CDC says certain people in Bourbon, Henderson, Nicholas and Union counties should mask up in indoor public spaces

CDC map shows Union, Henderson, Bourbon and Nicholas counties with a medium level of Covid-19.

By Al Cross

Kentucky Health News

Four Kentucky counties are back in yellow on the national Covid-19 risk map, meaning certain people there are advised to wear masks in indoor public spaces, says the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The latest weekly CDC map shows a medium level of the coronavirus in Union and Henderson counties in northwestern Kentucky and in Bourbon and Nicholas counties in the eastern Bluegrass region.

The CDC says people in those counties who are immunocompromised, or at high risk for severe illness from the virus, should talk to a health-care provider about whether they need to wear a mask or take other precautions.

The weekly ratings are based on new virus cases, Covid-19 hospitalizations and the percentage of staffed inpatient beds occupied by Covid-19 patients.

The report accompanying the map shows that the percentage of Kentuckians testing positive for the virus continues to increase, approaching 8 percent. It says the positive-test rate for the last week was 5% to 7.9%, with an average of 350 cases per day.

The state's latest weekly report, which was issued Monday, said the positive-test rate for the week ended Sunday was 4.35%, with an average of 428 new cases per day. Thursday's CDC report said the latest seven-day total was 2,450 cases, an average of 350 cases per day.

The CDC report shows several Kentucky counties have high levels of virus transmission, but low or moderate levels of Covid-19, perhaps indicating local effectiveness of preventive measures such as vaccinations, social distancing and masking.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention map

Read More

OPINION: Insurers say killing bill hospitals, pharmacists backed against pharmacy benefit managers saved Kentuckians money

By Tom Stephens
Executive Director, Kentucky Association of Health Care Plans

Pocketbook issues were front and center in this most recent session of the Kentucky General Assembly as runaway inflation at the national level continues to outpace wage gains. Lawmakers and the governor worked to ease inflationary burdens for working families by offering relief on hefty vehicle property tax increases caused by a pandemic surge in used car values. The General Assembly also moved to lower the personal income tax to keep more dollars in taxpayer wallets.

Tom Stephens

There were encouraging policy moves in health care as well. One driver of cost increases are government health-benefit mandates, which can add as much as 5 percent to coverage premiums. Kentucky has more healthcare mandates than the national average, but with a few exceptions, legislators largely resisted pressure from powerful lobbying groups to add more in 2022. This was a big win for Kentucky businesses and employees.

One group, the Kentucky Pharmacists Association, worked with an independent pharmacist in the General Assembly to introduce HB 203, a lengthy mandate bill that would have added a minimum $10.64 dispensing fee (5 times the current rate) to Kentuckians’ prescription drugs. The legislation also would have ended quality-driven, pay-for-performance contracts, significantly limiting the ability of companies and health plans to negotiate better pharmacy prices for their employees and members. This would have created a guaranteed payday for high-cost pharmacists. To further tip the scales in their favor, a pharmacist-controlled board would have been established to set future policies on prescription drugs.

As part of their legislative strategy, the pharmacists worked to broaden support for HB 203 and ratchet up pressure by allowing lobbyists for certain hospital systems to insert monopolistic provisions on specialty drugs (medications administered by a provider through injection or infusion typically, in a hospital outpatient setting or a provider’s office). This measure effectively banned a successful innovation known as “white bagging” or “alternate sourcing,” whereby health plans and businesses fight hospital price gouging by using specialty pharmacies to safely distribute these drugs.

Sensing a growing concern over the costs and complexity of the bill, proponents quickly pulled HB 203 before an official Kentucky Department of Insurance cost assessment could be posted. A Pharmaceutical Care Management Association analysis estimated that HB 203 would have increased prescription drug costs by a staggering $5 billion over the next decade. (Editor's note: PCMA lobbies for pharmacy benefit managers, firms that are middlemen between insurance and drug companies, determining what drugs are offered, at what price, and the payments to pharmacists.)

Immediately upon withdrawing HB 203, a slightly revised bill, HB 457, was introduced. It also drew heavy opposition from multiple Kentucky employers, including the Kentucky Association of Manufacturers, General Electric, Mercer and dozens of other Kentucky employers. The Kentucky Association of Health Underwriters rang the alarm: “This bill does nothing to address the cost of prescription drugs, it’s going to do the opposite.” The Kentucky Association of Health Plans pointed to the negative impacts by reminding legislators that the Department of Insurance statement showed a family of four would have paid up to $167 more a year for health coverage.

Fortunately for Kentucky businesses and individuals, HB 457 was not enacted into law. Senate President Robert Stivers illuminated HB 457’s potential effects in an end-of-session press conference when he said, “we started getting, from the business sector and the provider sector, comments and questions about what the overall cost would be to various plans because it would have cost impact on various health insurance plans, including potential fiscal impact to the state employees’ health plan.”

Kentucky businesses would be wise to stay vigilant and continue to raise their voices against expensive health care mandates and disruptions in the healthcare marketplace through legislation that does not have broad support from all stakeholders.

KAHP Executive Director Tom Stephens can be reached at tom@kahp.org.

Read More

USA Today reports on its analysis of Covid-19 deaths in nursing homes last winter, with a focus on Trilogy Health Services

Some Trilogy Health Services residents who died of Covid-19 (Photos contributed to USA Today)

USA Today recently published its findings from an in-depth analysis that looked at Covid-19 nursing home deaths during the 2020-21 winter surge, with a focus on one company that had twice the national average of deaths for nursing homes and has as many as 20 facilities in Kentucky. 

The year-long analysis was done by Letitia Stein, Jayme Fraser, Nick Penzenstadler and freelancer Jeff Kelly Lowenstein. It was published mid-March as a series of  stories, titled "Dying for Care."  

USA Today says, "In a first-of-its-kind analysis, they identified nursing-home ownership webs invisible to consumers. They scored the performance of every nursing home in America to probe questions of corporate responsibility left unanswered by government regulators and dozens of research papers on the pandemic's 140,000-plus nursing home deaths."

The series opens with pictures of people who died in nursing homes of Trilogy Health Services, found to have the "highest death rates reported by any large nursing home chain at the height of the pandemic."  

The analysis found that residents in Trilogy's 115 homes died of Covid-19 last winter at twice the national average for nursing homes, based on figures facilities must file weekly with the federal government. 

After being presented with USA Today's findings, the company told the newspaper that it had mistakenly reported hundreds of deaths during the surge and offered a revised tally that reduced the count by more than 40 percent, but it declined to provide documentation of those claims. It has since "filed new numbers with the federal government and hired a consultant to help it review its death count," the newspaper reports. 

But even with those lower numbers, the newspaper reported that Trilogy's Covid-19 death rates were "well above the national average" during the winter surge. 

The paper's analysis found that the deaths were not driven by residents who were older or more fragile, and could not be explained solely by the company's presence in states hard-hit by the virus. An unusual distinction was that Trilogy had been acquired by a company specializing in real estate in a test of a business model new to large nursing-home chains. 

The analysis found that "millions of dollars continued to flow from Trilogy to a California-based real estate venture busy preparing its next investment pitch – a stock listing expected to launch this year." 

The story digs into the business model behind these nursing homes and their efforts to increase profits, including staff cuts. It says Trilogy "went further than any other major chain in shrinking care hours delivered to residents before the pandemic," that "half of its facilities were cited by health inspectors for violating Covid-19 safety rules in 2020" and that "Trilogy's poor Covid outcomes stood out by measure after measure." 

The company divided its facilities "into red, yellow and green zones to limit exposure to the virus," the story says, but "Eyewitness interviews and the reports filed by health inspectors indicate this safety regimen was often a charade." The story also includes interviews with families of those who died. 

The series also includes short stories about some of the Trilogy residents who died and another includes a video of families reflecting on their loss. In addition, there is a link to share the story of how you lost a loved one in a nursing home due to Covid-19. 

Also in the USA Today "Dying for Care" series: 

The reporters break down their findings into four key things to know about their investigation into nursing home failures during Covid-19, including why Trilogy stood out, impact of staffing on care, impact of ignoring safety lapses pointed out in inspections, and impacts from the real-estate business model. 

In response to the story, federal nursing home regulators have said they need to collect better information about real estate ownership model's like Trilogy's, they report. Further, President Joe Biden  proposed reforms in February that would track problem owners across states  and shed light on Wall Street profits from nursing homes. 

The analysis revealed ownership webs invisible to consumers and said "problems across chains eluded federal officials overseeing nursing homes, who were focused on individual facilities during the pandemic." 

A story by Fraser walks through the details of how they did the analysis. She writes that USA Today took a closer look at nursing-home performance in the winter surge from October 2020 to February 2021 because half the nation's 140,000 Covid-19 deaths in nursing homes happened during that period, "months after best practices were established and federal aid issued for coping with the coronavirus." 

Another story, written by Penzenstadler, offers a guide to choosing the right nursing home for a loved on in three steps. 

Penzenstadler also explores the question, "When does a nursing home Covid-19 death count?" 

There is also a section that allows you to look up nursing-home ratings from the analysis and see how they fared during the pandemic's winter surge, 2021-21. 

There are no Kentucky data in the spreadsheet; USA Today reports there are 13 Trilogy Health Services facilities in Kentucky, but its website lists 20: Cooper Trail Senior Living in Bardstown; Cedar Ridge Health Campus in Cynthiana; Walker's Trail Senior Living in Danville; The Willows at Harrodsburg; The Springs at Oldham Reserve in La Grange; The Willows at Citation in Lexington; The Willows at Fritz Farm in Lexington; The Willows at Hamburg in Lexington; Forest Springs Health Campus in Louisville; Franciscan Health Care Center in Louisville; Glen River Health Campus in Louisville; Park Terrace Health Campus in Louisville; The Legacy at English Station in Louisville; The Springs at Stony Brook in Louisville; The Willows at Springhurst in Louisville; Westport Place Health Campus in Louisville; Sanders Ridge Health Campus in Mt. Washington; Calumet Trace Senior Living in Owensboro; Shelby Farms Senior Living in Shelbyville; and Boonesboro Trail Senior Living in Winchester. 

Read More

Coronavirus positive-test rate rose from 3.12% to 4.35% last week, even as cases and Covid-19 hospital numbers dropped

By Melissa Patrick
Kentucky Health News

The share of Kentuckians testing positive for the coronavirus went up for the third week in a row last week, but coronavirus cases and hospitalizations for Covid-19 dropped. 

The state's report for the last Monday-to-Sunday reporting period showed the percentage of Kentuckians testing positive in the past seven days is 4.35 percent, a significant increase from 3.12% the week before and up from a low of 1.97% three weeks ago. Public-health experts say a level of 5% or more is concerning.

The figures do not include results of at-home tests.

The state reported 2,997 new cases of the virus in the reporting week, an average of 428 per day, down almost 8% from 465 a day the week before. 

Of this week's new cases, nearly 21% were in people 18 and younger. 

The statewide seven-day infection rate is 6.49 daily cases per 100,000 residents, up from 5.63 in the prior week's report. Counties with rates more than double the state rate were Jefferson, 14.7; Mason, 14.2; Bath, 13.7; and Robertson, 13.6.

The New York Times ranks Kentucky's infection rate 15th among the states and Washington, D.C., with a 7% decrease in cases over the last 14 days. 

The state attributed 116 more deaths to Covid-19 last week, an average of 16.6 per day. The week before, it was 13.9 per day; the week after it was 24.6 per day. The state's pandemic death toll is now 15,413. 

Kentucky hospitals reported 166 patients with Covid-19, with only 24 in intensive care and eight on mechanical ventilation, all fewer than the previous week, though the declines are less than the week before.

Again, very few intensive-care beds in Kentucky are being used for Covid-19 patients, but five of the state's 10 hospital regions are using at least 80% of their intensive-care beds. Statewide, 77% of the beds are in use. 

Kentuckians are still encouraged to get a Covid-19 vaccination or boosted. 

The Washington Post reports that a daily average of 3,885 doses of Covid-19 vaccine were given in Kentucky last week, an 18% drop from the week before. The Post reports that 61% of Kentucky's eligible population, 5 and older, are fully vaccinated and 44% of fully vaccinated people have received a booster shot.

Read More

First phase of $87 million HEALing Communities Study to address opioid epidemic has touched thousands of Kentuckians

UK's Sharon Walsh, Carrie Oser and Amanda Fallin-Bennett, along with

the Clark County Health Department's Jennifer Gulley (second from left)

presented an update on community engagement in UK's HEALing grant

at the 2022 Rx and Illicit Drug Summit. (University of Kentucky photo)

Thousands of Kentuckians in eight counties have benefited from a variety of evidence based practices to address the opioid epidemic in the first phase of the $87 million University of Kentucky HEALing Communities Study . The second phase of the study will begin in July.

"As the study continues, their work will help us better understand what’s needed in each community and where to focus and ramp up efforts to best support patients to reduce opioid overdose deaths,”  Sharon Walsh, the principal investigator, told Elizabeth Chapin of UKNow. “Our goal is that the changes implemented in these communities develop into sustainable solutions for the opioid epidemic in the commonwealth and throughout the nation.”

Walsh is a professor in UK’s colleges of Medicine and Pharmacy and directs the Center on Drug and Alcohol Research. 

Evidence-based practices the study team implemented with behavioral-health and criminal-justice agencies include effective delivery of medications for opioid-use disorder, overdose-prevention education and distribution of naloxone, a life-saving medication that reverses the effects of opioids. The team has also been working with various pharmacies and health care providers to implement safer opioid prescribing and dispensing, says a news release. 

Kentucky Health News map

The study includes 16 Kentucky counties and is broken down into two waves of eight counties each. Community coalitions in each county determined what interventions to implement based on individual community need. The first wave is Boyd, Boyle, Clark, Fayette, Floyd, Franklin, Kenton and Madison counties.

Working with 146 agencies in the eight counties in the first wave, the study has:

• Dispensed 55,147 units of naloxone to 166 locations that have so far distributed 40,243 units to individuals in high-risk populations;
• Gave financial support for staff and transportation to 38 facilities that use medication for opioid-use disorder (MOUD);
• Expanded capacity for MOUD treatment, as well as linkage and retention programs in criminal justice venues including sheriff's departments, pretrial services, home incarceration, drug courts, jails and probation and parole programs;
• Helped 38 agencies with implementation of peer-support programs and 28 agencies with care-navigation programs;
• Gave 206 individuals with opioid-use disorder financial support to overcome barriers to medication treatment, including transportation, vehicle repairs, jail communication-service fees and utility bills;
• Provided 16 people with housing assistance including rent and emergency housing;
• Provided transportation assistance to link individuals to treatment and keep them in it. Through March 10, 1,531 rides to treatment programs and recovery-related appointments had been provided to 121 unique individuals for a total of 80,007 miles;
• Installed medication receptacles at 35 pharmacies, with more than 1,400 pounds of medication incinerated to date; and
• Led educational sessions on safer opioid prescribing and dispensing for more than 150 health-care professionals including dentists, primary-care providers and pharmacists.

The intervention also includes community engagement to assist key stakeholders in applying evidence-based practices and a communications campaign to build demand for treatment and reduce stigma toward people with opioid use disorder.

The first-wave intervention ends this summer, with the sustainability phase beginning in July. This phase is intended to build capacity to help community coalitions and partner organizations,  sustain the evidence-based practices after the study ends, efforts around community staffing and budget planning, and efforts to sustain naloxone distribution. 

The second-wave intervention begins July 1 in Bourbon, Campbell, Carter, Greenup, Jefferson, Jessamine, Knox and Mason counties.  So far, the study team has had 134 meetings with 174 stakeholders and has identified 85 potential coalition members for the second wave.

Launched in 2019, the four-year study includes a multidisciplinary team of more than 25 researchers spanning seven colleges across UK, and partners with communities to implement strategies to reduce opioid deaths.

Read More

Tick season nears. 10% of ticks carry debilitating diseases; quick action can prevent them. And UK wants you to send in your ticks!

Lucie Conchou works in UK entomologist

Zainulabeuddin Syed’s lab. (Photo by Matt Barton)

Kentucky Health News

Ticks are a threat in Kentucky year-round, but especially in the summer months. The next time one bites you, stop and think before flushing it down the toilet. You could help other people by mailing it to the University of Kentucky entomology department to see if it carries disease or not. 

Here's how: If you find a tick on yourself or your pet, remove it with tweezers, place it in alcohol in a sealed container or bag, and mail it to the university's entomology department. Those are the instructions Professor Reddy Palli, who chairs the department and serves as state entomologist, told Aaron Mudd of the Lexington Herald-Leader.

A university spokesperson told Mudd to check with your local UK Extension office to see exactly where to mail a specimen for study. 

“We will contact the person who submits the specimen if we detect pathogens in the tick and encourage them to contact their physician,” Palli told the Herald-Leader in an email.

Mudd reports, "As a leader in his field, Palli is overseeing several researchers who are studying tick populations in Kentucky, monitoring the diseases they spread and potentially engineering ways to repel them or even stop them from searching for blood in the first place."

Katie Pratt of the UK College of Agriculture, Food and Environment also wrote about the work of Palli and his colleagues. 

She reports that one of the Palli's graduate students is Anna Pasternak, who leads the Kentucky Tick Surveillance Program. She collects ticks analyze their genetic material and any disease-causing pathogens hiding within them. The program has been collecting information on ticks in the state since January 2019. 

“Preliminary results show that the greatest number of ticks exist in wooded areas of the state and at Land Between the Lakes, and 10 percent of them carry a pathogen that cause diseases like Lyme disease, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, alpha-gal and others,” Palli said. The last disease he mentioned can cause an allergy to red meat.

“We really did not expect pathogen presences in these ticks to be that high,” Palli said.

“Our goal is to take Anna’s data and educate farmers, loggers, physicians and health care workers about the ticks in the state and ways to minimize their effects. For example, if someone gets bitten by a tick carrying the Lyme disease pathogen and they get an antibiotic within 72 hours, it is likely the antibiotic will kill the bacteria that causes Lyme disease. Not many people know that, and by the time symptoms appear, it’s often too late.”

University of Kentucky graphic; for a larger version, click on it.

Blacklegged ticks, tiny bugs otherwise known as deer ticks, are the main transmitter of Lyme disease, the top insect vector-borne disease in America. And as these ticks expand their region from New England to the eastern half of the United States, cases of Lyme disease are growing too, Pratt reports. 

Signs and symptoms of Lyme disease include fever, chills, headache, fatigue, muscle and joint aches and swollen lymph glands. Upwards of 80% of infected persons have a distinctive "bull's eye" rash that appears at the site of the bite three to 30 days after infection.

The American dog tick and the brown dog tick can carry and transmit the bacteria that causes Rocky Mountain spotted fever.

Signs and symptoms of RMSF are fever, headache, nausea, vomiting, stomach pain, muscle pain, lack of appetite and a spotted rash. The rash usually develops several days after the onset of a fever and can vary between splotches and smaller pinpoint dots.

The Lone Star tick caries the bacteria that causes ehrilichiosis. Signs and symptoms of ehrilichiosis are fever, headache, chills, cough, malaise, muscle pain, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, confusion and red eyes. A rash is common in children, but less so in adults.

The Lone Star tick is also a vector for alpha-gal syndrome, known as the red-meat allergy, which is becoming increasingly more common.

Ways to protect yourself from ticks are:

• Avoid grassy, wooded and leaf-covered areas
• Keep grass and shrubs trimmed and cleared away
• Walk in the center of walking trails
• Wear light-colored clothes, which make it easier to spot ticks
• Wear long pants tucked into boots and tuck in your shirts
• Use tick repellent that has the repellent DEET or picaridin
• Treat your clothes with permethrin, which repels and kills ticks
• Do a body check along the way and at the end of each day
• Check your pets and equipment for ticks
• Shower within two hours of potential exposure, if possible

To kill ticks on clothing, tumble dry for 10 minutes or wash them in hot water. If clothes can't be washed in hot water, tumble dry for 90 minutes on regular heat or 60 minutes on high.

Read More

Latest CDC map shows all of Kentucky has low level of Covid-19

CDC map shows all of Kentucky in green, for low levels of Covid-19 transmission. 

By Melissa Patrick
Kentucky Health News

Every county in Kentucky has a low level of coronavirus transmission, according to the latest weekly analysis of risk based on cases and hospital capacity by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

The CDC ratings are based on new coronavirus cases, Covid-19 hospitalizations and the percentage of staffed inpatient beds occupied by Covid-19 patients. Its color-coded map uses green for counties with low risk of transmission, yellow for counties with medium risk and red for counties with high risk. 

The latest map shows that the whole state is in the green, a level that comes with recommendations to stay up to date with your Covid-19 vaccines and to get tested if you have symptoms. 

The CDC reports that 91.7% of counties and county equivalents in the U.S. have a low level of Covid-19. 

The latest ratings came as Kentucky's Covid-19 cases and the share of Kentuckians testing positive for the virus in the previous week  ticked up a bit, while hospital numbers continued to decline.

"So we're gonna keep taking a look at at where the numbers of cases and positivity are, but [we're] not concerned because of where these [hospital] graphs are, which is in such a good place," Gov. Andy Beshear said at his weekly news conference on Thursday, before the new CDC map was released. 

The slight uptick also comes as Kentucky gears up for what Beshear said would be record crowds at this year's Kentucky Derby on Saturday, May 7, which he said he plans on attending. 

"We are in the best shape that we have been since the start of the pandemic, with all factors considered to host the Kentucky Derby," he said. "And how exciting is that?"

Read More

Appalachian Food for Health Diabetes Prevention virtual event is Tuesday, April 26; it's free, but registration is required

The fourth Appalachian Food for Health Diabetes Prevention event will take place Tuesday, April 26 from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. ET.

The virtual event will focus on food and nutrition policy that impact diabetes. It will also include a discussion about diabetes prevention and how better access to fresh, healthy foods can play a role in deterring this disease. The event is free, but registration is required. Click here to register. 

The agenda for the event includes presentations from Tyler Offerman, food justice organizer for the Kentucky Equal Justice Center, who will give an overview of 2022 Kentucky legislation related to food and nutrition; Martin Richards and Kimberly Ishmael of the Community Farm Alliance, who will discuss the healthy farm and food fund; and Pamela Spradling, director of planning and grant management at Big Sandy Health Care, who will discuss community health workers and diabetes prevention. 

The Appalachian Food for Health Diabetes Prevention Convening series is a collaboration between the Community Farm Alliance, the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky and Shaping Our Appalachian Region, the regional economic-development group for Kentucky's 54 Appalachian counties. 

Read More

One stable at Keeneland focuses on addiction recovery while offering instruction on the basics of horsemanship

Will Walden and Tyler Maxwell of Ready Made Racing at Keeneland
on April 2. (Photo by Silas Walker, Lexington Herald-Leader)

Jacalyn Carfagno, a contributing writer for the Lexington Herald-Leader, tells a story about a group of men training horses at Ready Made Racing, a stable where all of the staff are in addiction recovery. 

The idea came to fruition last summer when Will Walden, a fourth-generation horseman and the son of Elliott Walden, president and CEO of WinStar Farm, went to Frank Taylor, vice president of sales at his family's Taylor Made Farm and pitched the idea, Carfagno reports. 

Taylor, also in recovery,  proceeded to buy 10 yearlings, found a group of investors and convinced his brothers to try a pilot project they called the Taylor Made School of Horsemanship to train people in recovery from substance use addiction the basics of horsemanship, she writes. 

Taylor told Carfagno that the horse industry is rife with addiction and "It's a lot safer to hire the ones that are in treatment."  

A year later, she writes that 20 have graduated from the 90-day program, 11 still work for Taylor Made, and others have gone on to other farms or industries. 

At the core of Ready Made Stables are Walden, Michael Lowry and Tyler Maxwell, who had gotten to know each other in the Shepherd's House recovery program. Carfagno reports that these three men took the 10 yearlings to Florida to train over the winter, even after a friend told Taylor that he was "a complete idiot" for trusting "three addicted guys that are in recovery" with that responsibility. 

Walden agreed it was a leap of faith, telling her, “You wouldn’t trust any one of us with five dollars to go to the store just a year ago, let alone hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of horses.” 

"But the three supported and encouraged each other, stayed sober and came back with race-ready two-year-olds," she writes. And by the time the Ready Made team arrived at Keeneland the third week of March,  she writes that Walden, 31, had been sober for 16 months, the longest period since he finished high school. 

On Wednesday, April 20, Sergeant Countzler, a two-year-old Bolt D'Oro colt and one of the 10 yearlings purchased for the program, came in third in his first race.

Walden told Carfagno that it was fitting that the horse is named for Christian Countzler, who helped him, Lowry and Maxwell climb out of addiction through his work at Shepherd's House. "I don't think we'd be here without that guy," he said. 

Lowry told Carfagno that caring for the horses entrusted to them is more than just a job.

"They do something to you, they bring peace, they really do, they bring peace," he said. 

Taylor shares even more about the mission and benefits of this program in a video with Blood Horse Magazine. 

Read More

Albert B. Chandler Hospital at UK opened 60 years ago today

The latest Chandler Hospital is on Limestone Street.

By Kristi Willett

University of Kentucky

Sixty years ago today, the Albert B. Chandler Hospital at the University of Kentucky opened its doors and welcomed its first patients. The hospital has evolved into the UK HealthCare system, operating three hospitals – UK Chandler, UK Good Samaritan and UK Kentucky Children’s Hospital – serving more than 40,000 patients a year.

UK HealthCare also includes more than 60 outpatient clinics, conducting more than 2.2 million outpatient visits every year, and employs more than 10,000 physicians, nurses, pharmacists and other health-care providers.

“This team is dedicated to providing the most advanced, high-quality patient care to Kentucky and beyond,” said Dr. Mark F. Newman, UK's executive vice president for health affairs.

Chandler Hospital has been rated the No. 1 hospital in Kentucky by U.S. News & World Report for six years.

Access to quality health care in the Bluegrass region is something that is often taken for granted, but that hasn’t always been the case. In the early 20th century, one of every three Kentuckians examined for military service during World War II was deemed medically unfit for duty. In 1949, there were more than 5,000 unattended births in Kentucky and the state ranked near the bottom in physician-to-patient ratio, with an estimated 1,400 additional doctors needed.

In the early 1950s, a group of UK professors and the Legislative Research Commission recommended that an academic medical center be built at UK to improve health-care access for Kentuckians. The state's only medical school was at the University of Louisville.

In 1954, UK trustees committed to fulfilling the university's original charter to create a medical college and associated medical center once funds became available. During his 1955 campaign for a second, nonconsecutive term as governor, Albert B. "Happy" Chandler promised that he would get it done, and the university named it for him.

The hospital immediately became a cornerstone for educating top physicians, providing outstanding health care, and conducting breakthrough medical research. It and the rest of UK HealthCare have become a statewide hub for advanced care. Chandler Hospital is a Level 1 trauma center and has one of the largest intensive-care units in Kentucky. During the Covid-19 pandemic, the hospital and UK HealthCare played a critical role, caring for more than 4,400 patients.

“During our anniversary celebration of the opening of UK Chandler Hospital, it is vital that we honor those who came before us and worked diligently on what was merely a vision of health-care access in the 1950s and '60s,” Newman said. “We are forever grateful for those who provided the support needed to build the foundation that has led to our world-class medical facilities. It is our hope that through our work, we honor the legacy of these visionaries and leaders each and every day.”

Read More

Free academy at Pikeville June 12-25 will introduce rising high-school seniors and juniors in Appalachian Kentucky to nursing

The regional development group Shaping our Appalachian Region and the state Department for Public Health’s Office of Health Equity are hosting the first Appalachian Nursing Academy June 12-25 at the University of Pikeville for rising juniors and seniors at high schools in Kentucky's 54 Appalachian counties. The free two-week academy offers:
· Housing at the university
· Three meals a day
· Interactive programming with workshops, presentation, shadowing, mentorship, tours, etc.
· $1,500 scholarship to further your education
· Trips to see and experience regional attractions and activities

You do not have to have any prior experience related to nursing to apply. Your interest is all that matters. If you are interested, click here to apply or here to download a flyer.

Read More

Kentucky gets $4.19 million to expand AmeriCorps work in public health, with the hope it will funnel more people into such work

Kentucky has received nearly $4.2 million to expand the public-health role of the AmeriCorps program in the state. The grant comes from the American Rescue Plan Act, last year's pandemic relief bill.

"This funding will support the recruitment, training and development of a new generation of public health leaders,” Gov. Andy Beshear said in a news release. “The funding will support the addition of community health workers with coordination from Serve Kentucky, the agency committed to engaging Kentuckians in volunteerism and service to positively impact our communities.”

This new public health initiative is the result of a partnership between AmeriCorps and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Nationwide, the initiative will fund up to 5,000 public-health positions over the next five years. 

Public Health AmeriCorps will help meet public-health needs of local communities by providing surge capacity and support while also creating pathways to public health-related careers, says the release. 

Health Commissioner Steven Stack pointed to the many public-health challenges caused by the pandemic, noting that it has been "neither easy nor without loss" to get to our current low rates of transmission. 

"This grant allows us to plan for future public health emergency responses," he said. "Creating a standing corps of public health personnel to manage surge capacity and respond to crises will enable Team Kentucky to stand ready to support Kentuckians when emergencies arise." 

Funding from the grant will  to the Kentucky Health Departments Association and Family Scholar House. 

The KHDA will get $1,367,986 to add 75 AmeriCorps members as community health workers in local health departments. They will work in programs such as the Health Access Nurturing Development Services, (HANDS), the Women, Infant and Children (WIC) program, and harm-reduction programs.

AmeriCorps members will not replace any existing health-department staffers, Susan Dunlap, spokeswoman for the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, told Kentucky Health News in an e-mail. 

"AmeriCorps members will be used to bolster the local public health workforce in Kentucky to expand the number of services delivered at local health departments currently available," Dunlap said. "Additionally, AmeriCorps members will receive training to become certified as community health workers, which are in short supply at local health departments throughout Kentucky."

Family Scholar House, which oversees the annual grant competition that awards funding to AmeriCorps State and other community service programs, says it works to provide a comprehensive, holistic continuum of care for low-income families and youth to help them reach their educational, career and family goals. It will get $2,825,124 to offer additional services.

Dunlap said, "FSH applied for the grant due to their familiarity with AmeriCorps, and because the grant will enable participants to receive training and support to enter the public-health field (in addition to the living allowance and education award) – which aligns with FSH’s priorities of health, educational support, and career pathways."

FSH's grant will allow it to leverage 200 AmeriCorps members who will provide health-care support to seniors and disabled individuals in health care facilities across Kentucky, says the news release. 

"FSH AmeriCorps member activities will include support with basic clinical assistance, activities for socialization, infection control, and dietary and patient services," said Dunlap. "FSH AmeriCorps members will develop their healthcare knowledge and complete credentialing coursework—enabling them to work in memory care, skilled nursing, assisted living, and other healthcare related environments." 

Eric Friedlander, secretary of the cabinet, which administers and oversees Serve Kentucky, said this initiative will serve as a steppingstone to get more people into the public-health field.

“After their year of service, we expect more than 200 AmeriCorps members will pursue future engagement in the public-health sector,” Friedlander said in the release. "AmeriCorps and the CDC believe that Public Health AmeriCorps provides a unique way to expose those interested in learning more about public health and its various careers.”

Joe Bringardner, executive director of Serve Kentucky, said, "Adults of all ages and education backgrounds are eligible to serve in Public Health AmeriCorps."

Read More

Kentucky highway fatalities rose again in 2021, by 3%; once more, most of those killed were not wearing their seat belt

Deaths from highway accidents in Kentucky rose 3.3 percent last year, according to the State Police and the Transportation Cabinet. But so far this year, fatality numbers are running below last year. 

Again last year, most of those killed were not wearing a seat belt.

"Of the 806 highway fatalities last year in Kentucky, 54.7 percent were not wearing a seat belt and 15 percent involved alcohol," the agencies said in a press release. "Approximately 26 percent involved speeding or aggressive drivers and 15 percent involved driver distraction."

Those percentages were about the same as in 2020, and those two years showed declines in fatal speeding or aggressive driving and driver distraction from 2019. About 32 percent of deaths in 2019 involved speeding or aggressive driving, and 21 percent involved driver distraction.

Unlike the last two years, 2021 saw deaths of motorcyclists outnumber those of pedestrians and  bicyclists. In 2021, pedestrians and bicyclists accounted for 85 deaths and motorcyclists accounted for 88 deaths. In 2020, pedestrians and bicyclists accounted for 97 deaths and motorcyclists accounted for 74 deaths. In 2019, pedestrians and bicyclists accounted for 79 deaths and motorcyclists accounted for 77 deaths.

“While we pledge to increase our awareness efforts, we need the public’s help,” Transportation Secretary Jim Gray said in the press release. “We’re asking motorists to commit to save driving behaviors when behind the wheel, and everyone – both drivers and passengers – pledge to always buckle up.”

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, wearing a seat belt gives motorists the best chance of preventing injury or death if involved in a crash. Properly fastened seat belts contact the strongest parts of the body, such as the chest, hips and shoulders. A seat belt spreads the force of a crash over a wide area of the body, putting less stress on any one part, and allows the body to slow down with the crash, extending the time when the crash forces are felt by the occupant.

Read More

Coronavirus cases and positive-test rate in Kentucky are rising, but deaths and hospital numbers are declining more

By Melissa Patrick
Kentucky Health News

Daily cases and the share of Kentuckians testing positive for the coronavirus are rising again, apparently reflecting a national trend.

The state's report for the last Monday-Sunday period showed 3,257 new cases of the virus, an average of 465 per day, up 4.5% from 445 a day the week before.  

The New York Times reports that cases are rising again in the U.S., going up 39% in the last two weeks. It notes that case numbers are likely higher than reported, because of the prevalence of home Covid-19 tests.

The percentage of Kentuckians testing positive for the virus in the past seven days is 3.12%, up from 2.27%. 

The Times ranks Kentucky's infection rate 20th among the states and Washington, D.C. Of the week's new cases in Kentucky, 25% were in people 18 and younger. 

Kentucky's seven-day infection rate also showed an uptick, to to 5.63 cases per 100,000 residents from 4.09 the week before. Counties with rates more than double the latest statewide rate are Franklin, 23.5; Campbell, 11.9; and Jefferson, 11.6. Twenty of the 120 counties reported no cases last week.

While leading indicators showed more risk of infection, deaths related to Covid-19 dropped 43 percent and hospital numbers continued to decline. 

The state attributed 97 more deaths to Covid-19, an average of just under 13.9 per day. That's down from 24.6 per day the week before and 19.3 per day the week before that. All told, the state has attributed 15,297 deaths to the pandemic. 

Kentucky hospitals reported 176 patients with Covid-19, with 20 of them in intensive care and 14 on mechanical ventilation. All of these numbers are lower than last week's Monday report. 

Very few intensive-care beds in Kentucky are being used for Covid-19 patients, but six of the state's 10 hospital regions are using at least 80% of their intensive care beds. Statewide, 78.7% of the beds are in use. 

Kentuckians who are not vaccinated or boosted are still encouraged to do so. The Washington Post reports that an average of 4,753 Covid-19 vaccine doses per day were given in Kentucky last week, a 6% increase over the week before.

The numbers include second doses and booster shots. They have been increasing since late March, when a second booster shot was authorized for people 65 and older and other more vulnerable populations. But the rate of increase in Kentucky since then has not been as fast as nationwide. 

So far, 65% of the state's total population has received at least one dose of a vaccine; 57% of the total population is fully vaccinated; and 44% of those eligible have been boosted. The Post adds that nearly 61% of the state's eligible population, those 5 and older, have been fully vaccinated. 

"Let's keep going," Gov. Andy Beshear said at last week's press conference. "It's not enough." 

Travel masks out: On Monday, a federal judge in Florida struck down the federal mask mandate on airplanes and other modes of public transportation, saying it exceeds the statutory authority of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and violates administrative law. 

Last week, the CDC extended the public transportation mask mandate through May 3. The Biden administration has not decided on an appeal.

"White House spokesperson Jen Psaki said Monday afternoon that it was a 'disappointing' decision, and that the Department of Homeland Security and the CDC were reviewing the ruling" and that "the Justice Department will make any determinations about a legal response," CNN reports.

Read More

Cancer plagues Appalachia, so a UK program brings high-school and college students from the region into the study of it

The nation's highest cancer rates are in Appalachia, especially in Appalachian Kentucky. But the state is also home to an effort to get young people from the region involved in research to prevent and cure cancer.

It's at the University of Kentucky’s Markey Cancer Center, where college and high-school students from Appalachian Kentucky can explore research, clinical care and education "to help them learn more about pursuing careers in fighting cancer," Tom Martin of Richmond's WEKU-FM reports for The Daily Yonder.

The program is called ACTION, for Appalachian Career Training in Oncology, the study and treatment of cancer. It's directed by Nathan Vanderford, an associate professor of toxicology and cancer biology. He is editor of a book of student essays, Cancer Crisis in Appalachia: Kentucky Students Take ACTION , published by the University Press of Kentucky in 2020. A second edition, being edited by Vanderford and Chris Pritchard, is forthcoming.

Professor Nathan Vanderford with the students' book
and photographs (UK photo by Pete Comparoni)

Vanderford told Martin, "We truly do have a cancer crisis in Appalachian Kentucky. The state continues to rate number one in overall cancer incidence and mortality rates. And so it’s critically important that we bring awareness to this fact across the state, and particularly in Eastern Kentucky," which lacks oncology professionals and is distant from health-care centers.

"We are on a mission, and we think it’s really important to train the next generation of oncology professionals who are going to tackle the cancer problem in Appalachian Kentucky, and to have those be individuals who were born and raised and have a personal understanding of the issues that the area faces," Vanderford said. "And who best to do that than the youth of the region?"

Vanderford is from Appalachia, and lost his father to lung cancer in 2010. He told Martin that's when he "became really passionate about cancer and cancer disparities. . . . Just shortly thereafter, my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer, and luckily she was diagnosed early and went through some successful treatment and she’s OK today. So from a personal perspective . . . I’m deeply passionate about this work because of that. But in general, I just absolutely love working with students. It’s just so exciting to work with students, particularly students from Eastern Kentucky. We have amazing students in this state and they just need opportunities. In many of these rural areas, there’s fewer opportunities, outstanding students, and they can just excel when given opportunities like this to take the ball and run with it, so to speak."

Appalachian Kentucky students who are interested in applying to participate in ACTION may find information on the Markey Cancer Center website. The deadline for high-school students apply is May 13. The deadline for college-student applications has passed for this year. For more on the students' work, including photography that they used to illustrate their writings, click here.

Read More

Kentucky's two clinics suspend abortions as lawsuits challenge new law that is called 'one of the most restrictive in the nation'

Rep. Randy Bridges, R-Paducah, gives a thumbs down to abortion advocates who chanted "Bans off our bodies" at the state Capitol April 13. (Photo by Ryan C. Hermens, Lexington Herald-Leader) 

By Melissa Patrick
Kentucky Health News

Kentucky's Republican-majority legislature overrode Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear's veto of legislation with strict requirements that advocates say have forced the state's only two abortion clinics to stop providing abortions -- and lawsuits by the clinics to nullify the new law.

The law, passed as House Bill 3, bans mailing of medications that have become the means for most abortions in Kentucky, strengthens parental-consent rules, increases reporting requirements, requires aborted fetuses to be cremated or buried, and bans abortion after the 15th week of pregnancy, mimicking a Mississippi law that is awaiting a decision from the U.S. Supreme Court.

That decision, expected in June, could overturn or roll back Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 ruling that has guaranteed the constitutional right to an abortion until a fetus can live outside the womb, roughly 23 to 24 weeks. The high court court not only lower that to 15 weeks but take Roe off the books.

Since Republicans took over the House in 2017, they have steadily passed legislation that has been setting up Kentucky to ban abortions altogether. In 2019, the legislature passed a "trigger law" that would ban abortion immediately if Roe is overturned. In 2021, it voted to add to the state constitution a statement that it does not secure or protect a right to abortion or funding of abortion, if voters approve it as a constitutional amendment this November. 

Rep. Nancy Tate, R-Brandenburg, the sponsor of HB 3, has said the purpose of her bill, dubbed the "Humanity in Healthcare Act 2022" is to better protect the health of women and minors seeking abortion, but opponents disagree. 

"Make no mistake, the Kentucky legislature's sole goal with this law is to shut down health centers and completely eliminate abortion access in this state," leaders of Planned Parenthood and the American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky said in a statement.

Beshear said he vetoed the bill because there were no exemptions for rape or incest and because it is likely unconstitutional, among other reasons. 

“Rape and incest are violent crimes,” Beshear said in his veto message. “Victims of these crimes should have options, not be further scarred through a process that exposes them to more harm from their rapists or that treats them like offenders themselves.”

The governor said a 12-year-old girl "raped and impregnated by her father" couldn't get an abortion without notifying him and her mother at least 48 hours before having the procedure or going through a court hearing if they did not allow it.

Kentucky's only two abortion providers said they had to stop conducting the procedure because other restrictions and reporting requirements in the 72-page bill went into effect as soon as it was finally passed, under an emergency clause. The legislature sent Beshear the bill March 30 after overwhelming votes for it.

EMW Women's Surgical Services and Planned Parenthood, both abortion providers in Louisville, have filed separate federal lawsuits challenging the new law and asking a judge to suspend it. 

The ACLU said in a news release, "The lawsuits argue that the law would create unnecessary abortion requirements while simultaneously making those requirements impossible to comply with given the immediate effective date of the law, forcing providers in the state to stop offering abortion services. Because the law is impossible to comply with, it amounts to a de facto abortion ban, thus violating patients’ federal right to abortion under Roe v. Wade." 

Kentucky's Republican attorney general, Daniel Cameron, said he is ready to defend the new law. 

“The General Assembly passed HB 3 to protect life and promote the health and safety of women, and we are prepared to earnestly defend this new law against the legal challenge from Planned Parenthood and the ACLU," he said in a statement. 

Alex Acquisto of the Lexington Herald-Leader breaks down four key points in the new abortion law, which Caroline Kitchener of The Washington Post says is "one of the most restrictive in the nation." 

Kitchener adds in a separate online newsletter that more than 500 anti-abortion measures are moving through state legislatures this year and that as more states enact strict abortion restrictions, patients who can afford to cross state lines will be forced to travel further. The Post tracks new action on abortion legislation in real time  across the states on its abortion legislation tracker.

Alecia Fields, an abortion provider at Planned Parenthood in Louisville, told Kitchener that among the most difficult restrictions to comply with is the new rule on fetal remains, which will likely require the hiring of more people to facilitate "an elaborate and medically unnecessary burial process for each abortion performed" as well as contracting with funeral homes, which may not be willing to open themselves to the backlash from the community. 

Both Kentucky abortion providers are still taking calls from patients, and Planned Parenthood says it is directing Kentucky women seeking abortion to other states, Deborah Yetter reports for the Louisville Courier Journal in an article with a headline asking, "Did Kentucky ban abortion?"

Planned Parenthood spokeswoman Nicole Erwin said Thursday, "Any patients seeking abortion care in Kentucky are still advised to reach out to us for their first appointment so that we can coordinate care in Indiana or another state that can provide the care they need. Planned Parenthood's doors are and will remain open in Kentucky and will continue providing all other reproductive care."

As conservative states continue to pass anti-abortion laws, "Eliminating rape and incest exceptions has moved from the fringe to the center of the antiabortion movement," Jennifer Haberkorn reports for the Los Angeles Times. 

"Over the last four years, 10 states have enacted abortion bans in early pregnancy without rape or incest exceptions: Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, Ohio, Tennessee and Texas. All were blocked by courts, except Texas’ law, which is in effect," Haberkorn reports.

Haberkorn added in her April 8 article that U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who said he supported exemptions for rape and incest in 2019 when Alabama passed an abortion law without those exceptions, declined to comment on the current legislation. 

Mian Ridge of The Economist writes that if the Supreme Court overturns Roe, "Decisions on abortion would return to the states and at least half would probably ban it. That would exert a particularly heavy toll on poor women. Many of the states that are keenest on banning abortion are among those that offer the least help to low-income mothers and their children." 

"Whatever the laws may say, history has shown that women will continue to have abortions," Jessica Bruder writes for The Atlantic, in a deep dive into what the future of abortion in America may look like. It explores how a covert network of activists are preparing for the end of Roe.

Read More

Health bills were among those that passed (some with overrides of vetoes) and failed in the last two days of the legislative session

By Melissa Patrick
Kentucky Health News

The Republican legislature overrode more than two dozen of Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear's vetoes Wednesday and Thursday, including a wide-ranging abortion bill that was immediately challenged in court and another that sets new rules for public-assistance programs, including Medicaid. 

Tulips in front of the state Capitol

The lawmakers also passed a number of health-related bills on a wide range of topics, including youth mental health, increased access to mental health and addiction recovery care, a behavioral-health pilot program for low-level offenders, postpartum care for low-income Kentuckians, research into medical marijuana, and the recruitment and retention of health-care providers. 

The anti-abortion measure, House Bill 3, bans mailing of medications that have become the means for most abortions in Kentucky, strengthens parental-consent rules and bans abortion after the 15th week of pregnancy, mimicking a Mississippi law that is awaiting a decision from the U.S. Supreme Court. 

Beshear said he vetoed the bill because there were no exemptions for rape or incest, also noting that it is likely unconstitutional, among other reasons. 

Kentucky's only abortion providers said they had to stop conducting the procedure because other restrictions and reporting requirements in the 72-page bill went into effect as soon as it was finally passed because of an emergency clause.

EMW Women's Surgical Services and Planned Parenthood, both in Louisville, have each filed federal lawsuits challenging the new law and are asking a judge to suspend it. 

The American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky said in a news release, "The lawsuits argue that the law would create unnecessary abortion requirements while simultaneously making those requirements impossible to comply with given the immediate effective date of the law, forcing providers in the state to stop offering abortion services. Because the law is impossible to comply with, it amounts to a de facto abortion ban, thus violating patients’ federal right to abortion under Roe v. Wade," the 1973 Supreme Court decision creating a constitutional right to abortion before a fetus can live outside the womb. 

Lawmakers also overruled Beshear's veto of HB 7, a public-assistance reform bill aimed at reducing fraud and getting able-bodied adults without dependents back into the workplace. Beshear vetoed the bill because, among other things, he said it will result in making it harder for people who need the benefits to get them and will result in people losing benefits. 

Health bills that passed in the last days of session

HB 44, sponsored by Bobby McCool, R-Van Lear (Johnson County), allows local school boards to include mental health as a reason for an excused absence. Rep. Lisa Willner, D-Louisville, praised the passage of this bill, noting that it came from students at several Kentucky schools. This bill also removed part of a new law that would have created criminal penalties for teachers who didn't teach racial history the way called for by the new law, Senate Bill 1, also passed over a veto. 

Senate Bill 102, sponsored by Sen. Max Wise, R-Campbellsville, requires local school superintendents to provide a yearly census of all school-based mental-health providers and their duties to the state Department of Education, not just a list of school counselors. 

SB 90, sponsored by Sen. Whitney Westerfield, R-Crofton, creates a pilot program to divert some qualifying low-level offenders away from jail and into treatment for substance-use disorder or mental-health issues. 

Negotiated in a late House-Senate conference committee, the bill gives the project $11 million a year from the settlement that Kentucky and other states received from opioid manufacturers and distributors.

HB 573, sponsored by Rep. Kim Moser, R-Taylor Mill, establishes the Healthcare Worker Loan Relief Program for qualifying health-care workers with jobs that require four-year degrees. This program is meant to help recruit and retain healthcare workers in rural and underserved areas of Kentucky.

The program would be aligned with the Kentucky State Loan Repayment Program and administered by the University of Kentucky's Center for Excellence in Rural Health. The budget has $2 million in each fiscal year from the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, the last pandemic-relief bill.   

SB 178, sponsored by Sen. Julie Raque Adams, R-Louisville, ended up being a catch-all bill for several health-related issues. It requires Medicaid to provide coverage to new mothers up to 12 months after giving birth; sets new rules for certification of alcohol and drug counselors; allows licensed narcotic treatment programs to use buprenorphine products to treat patients; and requires third-party oversight over the state's single Medicaid pharmacy benefit manager; and bars termination of parental rights of a mother whose child suffers from neonatal abstinence syndrome if the mother agrees, prior to discharge from the hospital, to participate in a court-ordered treatment program that includes peer supports. 

HB 604, sponsored by Moser, also became a catch-all bill that at its core establishes the Kentucky Center for Cannabis Research at the University of Kentucky. The budget allocates $2 million in the fiscal year that begins July 1 to start the center. Other health provisions in this bill create the mobile crisis services fund and to the Commonwealth West Healthcare Workforce Innovation Center. 

Health bills that got stuck in the Senate

HB 136, sponsored by Rep. Jason Nemes, R-Louisville, which would have legalized medical cannabis in Kentucky did not gain any traction in the Senate after passing out of the House. Senate President Robert Stivers has long said that he believes more research is needed before such a bill should pass. 

HB 354, sponsored by Rep. Russell Webber, R-Shepherdsville, would have created a path for Kentucky's advanced practice registered nurses to prescribe controlled substances independently. "I'm sure that bill will come back some time in the future," said Senate Majority Floor Leader Damon Thayer in the closing hours of the session.

Read More