalachian Regional Healthcare, a hospital chain in Eastern Kentucky and southern West Virginia, is seeking an emergency injunction by a federal judge ordering Coventry Cares to let its Kentucky members...
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Meds-for-meth bill drew record lobbying expenses, not even including radio and newspaper ad campaigns
Makers of over-the-counter drugs spent more than any lobbying interest ever had during a single Kentucky legislative session in their effort to defeat a bill requiring prescriptions for the key...
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Managed-care firm blames state for problems leading to impending end of contract with ARH hospitals
In the face of a lawsuit that alleges it did not pay claims promptly, Coventry Health and Life Insurance Co. blamed the state for problems that have surfaced since managed care...
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State prescription drug databases like KASPER cut back doctor shopping and drug abuse, new study shows
Photo by iStockphoto Research from the University of North Carolina indicates drug databases like the Kentucky All Schedule Prescription Electronic Reporting system do reduce doctor shopping and change prescribing behavior....
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Major newspapers publish reflections, reactions and details (including videos) on new law that will fight ‘pill mills’
Reflections on the new law to fight “pill mills” are in both of Kentucky’s major metropolitan newspapers today. The Courier-Journal, which rightly takes partial credit for focusing attention on the...
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Tonsillectomies not necessary much of the time; among $158 billion spent each year on unnecessary health care
Photo by Matthew Staver, Bloomberg Tonsillectomies are the most common procedure for children requiring anesthesia. “The only problem is there’s no evidence they work for most” kids, reports Sarah Cliff...
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Couple loses combined 347 pounds in 2 years, pretty simply; similar success stories are always compelling
“When Art and Betty Halcomb look at each other, they still have a hard time believing how much weight they have lost,” reports Nola Sizemore for the Harlan Daily Enterprise....
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Floyd County woman is Kentucky’s smoke-free advocate of year
For her work spreading the word about second-hand smoke and founding the coalition that ultimately helped Prestonsburg pass a smoke-free ordinance in 2009, Floyd County’s Jean V. Rosenberg was named...
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Measles is still around; rate in 2011 was highest in 15 years
Measles virus (Photo by Scott Camazine/CDC/Getty Images) In 2000, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention declared measles had been eliminated in the United States. But last year, the nation...
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Beshear OKs prescription bill, telling pill mills, ‘Get out of this state’
Saying it couldn’t get to his desk quickly enough, Gov. Steve Beshear signed a bill aimed at curbing prescription drug abuse in celebration today, warning so-called pill mills to “Get...