Legislative lobbying reports for last session rank pharmacy-benefit managers fifth, hospitals sixth, Altria 11th, Anthem 17th, docs 18th

The legislature meets in the Kentucky State Capitol. By Al Cross Kentucky Health News The trade association for pharmacy benefit managers, which act as middlemen between drug and health-insurance companies, was the fifth largest reported spender on lobbying the state legislature in the first three months of the year,...

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Vaping and substance use in Kentucky schools has spiked in the last five years, especially in the younger grades; up 147% overall

Kentucky Department of Education graph from Infinite Campus data; the overall increase was 147%. By Melissa Patrick Kentucky Health News The number of drug, alcohol and tobacco events recorded by schools have increased in schools all levels across Kentucky, according to data collected by Infinite Campus, an online...

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University of Kentucky will buy St. Claire Hospital in Morehead

University of Kentucky trustees Friday approved buying St. Claire HealthCare in Morehead. (UK photo) The University of Kentucky Board of Trustees voted Friday to approve plans to acquire St. Claire HealthCare in Morehead. The targeted date for UK's takeover is July 1.  The move will expand clinical and academic...

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MedCenter Health, chain based at Bowling Green hospital, to expand medical specialty offices at new building in Glasgow

The ceremonial groundbreaking (Photo by Michael Crimmins, Glasgow News 1) Kentucky Health News The small hospital chain based in Bowling Green, MedCenter Health, is expanding its medical-specialty offerings in its largest close neighbor, Glasgow. MCH has had a presence in Glasgow for “a number of years,” but will...

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Warmer weather means ticks are active and looking to suck your blood; they can make you sick; here's how to deal with them

Mosquito Squad of Louisville graphic, adapted by Kentucky Health News; click on it to enlarge State wildlife officials are reminding Kentuckians to take precautions against tick bites, which can transmit disease. “Ticks are common across the state, and whether you’re hunting, hiking or spending time in your backyard,...

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Community pharmacies can help smokers quit, study finds

Photo illustration from QuitSmokingPharmacies.com Kentucky Health News Community pharmacies may play a key role in helping smokers quit, according to a study done in California and published in the peer-reviewed journal Pharmacy. Kentucky' adult smoking rate, 17.4%, is tied for fourth in the nation with MIssissippi....

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Vape retailers and hemp association file suit to block new law that limits sale of vape products to those approved by the FDA

Only vaping products authorized or pending approval by the FDA can be sold in Kentucky as of Jan. 1. (Getty Images photo) By Sarah LaddKentucky Lantern Four vape shops, the Kentucky Vaping Retailers Association and the Kentucky Hemp Association have filed suit in Franklin Circuit Court seeking to strike down a new...

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Kentucky is No. 4 in smoking, down from No. 2, but at 17.4% of adults, experts say the state's smoking rate is still way too high

By Melissa Patrick Kentucky Health News Kentucky still has one of the nation's highest adult smoking rates, but has fallen to fourth among the states, after many years of either ranking first or second. The rate for 2022, the last year for which a rate has been calculated, is 17.4%. Asked why Kentucky might have seen a drop...

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UK hosts national meeting to raise immunization rate for vaccine against cervical and other HPV cancers, in which Ky. leads U.S.

Kentucky Department for Public Health illustration By Melissa Patrick Kentucky Health News Kentucky leads the nation in the rate of cases of and deaths from cervical cancer, a disease that is largely preventable by a vaccine. The vaccine targets the human papillomavirus, which can cause cancers of the cervix, genitals,...

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UK professor Alex Elswick overcame opioid addiction to work with others in recovery and start a community organization to aid them

By Grace SowardsUniversity of Kentucky Alex Elswick grew up with everything he needed. With two great parents, a roof over his head and good grades in school, he was a young person who wouldn’t lead people to believe drug addiction would be in his future. Elswick stands in front of the wall of hope at Voices of Hope, The...

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Lottery system will determine who gets 48 licenses for retailers and 10 for processors of medical cannabis in 11 Kentucky regions

By Melissa Patrick Kentucky Health News Gov. Andy Beshear gave an update on the medical cannabis licensing program Thursday, after signing this year's medical cannabis bill into law the day before. "We have worked hard to create a safe system that limits or eliminates abuse while still providing relief to that veteran suffering...

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Eight suicides in a month make for 'mental health crisis' in PIke

Pike County (Wikipedia map) By Stan Ingold, WEKU Officials in Eastern Kentucky are dealing with what they are calling a “mental health crisis.” In Pike County, over the last 30 days at least eight people have committed suicide. To put that into perspective, the county had eight suicides in all of 2023, said Tammy...

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Louisville's Norton Healthcare receives $20 million gift to support Parkinson's disease programming and research

Norton Healthcare has received a $20 million gift for the "Just Imagine" campaign to support programing and research in Parkinson's disease and movement disorders at the Norton Neuroscience Institute.   The Just Imagine campaign aims to ensure greater access to medical expertise; expand innovative clinical translational...

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Free webinar, Health for a Change: Tackling the Immunization Crisis, is scheduled for Wednesday, May 8, by health foundation

The Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky's next "Health for a Change" webinar is titled "Tackling the Immunization Crisis." It will be held Wednesday, May 8, from 11 a.m. to noon ET.  The free event will address three main topics, including: why dropping rates of immunizations in children should be considered a public-health...

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Top senators, one of whom lost both parents to smoking, say no advocates spoke to them about increasing anti-tobacco spending

By Al Cross Kentucky Health News Kentucky's top two state senators said Tuesday that none of the advocates for more funding of tobacco prevention spoke to them about it during the legislative session that ended Monday night. "I never heard from those advocates. They never came to meet with me, and they probably should've. ....

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'Momnibus' bill to improve maternal health passes on last day, after being attached to another bill to avoid floor fight on abortion

Rep. Kim Moser presents SB 74 to the state House (Ky. LRC photo) By Melissa Patrick and Al Cross Kentucky Health News On the last day of the 2024 legislative session, a bipartisan bill aimed at improving Kentucky's dismal maternal-mortality rate was finally passed, after parliamentary maneuvering to avoid divisive...

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Legislature rejects pleas, cuts tobacco-prevention spending; passes vape bill some say could spur youth smoking

By Sarah Ladd  Kentucky Lantern In a year when the American Cancer Society asked the Kentucky legislature to increase spending on tobacco prevention, lawmakers cut it and passed an anti-vaping bill that some say could increase cigarette use in the state. The two-year state budget’s allocation for tobacco prevention — about $8 million shy of advocates’ ask — “certainly is not” enough to combat use in the state, said Doug Hogan, the government...

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