Princess Health and Potent fentanyl, mixed with heroin, drives 14.7 percent increase in fatal drug overdoses in Kentucky from 2014 to 2015. Princessiccia

Princess Health and Potent fentanyl, mixed with heroin, drives 14.7 percent increase in fatal drug overdoses in Kentucky from 2014 to 2015. Princessiccia

drug abuse drugs narcotics prescription drug abuse state government

Gusty 09:15 Add Comment

The number of drug-overdose fatalities in Kentucky rose almost 15 percent in 2015, driven by a 247 percent jump in deaths involving fentanyl, a highly potent opioid that some traffickers are mixing with heroin, the Kentucky Office of Drug Control Policy said Tuesday.

The office counted 1,248 fatal overdoses in Kentucky last year, up 14.7 percent from the 1,088 reported in 2014. Fentanyl was a factor in more than a third: 420, up from 121.

"Heroin was detected in 28 percent of cases, consistent with the previous year," the Justice and Public Safety Cabinet said in a press release. "However, as a total, heroin-related deaths increased in 2015, largely because the drug is being laced with fentanyl."

�The introduction of illicit fentanyl into the heroin trade is producing devastating results,� Van Ingram, director of the office, said in the release. �Whether it�s manufactured to resemble heroin or a prescription pill, the cartels have made an already dangerous situation worse.�

Gov. Matt Bevin said, �I am heartbroken for the Commonwealth. More than three families a day are shattered by this epidemic of untimely death. This is unacceptable and will be vigorously addressed with every resource at our disposal.�

The report by Ingram's office listed the eight counties with the most fatal overdoses per person from 2012 to 2015. All were in Eastern Kentucky or Northern Kentucky. Here are the counties, with the number of deaths per 10,000 people: Leslie, 6.86; Bell, 6.12; Gallatin, 5.26; Knott, 4.87; Wolfe, 4.83; Floyd, 4.76; Campbell, 4.72 per 100,000 and Kenton, 4.63 per 10,000.

Counties with big percentage increases in fatal overdoses from 2014 to 2015 included Bell, from 11 to 20; Boyd, from 13 to 24; Butler, from none to eight; Harlan, from six to 10; Kenton, from 71 to 112; and Rowan, from five to 12.

Counties with large decreases included Bullitt, from 22 to 11; Grant, 13 to 6; Russell, from 13 to 7; Laurel, 18 to 10; Leslie, from nine to five; McCracken, 20 to 10; and Marshall, from 12 to fewer than five. The report does not list specific numbers for a county in years when the county had fewer than five fatal overdoses.

The figures above are based on where the death occurred. Based on the residence of the overdose victim, some counties ranked higher; for example, Powell County had 5.84 overdose deaths per 10,000 people, and Russell County had 4.95. This map shows rates based on the county where the overdose victims resided; note that it shows the death rate per 100,000 people, not 10,000 (a figure closer to the population of most counties). Click on the image for a larger version.

Princess Health and Health ranking of Kentucky seniors moves up, but they are still last in health outcomes, says America's Health Rankings. Princessiccia

Princess Health and Health ranking of Kentucky seniors moves up, but they are still last in health outcomes, says America's Health Rankings. Princessiccia

dental care exercise federal spending health rankings hospitals immunizations local government nursing homes obesity oral health physical activity poverty seniors state government vaccinations

Gusty 12:57 Add Comment

By Melissa Patrick and Al Cross
Kentucky Health News

Kentucky moved up three spots, from 48th to 45th, in the fourth annual Senior America's Health Rankings Report. But the state ranked last in health outcomes and 44th in determiners of those outcomes, so it remains one of the least healthy places in the nation for seniors to live.

Among negative measures, Kentucky seniors ranked first in preventable hospitalizations, second in tooth extractions and premature death; and third in physical inactivity and hospital re-admissions within 30 days of discharge.

Among positive measures, the state also ranked poorly: for example, 46th in the percentage (34%) of seniors who reported that their health status was good or excellent and 48th in the percentage (56.9%) who reported having no disability.

The state's best ranking was No. 3 in influenza vaccinations, reflecting an increase to 70 percent from 62 percent of seniors vaccinated in the past two years. It was No. 8 in the percentage of seniors with arthritis who self-report arthritis or joint pain does not limit their usual activities. It tied for 10th in the percentage of seniors with a "creditable prescription-drug plan" and was 17th in the percentage of senior who reported having a mammogram or a colonoscopy or similar screening.

Kentucky ranked low in volunteer activity by seniors (45th) and nursing home quality (43rd) but has fewer people in nursing homes who perhaps shouldn't be there. Only 7 percent of its nursing-home residents, the No. 7 ranking, were considered "low care" and thus candidates for living in less restrictive environments. However, it was 46th in the number of personal-care and home-health aides per 1,000 adults aged 75 or older.

The state tied for 44th in the percentage (32.1) of seniors who reported falling in the previous 12 months. It was 44th in the percentage (42.8) of seniors who were enrolled in hospice during the last six months of life after being diagnosed with a condition that carried high probability of death.

It was also 44th in a related measure, the percentage (16.6) of seniors who spent seven or more days in an intensive- or critical-care unit during their last six months. Generally, use of an ICU correlates with the number of ICU beds, which "could indicate a supply-induced remand," the report says. "Overusing the critical care system often goes against the wishes of dying patients and is costly. Research indicates many patients receive care they would not choose in their final days."

The rankings are based on 35 measures of health, as well as supplemental measures such as education and mental health. Combined, they paint a picture of how individual behavior, our communities and their environments, health policy and access to care influence health.

One area that Kentucky consistently ranks low in is government support for seniors in poverty. It was 45th again this year, spending $382 per senior when federal, state and local funds were all counted. Massachusetts, which ranked first in overall senior health this year, spends $4,053 per senior in this category, more than any other state but Alaska, which has many rural elderly. The national average, which has been declining, is $811.

Kentucky leads the nation in smoking, so it's no surprise that its seniors also rank in the bottom five states for this negative category (47th). Kentucky seniors' smoking rate is 12.4 percent; the national average is 8.8 percent. Both have declined about 40 percent in the last 15 years.

Smoking is the leading cause of preventable death in the United States," says the report. "Cessation, even in older smokers, can have profound benefits on current health status as well as improve long-term outcomes."

Kentucky was fifth from the bottom in dental visits by seniors, but the good news is that the share of seniors having such visits rose to 57 percent from 53 percent last year.

"Poor oral health is associated with such chronic diseases as diabetes and cardiovascular disease, and can have a large impact on quality of life resulting in pain and affecting the ability to chew or speak," says the report.

Kentucky improved its senior obesity ranking, another negative measurement, to 24th from 41st. About two out of every seven Kentucky seniors are obese, or 27.5 percent, the same as the national average. Last year the rate was 29.6 percent.

"Obese seniors experience more hospitalizations, emergency department visits, and use of outpatient health services than non-obese seniors, leading to higher health care costs," says the report. "Physical activity, healthy diet, supportive communities and social networks, and an environment that encourages exercise all play a role in reducing obesity in older adults."

The report says that between 1999 and 2014, Kentucky's middle-aged population (50-64) saw a 34 percent increase in in obesity and a 68 percent increase in diabetes. These findings were similar across the nation.

The report says Kentucky's senior population is expected to increase 44 percent by 2030. "Over the next 15 years, the health of this population will be challenged by large numbers of new people becoming seniors and the additional health challenges, such as diabetes, that this groups brings with them," it says."These higher rates of diabetes and obesity are expected to put significant strains on the Medicare program and the overall health-care system."

The report, sponsored by the United Health Foundation, is a call to action for states, offering specific benchmarks that can be changed to improve health.

Louisiana again ranked last for overall senior health, followed by Oklahoma. Kentucky, West Virginia, Arkansas and Mississippi had similar scores. The top six states for overall senior health are Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, Minnesota, Hawaii and Utah. Click here for the full report. (Click on chart for another version that may be clearer)

Princess Health and Kynectors, health advocates ask state to maintain staffing and other resources in new health-insurance enrollment system. Princessiccia

Princess Health and Kynectors, health advocates ask state to maintain staffing and other resources in new health-insurance enrollment system. Princessiccia

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Gusty 16:00 Add Comment

As the administration of Gov. Matt Bevin works toward dismantling Kynect, the state's health insurance exchange, health advocates say they worry that the transition is going too quickly to be smooth, risking a loss of coverage for some Kentuckians.

Kentucky Voices for Health, a coalition of groups supporting health-care reform, said June 9 that the administration needs to "keep, hire and train adequate staff," make eligibility decisions quickly, "dedicate enough resources to educate the public on how to enroll," publish its plan and allow time for comment, and "create an online dashboard to measure how well the system is functioning."

The group also wants the administration to extend the transition period, saying that no state has made such a transition so quickly.

�To be successful, we need to take our time and make absolutely sure we�re protecting consumers from gaps in coverage," KVH Executive Director Emily Beauregard said. "By . . . taking more time to complete the transition, Kentucky can keep more of its people covered with access to essential care."

Whitney Allen, coordinator of community development and outreach for the Kentucky Primary Care Association, said in the KVH news release, �These recommendations are key to fostering a culture of continuous improvement focused on the consumer experience.�

Keeping a campaign promise, Bevin decided to shift Kentuckians enrolling in private, federally subsidized health insurance via Kynect to the federal exchange, www.healthcare.gov, and Medicaid recipients to Benefind, the state's new one-stop website for state benefits, by Nov. 1.

This new model for subsidized insurance is a federally supported but state-based marketplace, in which the federal government will handle consumers' eligibility appeals but the state will handle insurance-company grievances and still review insurance plans. The federal government will certify the plans but it will "strongly rely" on state recommendations, Health Secretary Vickie Glisson said in March. Consumer grievances will be handled by a state-federal partnership.

Kentucky Voices for Health said it wants "to ensure that any enrollment system that will replace Kynect works as well or better to ensure all Kentuckians have access to coverage without interruption or barriers."

Bevin's office replied to the KVH release with this statement: "Throughout the process, we have updated stakeholders and listened to their feedback. We appreciate the continued interest, input and cooperation of advocates as they are an important component of our communications and outreach strategy during the transition from Kynect to healthcare.gov. We are pleased to report that Kentucky has met all milestones and deliverables, some ahead of schedule, that were established by the [federal] team in order to proceed with the transition to healthcare.gov."

KVH continued to emphasize the importance of Kynectors, a blanket term used for those who help Kentuckians apply for and enroll in coverage. The state has about 600 Kynectors, but their fate is uncertain.

�Research indicates that Kentucky consumers find insurance overwhelming and confusing, and value the face-to-face assistance they have received to navigate the system,� Dr. Susan Buchino of the Commonwealth Institute of Kentucky, said in the KVH release. The institute, part of the University of Louisville School of Public Health and Information Sciences, calls itself a "transdisciplinary collaborative for population health improvement, policy and analytics."

KVH said the Bevin administration recently agreed to its request to have a diverse, multi-stakeholder advisory committee like the one that helped create Kynect.

The group said its recommendations came from Kynectors and health advocates, "many of whom have hands-on experience with enrollment and consumer assistance." Click here for the full report.

Forbes magazine contributor Josh Archambault wrote June 7 that Bevin is right to end Kynect because it serves mainly as a funnel to the Medicaid program and is funded by a fee on all health-insurance policies sold in Kentucky.

At least part of the fee will remain in place to help pay transition costs, fund the Kentucky Health Information Exchange and cover remaining claims to the high-risk insurance pool for which the fee was originally established. It was transformed into Kynect funding by an executive order from then-Gov. Steve Beshear.

"Kynect�s website will actually be active until the end of 2017, as the site also services small-business plans which have no set open-enrollment season," Archambault notes.

Princess Health and State Medicaid boss says program won't charge premiums but may have fewer benefits; Bevin's office says all is still on the table. Princessiccia

Princess Health and State Medicaid boss says program won't charge premiums but may have fewer benefits; Bevin's office says all is still on the table. Princessiccia

governor health insurance health reform Medicaid obamacare politics state budget state government

Gusty 19:05 Add Comment

The state's revised Medicaid program won't require any beneficiaries to pay premiums, but it may offer fewer benefits, Medicaid Commissioner Stephen Miller told Adam Beam of The Associated Press.

But Gov. Matt Bevin's office told Beam that Miller's comments were preliminary: "Everything is on the table and no decisions have been finalized," spokeswoman Jessica Ditto told him.

Bevin has said Medicaid recipients should have some "skin in the game" and has pointed to Indiana, which received a federal waiver allowing it to charge premiums based on income levels to people who want benefits beyond the basic Medicaid program.

The idea drew strong opposition from health-care providers, consumer advocates, public-health professionals and representatives of higher education in a May 12 meeting, according to the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky, which convened the gathering.

"Miller said negotiations with officials at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, indicate they will not approve a plan that requires Kentucky's expanded Medicaid population to pay for a portion of their health insurance," Beam reports.

Miller told him, "That, today, is not part of the plan. That is something that's going to be a tough sell."

Bevin is seeking changes that will save the state money. Starting Jan. 1, it will have to pay 5 percent of the costs of those who have joined Medicaid under the expanded eligibility created by the federal health-reform law. Its share will rise in annual steps to the law's limit of 10 percent in 2020. The state's expected bill for 2017 and the first half of 2018 is $257 million.

Now it seems that savings are likely to come by cutting benefits. "Miller said some Medicaid recipients could see fewer benefits under the new plan," Beam reports. "He said the health insurance plan for the state's Medicaid recipients is better than the basic plan offered to state employees. He said the new plan will likely bring the Medicaid plan more in line with the health plan offered to state workers." Miller said, "That would be a reduction in some benefit levels, such as in vision, dental."

Also, Miller said the program could encourage healthier behaviors by funding health savings accounts if they did such things as participating in smoking-cessation and weight-loss programs. "It may sound like we are rewarding them for that, but the long-term effect is it makes their health care coverage less expensive,"  Miller told Beam.

He said the state hopes to submit its waiver application in September. HHS spokesman Ben Wakana, told Beam that any changes "should maintain or build on the historic improvements Kentucky has seen in access to coverage, access to care, and financial security." Before the expansion; 20 percent of Kentuckians had no health coverage; now the figure is 7.5 percent.

Princess Health and Study says if Ky. cut its smoking rate to the national average, it could save $1.7 billion in health-care costs the very next year . Princessiccia

Princess Health and Study says if Ky. cut its smoking rate to the national average, it could save $1.7 billion in health-care costs the very next year . Princessiccia

health care costs local government research smokeless tobacco smoking ban smoking bans smoking cessation smoking ordinances state government tobacco prevention

Gusty 14:50 Add Comment

Illustration from University of California-San Francisco

By Melissa Patrick
Kentucky Health News

If Kentucky could cut its smoking rate to the national average, it would save an estimated $1.7 billion on healthcare the following year, a study says.

Kentucky's smoking rate is 26 percent, and the national average is 18 percent.

The study at the University of California-San Francisco estimates that a 10 percent decline in the national rate would save $63 billion the next year in health-care costs.

"What it adds to our knowledge is that we can save money quickly," Ellen Hahn, University of Kentucky nursing professor and director of its smoke-free policy center, told Kentucky Health News. "We are not talking 18 to 20 years down the road. ... If we reduced our smoking rate at least 10 percent, we would see dramatic reductions in health-care cost in just one year."

The study also found that smoking makes Kentucky spend $399 more per person per year on health care than it would if the state's rate equaled the national rate. That was the highest figure of any state.

Conversely, low rates of smoking save Utah and California, respectively, $465 and $416 per person per year compared to what they would spend if their smoking rates were the national rate.

�Regions that have implemented public policies to reduce smoking have substantially lower medical costs,� the study's authors said in a news release. �Likewise, those that have failed to implement tobacco control policies have higher medical costs.�

Lexington's smoking rates dropped 32 percent in just one year after it enacted its smoking ban, which amounted to an estimated $21 million in smoking-related healthcare costs savings, according to a University of Kentucky study led by Hahn and published in the journal Preventive Medicine.

The UCSF study, published in PLOS Medicine, looked at health-care spending in each state and the District of Columbia from 1992 to 2009, and measured the year-to-year relationship between changes in smoking behavior and changes in medical costs.

Many studies have shown that smoking bans and other smoke-free policies decrease smoking rates, reduce smoking prevalence among workers and the general population, and keep youth from starting to smoke.

These have been some of the arguments for a statewide smoking ban, but efforts to pass one have stalled because new Republican Gov. Matt Bevin opposes a statewide ban and says smoke-free policies should be a local decision.

Bevin won big budget cuts from the legislature to set aside hundreds of millions of dollars for shoring up the state's pension systems, but the study hasn't made the administration look at a smoking ban as a source of savings. A ban passed the House last year but died in the Senate.

Asked how this study might affect the administration's position on a statewide smoking ban, Doug Hogan, acting communications director for the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, said in an e-mail, "Smoking bans are a local issue, rather than a one-size-fits-all solution." Bevin's office and Senate President Robert Stivers did not respond to requests for comment.

Hogan said the cabinet is committed to helping people quit smoking: "Education and proper policy incentives are critical tools that the state can use and as our commonwealth crafts its Medicaid wavier, it is looking very closely at ways to best incentivize smoking cessation to improve health and decrease cost to the commonwealth."

Dr. Ellen Hahn

Hahn said, "Kentucky has the dubious honor of leading the nation in cigarette smoking, and we have for many years. ... it is a major driver of health-care cost. And in a climate where we are trying to save every dollar ... I think that we should pay attention to this study because what it really says is that we can save a boatload of money if we help people quit and we can save it quickly."

Other possible tobacco-control measures include raising cigarette taxes, anti-smoking advertising campaigns and better access to smoking-cessation programs. Hahn said the state gets some money from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the tobacco master settlement agreement for prevention and cessation efforts, but the state needs to do more.

"We spend very little on the things that we know work, like helping people quit smoking, like doing widespread media campaigns on television, radio and print," she said. "We just don't do that in our state. We never have. In fact, we spend very little, about 8 percent of what the CDC say we should."

The study says significant health-care savings could occur so quickly because the risks for smoke-related diseases decreases rapidly once a smoker quits.

"For example, the risk of heart attack and stroke drop by approximately half in the first year after the smoker quits, and the risk of having a low-birth-weight infant due to smoking almost entirely disappears if a pregnant woman quits smoking during the first trimester," says the report.

"These findings show that state and national policies that reduce smoking not only will improve health, but can be a key part of health care cost containment even in the short run," co-author Stanton Glantz, director of the UCSF Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education, said in the release.

Hahn said, "People don't realize how effective quitting smoking really is, how much money it really saves. So that is the value of this paper. It is a wake-up call for those of us doing this tobacco control work and for elected officials who are trying to save money and redirect funds and shore up the economic health of Kentucky. ... Doing all we can to reduce smoking saves lives and money. What's better than that?"

Princess Health and Medicaid stakeholders OK with healthy behavior incentives, oppose penalizing recipients who don't take part in cost sharing. Princessiccia

Princess Health and Medicaid stakeholders OK with healthy behavior incentives, oppose penalizing recipients who don't take part in cost sharing. Princessiccia

federal spending health care costs health insurance insurance coverage managed care Medicaid obamacare Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act state government

Gusty 13:11 Add Comment

By Melissa Patrick and Al Cross
Kentucky Health News

Groups of people concerned about changes in Kentucky's Medicaid program are open to the state offering incentives for healthy behaviors, but they don't want to penalize recipients who can't or won't pay premiums, deductibles or co-payments.

So reports the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky, which convened a meeting May 12 to hear from people with stakes in the program: individual health-care providers, health systems, consumers, consumer advocates, payers, public-health professionals and representatives of higher education.

�Participants were unified in opposing penalties to enforce cost-sharing provisions� such as premiums, deductibles or co-payments, the foundation's consultant said in a report on the meeting.

However, they supported cost sharing for procedures not deemed medically necessary and �had diverse perspectives on this matter, ranging from opposing any cost-sharing in Medicaid to proposing specific premium and co-payment amounts,� such as $5 monthly premiums.

Also, �Participants were generally very supportive of implementing incentives for healthy behaviors such as smoking cessation and health risk assessments,� the report said. �Incentives might be reductions in the amount of cost-sharing or themselves supportive of healthy behavior,� such as gym membership.

Gov. Matt Bevin has said he wants Medicaid recipients to have "skin in the game" through cost-sharing, arguing that Kentucky can't afford to have more than a fourth of its population getting free medical care.

Under federal health reform, then-Gov, Steve Beshear expanded Medicaid eligibility to households with incomes up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level, adding more than 400,000 more people to the rolls. The federal government pays for the expansion through this year, but next year the state will be responsible for 5 percent, rising in annual steps to the reform law's limit of 10 percent in 2020.

Bevin's administration is working on getting a waiver from the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to create new ways to cover those in the expansion. Six states have such waivers, including Indiana, which Bevin has cited as an example of how Kentucky might change its program.

In Indiana, recipients who pay premiums based on income levels, ranging from $1 a month to 2 percent of income ($27 a month for those at 138 percent of poverty) get expanded benefits and are charged co-payments only for non-emergency use of emergency rooms, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. Those above the poverty level who fail to pay are disenrolled and barred from re-enrolling for six months, in what is known as a "lock-out" rule.

Bevin has indicated that he wants to announce his plan this summer. By law, states that seek a waiver must hold at least two public hearings: one at least 20 days before submitting the application to CMS, and the second after CMS accepts the application.

Stakeholders who attended the foundation's May 12 convening wanted to make sure their voices were heard early on in the process.

"Our goal is to help inform the process of changing the way Kentucky provides Medicaid services to ensure that we maintain the gains achieved under the Affordable Care Act, while also enabling the state to try new methods of ensuring access to affordable quality health care for Medicaid beneficiaries," Foundation President and CEO Susan Zepeda said in a news release.

"The biggest takeaway for me was the energy and commitment in the room," Zepeda said in a telephone interview. "A lot of thoughtfulness clearly went into sharing their experience and making suggestions on how to make the system more cost effective."

Before breaking into groups to offer their imput, stakeholders were given an overview of the state's Medicaid expansion and an overview of an issue brief created by the State Health Access Data Assistance Center at the University of Minnesota that looked at how waiver provisions are set up in five other states. Foundation staff wrote the 25-page "Stakeholder Input Report" that summarized suggestions and concerns and broke them into eight areas:

Cost-sharing and penalties: Health-care providers strongly opposed any cost-sharing, and uniformly opposed to any measure that involved "lock-out" penalties for failure to pay premiums, co-pays or deductibles.

"Our shared experience has been that we�ve been prohibited from denying care if a patient refuses or is unable to pay," the Physical and Oral Health Provider group said. "Therefore, the desired behavior isn�t actually enforced."

The Behavioral Health Provider group offered a compromise: �If the administration chooses to explore lock-outs we recommend that lock-outs be immediately lifted (upon payment) and payment be retroactive to the date the consumer re-enrolls.�

Participants in general were open to the idea of low co-payments, cost-sharing for non-medically necessary services, using Medicaid dollars to pay premiums for employer-sponsored insurance plans and charging co-payments for non-emergency use of the ER. They also agreed that certain groups, like those with chronic illnesses or disabilities, should be exempted.

Incentives: Most post-ACA waiver programs have implemented incentives for healthy behavior, and those at the meeting generally supported implementing evidence-based incentives, such as smoking cessation and health-risk assessments.

Zepeda said that most of the stakeholders wanted to see healthy behavior incentives used as credits against premiums, especially for recipients who can't afford them. "There is a recognition that people have a role to play in their own health care and the health decisions that they make," she said.

Benefits: Benefits include services covered under the health insurance plan. Some participants opposed any changes to current benefits; others wanted to expand existing benefits and still others suggested adding new benefits like housing. All agreed that medically necessary services should be covered for all enrollees.

Reimbursement: Kentucky shifted Medicaid in 2011 to managed care, in which managed-care organizations (usually insurance-company subsidiaries) are paid a flat fee per person as an incentive to limit claims. Providers have complained about the slow and low reimbursement, and participant suggestions included streamlining and accelerating the reimbursement process, increasing provider reimbursement rates, and adding new categories of reimbursed services and providers, like telehealth.

Systems improvement: Participants suggested simplifying administrative processes for providers; expanding providers' scope of practice; adding review panels; reducing the number of managed-care organizations; and creating a single list of drugs for all MCOs.

Health system transformation: Waivers allow states to explore ways to provide care differently through various transformation approaches. Suggestions included creating price transparency, through an all-payer, all-claims database; improving consumer health literacy; and moving beyond coverage issues to addressing access and quality.

�There was also interest among our group in examining a PCMH (patient-centered medical home) or health homes model to promote care coordination, and we feel strongly that pharmacists are essential part of the team and should be used in novel and more expansive ways,� the Colleges and Universities group said.

Evaluation: Waivers require states to perform an evaluation and make it public. Participants agreed that the process should include stakeholders and that findings should be made public periodically.

The Physical and Oral Health Provider group suggested the evaluation should answer the questions, �Have we maintained coverage levels? Have we improved access to care?�

Overarching themes: Many of the stakeholders mentioned two issues that were not included in the issue brief or discussion: integrating behavioral, physical and oral health services, and addressing the wide set of social factors that shape Kentucky's relatively poor health.

�Waivers should include methods to address social determinants of health as these areas are proving most effective in improving outcomes and reducing cost,� the Physical and Oral Health Provider group said. �We encourage inclusion of community health workers, peer support, medical respite care and other innovations to support social needs of patients.�

Zepeda said the Medicaid waiver drafting team faces many challenges. "We consider the rich conversation that happened on May 12 to be the start of the conversation," she said. "We have to find the cost effective win/win strategies that can reduce the cost of Medicaid going forward and let us continue to serve this expanded number of Kentuckians who now have health insurance."

Princess Health and Kentucky is the only truly Appalachian state to have put a brake on fatal overdoses from narcotics. Princessiccia

Princess Health and Kentucky is the only truly Appalachian state to have put a brake on fatal overdoses from narcotics. Princessiccia

Appalachia doctors drug abuse drugs General Assembly legislature narcotics pain pain clinics physicians prescription drug abuse prescription drugs state government

Gusty 12:08 Add Comment

Kentucky is the only truly Appalachian state to have put a brake on fatal drug overdoses, report Rich Lord and Adam Smeltz of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette as part of a series in the about the deadly epidemic of prescription painkillers in the region.

A chart with the series' story about Kentucky shows that fatal drug overdoses were less numerous in the state in 2013 than in 2012, when the General Assembly cracked down on "pill mills," and that while fatal overdoses rose in 2014, they were still not as numerous as in 2012. Official numbers for 2015 are expected soon, and may rise because of the spread of heroin.

The series also credited a crackdown by the Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure, which "took disciplinary action for prescribing irregularities against 135 of the state�s roughly 10,600 doctors" from 2011 to 2015. "The board also moved against 33 doctors during that time for abusing narcotics themselves."

"Getting tough on doctors works," Lord wrote in the series' main story. The state story reported, "Kentucky�s per-capita opioid consumption -- though still seventh in the nation -- dropped by a steepest-in-Appalachia 12.5 percent from 2012 to 2014, according to IMS Health Inc.," Lord and Smeltz report. "Kentucky is the only state, among the seven studied by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, in which fatal overdoses have plateaued. Elsewhere, they have climbed relentlessly."

The story quotes Kerry B. Harvey, U.S. attorney for the eastern half of Kentucky: �In much of Eastern Kentucky, the workforce is engaged in difficult, manual labor,� like mining, farming and logging, �so people would injure themselves and be prescribed these very potent narcotics, because the medical profession changed the way it looked at prescribing these kinds of narcotics for pain.� The drugs dulled the �sense of hopelessness� people had about the area�s economy, �and so for whatever reason, this sort of culture of addiction took hold.�

"Harvey said that as physicians have gone to jail, and others have faced board discipline, the painkiller business model has adapted. . . . Now the doctors take insurance, and bill the insurer or the government not just for the office visit, but for the MRI, urine screen and back brace they use to justify the addictive narcotic." Harvey said, �So instead of a cash business, in many cases now the taxpayers or the insurance companies pay. The result is the same. We end up with our communities flooded with these very potent prescription narcotics.�

Princess Health and Bevin says he will transform programs for kids with special health needs constructively and in a 'forward-thinking way'. Princessiccia

Princess Health and Bevin says he will transform programs for kids with special health needs constructively and in a 'forward-thinking way'. Princessiccia

children Medicaid state government youth

Gusty 11:46 Add Comment

Gov. Matt Bevin told stakeholders for children and youth with special health-care needs May 25 that his administration  is �committed to transforming, in a positive, constructive, proactive and forward-thinking way, the services you provide. We truly are grateful for what you do day in and day out.�

A state press release said almost 100 doctors, public-health specialists, insurers, health-care providers, state and federal officials, family members and others attended the Kentucky Summit on Access to Care for Children and Youth with Special Health Care Needs, cosponsored by the Commission for Children with Special Health Care Needs.

�There is an absolute need for us to take care of these children,� Bevin said. �We owe them that as a society, as Kentuckians, as human beings. It�s our obligation.�

CCSHCN Executive Director Jackie Richardson said Kentucky is estimated to have 197,916 children and youth with special health-care needs, a rate higher than the national average. Children and youth with special health care needs are defined as those who have or are at increased risk for a chronic physical, developmental, behavioral or emotional condition and who also require health and related services of a type or amount beyond what is generally required.

The summit in Frankfort was part of a learning collaborative sponsored by several national groups, including the National Governors Association and the National Conference of State Leguislatures. �We wanted this summit to provide a national perspective on the access to care provided through the commission,� she said. �With the group discussions we had today, we identified strategies to improve access to care and increase awareness of our programs.�

The commission has clinics that help with conditions like otology, orthopedics, severe cleft lip and palate and cerebral palsy. The commission also has a growing neurology program and has introduced autism clinics to improve access to diagnostic and medical resources for families in Eastern and Western Kentucky. �Many of them will need a lifetime of special care, and summits like today's help ensure they will have consistent, coordinated and comprehensive access for as long as they need it,� Richardson said. For more information about the commission's programs and services, see chfs.ky.gov/ccshcn.

Princess Health and At forum on opioid abuse in Corbin, people say they need more treatment services, community education and coalitions. Princessiccia

Princess Health and At forum on opioid abuse in Corbin, people say they need more treatment services, community education and coalitions. Princessiccia

Appalachia drug abuse drug treatment heroin mental health narcotics prescription drugs state government

Gusty 13:52 Add Comment

Image from Lauren Osborne, WYMT-TV Mountain News

By Melissa Patrick
Kentucky Health News

CORBIN, Ky. � After a day of learning and talking about opioid prevention, treatment and mobilization, people at a forum in Corbin agreed on three things: Access to substance abuse and mental health services remains a huge barrier in southeastern Kentucky; more community education is needed; and drug-prevention programs should form coalitions to better use their limited resources.

Substance abuse affects almost every family in Kentucky, and four Kentuckians die every day from a drug overdose. That was part of the opening message from Dr. Allen Brenzel, medical director of the state Department for Behavioral Health, Development and Intellectual Disabilities.

"This is, in my opinion, one of the most pressing health-care issues facing our commonwealth today," Brenzel said. "If 1,000 people a year were dying from measles in the state of Kentucky, think about the public response that we would have. ... We would be on red-alert, we would have a complete, public-health, massive intervention to solve that problem."

Van Ingram, executive director at the Governor's Office of Drug Control Policy, said that next year's drug overdose report, which will be released in a few weeks, will show the problem is getting worse.

About 125 people, most of them health-care providers, attended the "Cumberland River Forum on Opioid Use Disorders: A Time for Community Action" May 17 at the Corbin Technology Center. It was sponsored by The Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services, the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation, and Cumberland River Behavioral Health. Similar forums were held in Lexington May 16 and Louisville May 13.

John Tilley

John Tilley, secretary of the Kentucky Cabinet for Justice and Public Safety, said he hoped the forum would "light a fire under this community" to talk to their neighbors and friends, community leaders and legislators about the value of treatment over incarceration for substance abuse and mental health issues.

Tilley, who chaired the House Judiciary Committee when he was a state representative from Hopkinsville, acknowledged that some abusers should be in prison, but said society must distinguish between "who we are mad at and who we are afraid of. ... I promise you the way to get out of this mess is not to over-criminalize addiction and mental illness."

Tilley said "The solution is right before our eyes," using for treatment some of the billions of dollars now used to incarcerate drug users.

Tim Feeley, deputy secretary for the CHFS and a former legislator from Oldham County, agreed: "We are not going to incarcerate our way out of this." He said the state needs more treatment programs and said the cabinet was fully committed to addressing the state's addiction problems to the best of its abilities.

William Hacker

Kentucky has moved away from treating mental health and substance abuse issues criminally, said Dr. William Hacker, chair of Shaping Our Appalachian Region's Health and Wellness Advisory Committee and former state health commissioner. He said other successful anti-drug efforts include grassroots advocacy groups, the online prescription-drug tracking program, needle-exchange programs, a move toward medication assisted treatments for opioid addiction, and the SMARTS initiative, which provides addiction care for pregnant and parenting women for up to two years.

Hacker also mentioned Operation UNITE, a Kentucky non-profit created by U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers that leads education, treatment and law enforcement initiatives in 32 counties in Southern and Eastern Kentucky. UNITE has held a national drug abuse conferences for the past five years, with this year's summit in Atlanta including President Barack Obama. The acronym stands for Unlawful Narcotics Investigations, Treatment and Education.

A former pediatrician in Corbin, Hacker also noted that SOAR recently held a Substance Abuse Roundtable to discuss research and emerging opportunities associated with substance abuse and intravenous drug use in Appalachian Kentucky. He said SOAR works to create a network across the region to share best practices and money opportunities and to create community level empowerment.

"Substance abuse is not a failure of moral character, it is a disease," Hacker said. "Don't give up. Never give up."

At the end of the meeting, the attendees broke into groups that represented schools, community leaders, health-care professionals, parents and the faith community to discuss what actions they could take to address opioid abuse in their communities.

Most groups reported that lack of access to substance abuse and mental health treatment is a barrier in their communities. And while it was noted that some communities offer more services than others, several groups said they did not have enough counselors to support medication-assisted therapies or enough doctors willing to prescribe it. Lack of transportation was also mentioned as a barrier toward getting treatment in several groups.

Also, most groups said community members often aren't aware of the resources, so more community education is needed. They listed schools, churches and county Extension offices as possible sources of education, and noted that a community resource website would be helpful. They also said parents would benefit from a class to learn how to talk to their children about drugs.

The groups agreed that all sectors of the community were needed to combat substance abuse and suggested that drug prevention programs in each community should form coalitions to better use resources and information.

Princess Health and Kentucky Center for Economic Policy report warns about impact of Bevin's proposed Medicaid changes. Princessiccia

Princess Health and Kentucky Center for Economic Policy report warns about impact of Bevin's proposed Medicaid changes. Princessiccia

economy federal spending health reform jobs Medicaid obamacare Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care Act politics prevention state budget state government

Gusty 13:15 Add Comment

By Danielle Ray

Kentucky Health News

A research group with a liberal outlook warned Monday that Republican Gov. Matt Bevin should be careful in changing the state Medicaid program.

The Kentucky Center for Economic Policy said the state�s expansion of Medicaid eligibility under Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear has increased health screenings and job growth in health care.

Tobacco counseling and interventions increased 169 percent from 2013 to 2014, the first year of the expansion, the report noted. Influenza vaccinations went up 143 percent and breast cancer screenings increased 111 percent, it noted.

In addition, Medicaid expansion brought Kentucky health-care providers nearly $3 billion through mid-2015 and resulted in a 4.6 percent job growth in the health-care sector from 2014 to 2016, according to the report.

�No matter how you look at Medicaid expansion in Kentucky, it�s clear it has had a positive effect on access to health care that will improve our state�s economy and quality of life,� Jason Bailey, executive director of KCEP, said in a news release.

However, Bevin says the state can�t afford to have more than a fourth of its population on Medicaid and is seeking a waiver from the federal government to make changes in the program, such as �skin in the game� for beneficiaries: co-payments, deductibles or health savings accounts, as used in a year-old experiment in Indiana, which he has cited as an example.

The KCEP reports says the Medicaid waiver Bevin is seeking could result in additional costs to recipients and benefit changes. Arkansas was the first state to design a Medicaid expansion using such a waiver. So far, five other states have implemented similar waiver-based programs.

Waiver programs differ from standard Medicaid expansion in that they utilize some or all of the following: health savings accounts, a cost-sharing account to be used for health care expenses; lockouts, periods in which recipients who have been dis-enrolled for failure to pay premiums are barred from re-enrolling; and premium assistance, the use of Medicaid funds to buy private insurance plans.

These waivers are designed to grant states the freedom to enact experimental programs within Medicaid, so long as the programs continue to reflect the overall goal of Medicaid, increasing coverage of low-income individuals and improving overall health care, as well as efficiency and stability of health care programs that serve that population.

The Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky, which convened a meeting of Medicaid stakeholders last week, is holding off on making judgments of the proposed waiver program. �We believe that diverse input is essential to sustaining these gains, and to continue improving our health care system and health outcomes in Kentucky,� said Susan Zepeda, president of the foundation.

Zepeda said research the foundation has funded has shown a greater decrease in the number of Kentuckians who lack health insurance than any other state, which she attributes largely to Medicaid expansion adding about 400,000 Kentuckians to the rolls.

More than 1.4 million Kentuckians are enrolled in Medicaid, 39 percent of whom are children. Nearly 32 percent are enrolled under the expansion: childless adults in households that earn less than 138 percent of the federal poverty line, currently $33,000 for a family of four.

The KCEP report also asserts that Kentucky�s Medicaid benefits are on par with those of other states, specifically that 12 out of 13 of Kentucky�s optional benefits are also covered in at least 40 other states and territories. Kentucky Medicaid only covers services that are deemed medically necessary.

KCEP noted that Medicaid is a partnership in which the federal government funds a minimum of half of traditional Medicaid spending in each state, with poorer states receiving a larger federal match. In Kentucky, the federal share is about 70 percent. For people covered by the expansion, the federal government is paying the full cost through this year, but the state will pay 5 percent in 2017, rising in annual steps to the law�s limit of 10 percent in 2020.

The full KCEP report is at http://kypolicy.org.

Princess Health and Insurance commissioner sues contractor for failed Kentucky Health Cooperative, alleging gross negligence in handling claims. Princessiccia

Princess Health and Insurance commissioner sues contractor for failed Kentucky Health Cooperative, alleging gross negligence in handling claims. Princessiccia

Congress courts health insurance health reform obamacare politics state government

Gusty 19:41 Add Comment

State Insurance Commissioner Brian Maynard, acting as liquidator of the failed Kentucky Health Cooperative, filed suit in Franklin Circuit Court Friday against against the company that the co-op hired to process and pay claims. The suit contends that CGI Technologies and Solutions Inc. was "grossly negligent" in processing and paying claims and thus breached its contract.

The co-op, created by federal health reform to compete with insurance companies and hold down premium costs, had financial problems from the start. This year Republicans accused former Gov. Steve Beshear, a Democrat who embraced health reform, of holding down co-op premiums to make the reforms look good. Beshear denied the charge.

The co-op announced in October 2015 that it would close because Congress did not provide sufficient "risk corridor" payments to insurers with disproportionately sick policyholders and the Obama administration was unwilling or unable to make up the difference. The co-op, which had a deficit of $50 million in 2014, was expecting a risk-corridor payment of $77 million but got only $9.7 million. Most other co-ops also failed.

�We have a duty to investigate the causes of the co-op�s collapse and to hold responsible those individuals who caused the collapse,� Maynard said in a press release. �This includes recovering funds from responsible parties so that the doctors, nurses, and hospitals that treated Kentuckians insured by the co-op are fairly compensated for their services.�

Thousands of patients and thousands of providers will have to wait until Oct. 15 or later to find out how much of their medical bills sent to the co-op will be paid, Kentucky Health News reported in February. The co-op "left thousands of providers waiting for payment," Stephanie Armour reported for The Wall Street Journal. It covered about 51,000 people through the end of 2015. Franklin Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd will decide how much will be paid to whom.

Princess Health and Top deputy in state health department named commissioner of Lexington health department. Princessiccia

Princess Health and Top deputy in state health department named commissioner of Lexington health department. Princessiccia

health departments public health state government

Gusty 11:29 Add Comment

Kraig Humbaugh

Dr. Kraig Humbaugh, senior deputy commissioner of the Kentucky Department for Public Health, has been named the Lexington-Fayette County commissioner of health, starting in June. He will replace Dr. Rice C. Leach, who died April 1 following a battle with cancer.

�I am honored to serve and look forward to working with the Board of Health, the hard-working team at the health department and the community to make Lexington a healthier place to live, work and visit,� Humbaugh said in a news release. �It�s important that we build on Dr. Leach�s legacy and the already strong foundation that the health department has in the community.�

A pediatrician by training, Humbaugh has extensive experience in public health, including epidemiology of communicable diseases and emergency preparedness and response.

�We are very excited to have Dr. Humbaugh join us as the next commissioner of health,� Paula Anderson, chair of the Lexington-Fayette County Board of Health, said in the release. �In addition to his exceptional background in public health, he has widespread leadership experience on the state level. He also knows Kentucky and has worked closely with the Lexington-Fayette County Health Department on many previous projects. All of those attributes made him the right choice to lead our health department.�

Humbaugh earned his undergraduate degree from Vanderbilt University and his medical degree from Yale University. He was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Otago in New Zealand and received a Master of Public Health degree from Johns Hopkins University.

Princess Health and Kenton County embraces its once-controversial smoking ban as chances of a statewide ban have dimmed. Princessiccia

Princess Health and Kenton County embraces its once-controversial smoking ban as chances of a statewide ban have dimmed. Princessiccia

county government General Assembly legislature local government smoking smoking ban state government tobacco

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Five years after Kenton County's smoking ban took effect over great opposition, the county has embraced it, Scott Wartman reports for the Cincinnati Enquirer.

"I'm a smoker, but I'm glad we're non-smoking," Justin Meade, a bartender at Molly Malone's in Covington, told Wartman. "I don't want to smell like smoke."

Kenton is the only Northern Kentucky county with any type of indoor smoking ban. Its partial ban allows establishments that don't serve people under 18, like bars, to have smoking.

Wartman reports having trouble finding anyone who didn't support the smoking ban as he walked among the Covington bar scene, and noted that a Northern Kentucky Health Department report cites very few complaints.

"I think what folks should take away from this is comprehensive smoke-free laws are easy to enforce, that most people like them and that they protect everyone," Stephanie Vogel, population-health director for the health department, told Wartman.

"The nonchalant acceptance, and even enthusiasm from some, of the partial smoking ban in Kenton County contrast with the controversy when it was enacted five years ago," he writes, noting that five years ago some bar owners thought the ban would put them out of business and patrons "lamented" that it was "an attack on their rights."

Amy Kummler, owner of Up Over bar, which can still allow smoking because it doesn't serve anyone under 18, told Wartman that she wouldn't mind if indoor smoking were banned statewide, but "feels smoking bans limited to one county or city are unfair," he writes.

"I don't even want to sit in my bar when it's smoky a lot," Kummler said. "I would be thrilled if the state went non-smoking, but I don't think it would be fair unless everybody did it."

Kentucky legislators have tried to pass a statewide smoke-free workplace law for years, but to no avail. Last year a bill passed out of the House, but was not called up for a vote in the Senate. This year, an election year, the bill wasn't even called up for discussion in committee. New Republican Gov. Matt Bevin opposes a statewide smoking ban.

"Last year we thought it was our year," Heather Wehrheim, chairwoman of Smoke-Free Kentucky, told Wartman. "It was the perfect scenario ... the public support was there; we thought we had the votes. It was Senate leadership that blocked it. Their argument, and whether it's true or not, is that it should be left up to local communities to pass smoke-free laws. We know that is going to take years and years and years."

The latest Kentucky Health Issues Poll found that two-thirds of Kentucky adults support a comprehensive statewide smoking ban, and have since 2013. The ban has support from solid majorities in each political party and has majority support in every region of the state. But more than one-fourth of Kentucky adults are smokers.

Princess Health and Legislature's many health bills include some with life-saving potential, better prevention, greater access and help for children. Princessiccia

Princess Health and Legislature's many health bills include some with life-saving potential, better prevention, greater access and help for children. Princessiccia

assisted living autism cancer drugs General Assembly health care access influenza legislation legislature pharmaceuticals pharmacies pharmacists physician assistants smoking state government

Gusty 13:57 Add Comment

By Melissa Patrick
Kentucky Health News

One paragraph in this story was incorrect and has been stricken.

FRANKFORT, Ky. -- Kentucky legislators have all but ended their regular session without agreeing on a budget, but were able to pass a wide range of health bills that await Gov. Matt Bevin's signature or veto.

Legislators can still pass more bills, including a budget, when they return for one day, April 12, and reconsider any bills the governor vetoes (except the budget, if one passes that day).

Many of the health bills deal with regulation, such as which agency oversees home medical equipment and licensing rules for physicians. Others, like SB 211, sponsored by Sen. Alice Forgy Kerr, R-Lexington, establish a special day to encourage research for amytrophic lateral sclerosis by officially naming Feb. 21 "ALS Awareness Day."

But several others will impact the daily lives of Kentuckians, directly or indirectly. Some have the potential to save lives.

Senate Bill 33, sponsored by Sen. Max Wise, R-Campbellsville, requires every Kentucky high-school student to receive compression-only CPR training. "Each year nearly 424,000 people have sudden cardiac arrest outside of the hospital and only 10 percent of those victims survive," Wise said at a Jan. 13 Senate Health and Welfare Committee meeting. "Yet when a CPR trained bystander is near, they can double or triple these victims survival rate."

Another bill with life-saving potential would let Kentuckians take time off work to be "living donors" or donate bone marrow without the risk of losing jobs or income. House Bill 19, sponsored by Rep. Ron Crimm, R-Louisville, requires paid leave of absence for such reasons, and offsets this cost to the employer with tax credits.

(An amendment to this bill, illustrating how legislation gets passed in unusual ways during the closing days, would allow Lexington to impose an additional 2.5 percent hotel-room tax to improve its convention center.)

A minor housekeeping bill had an important health amendment attached to it that mandates assisted-living communities to provide residents with educational information about the flu by Sept 1 of each year. SB 22 is sponsored by Sen. Ralph Alvarado, R-Winchester. The CDC estimates that between 80 and 90 percent of seasonal flu-related deaths occur in people over 65.

Colon cancer, which kills more than 850 Kentuckians a year, remained in the spotlight with passage of HB115, sponsored by Rep. Tom Burch, D-Louisville. It would expand eligibility for screenings to age-eligible, under-insured Kentuckians, or uninsured persons deemed at high risk for the disease. This bill is aimed at the 7 percent of Kentuckians who have remained uninsured since the state expanded Medicaid under federal health reform, and those who have insurance but can't afford deductibles or co-payments.

Other bills intended to create better access to care for Kentuckians would expand the duties of advanced practice registered nurses (SB114); decrease the oversight of physician's assistants (SB154); create a pilot program to study telehealth and how it's paid for (HB 95); and better define who can perform administrative duties in pharmacies (HB 527).

Children: "Noah's Law," or SB 193, sponsored by Alvarado, mandates the coverage of amino-acid-based formulas for eosinophilic esophagitis and other digestive disorders. It will have an impact on more than 200 Kentucky families. It is called "Noah's Law" after 9-year-old Noah Greenhill of Pike County who suffers from the disease, which requires him to get this formula through a feeding tube four times a day because of severe food allergies, at a daily cost of more than $40. This bill has already been signed by the governor and took effect immediately.

HB148, sponsored by Rep. Linda Belcher, D-Shepherdsville, allows day-care centers to be able to obtain and store epinephrine auto-injectors for emergency use. This bill was amended to include "participating places of worship" as a location that newborns up to 30 days old can be left without threat of prosecution to the parent or family member who leaves them there.

The latest Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study found that one in 68 of the nation's children have autism, and Kentucky legislators passed two bills this session to address their needs. SB 185, sponsored by Sen. Julie Raque Adams, R-Louisville, creates the Office of Autism and guidelines for an Advisory Council on Autism Spectrum Disorders. This bill has already been signed by the governor. HB 100, sponsored by House Minority Leader Rep. Jeff Hoover, R-Jamestown, requires insurers to maintain a website to provide information for filing claims on autism coverage and make autism-benefit liaisons available to facilitate communications with policyholders.

Big bills: One of the high-profile health bills that passed this session is SB20, sponsored by Alvarado, which creates a third-party appeals process for providers to appeal denied Medicaid claims. Alvarado has said that 20 percent of Medicaid claims are denied, compared to the national average of around 6 percent. He suggest that bringing this bill will help bring these numbers more in line with each other and thus will encourage more providers to participate in Medicaid.

A bill that will eventually increase accessibility to drugs made from living tissues that are very expensive, but also very effective, also passed. SB 134, sponsored by Alvarado, would allow pharmacists to substitute a less-expensive "interchangeable biosimilar" drug for its name-brand "biologic" one, even though the U.S. Food and Drug Administration hasn't approved these interchangeables yet. Humira and Remicade for arthritis, and Enbrel for psoriasis, are a few of the most common biologics on the market.

Another bill is aimed to help small-town pharmacies stay competitive with chains. SB 117, sponsored by Wise, allows the state Insurance Department to regulate pharmacy benefit managers, like Express Scripts, much like insurance companies. It would also provide an appeal mechanism to resolve pricing disputes between pharmacies and PBMs. The state has more than 500 independent pharmacists that will be affected by this law.

Bigger issues: Health officials say the single most important thing that Kentucky can do to improve the state's health at no cost is to pass a statewide smoking ban for workplaces. Rep. Susan Westrom, D-Lexington, filed a smoke-free bill late in the session that didn't even get a hearing in committee, despite having passed the House last year. Bevin opposes a statewide ban.

Adams and Alvarado filed a bill to require insurance companies to pay for all evidence-based smoking cessation treatments in hopes of decreasing the state's smoking rate, but it was filed late in the session and only brought up for discussion.

Democratic Rep. David Watkins, a retired physician from Henderson, filed three bills to decrease smoking in the state: one to increase the cigarette tax, one to raise the legal age for buying tobacco products to to 21, and one to require retail outlets to conceal tobacco products until a customer requests them. All were to no avail.

Rep. Darryl Owens, D-Louisville, filed bills to continue the Kynect health-insurance exchange and the state's current expansion of the federal-state Medicaid program. The bills passed mostly among party lines in the House, but the Senate has not voted on them as Senate President Robert Stivers said he would if the House did.

Princess Health and Ky. Republicans like Indiana Medicaid plan, but head of Medicaid directors' group says Ind. isn't far enough along to be a model. Princessiccia

Princess Health and Ky. Republicans like Indiana Medicaid plan, but head of Medicaid directors' group says Ind. isn't far enough along to be a model. Princessiccia

federal spending governor health insurance Medicaid state budget state government

Gusty 15:31 Add Comment

Gov. Matt Bevin and other Republicans have said they want to make Kentucky's version of Medicaid look like Indiana's, but a leading Medicaid official says that Indiana's program hasn't proven itself to save money or improve health, so it's unlikely other states will be allowed to use it as a model, Phil Galewitz reports for Kaiser Health News and The Washington Post.

Matt Salo, executive director of the National Association of Medicaid Directors, told Galewitz, �Other states have looked at it, but the Obama administration has made it pretty clear that Indiana is going to be a test case and much evaluation will need to be done before they approve any more like it.�

Now Bevin's office says it is looking at other states, too, as it negotiates with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, trying to come up with a revised program to save money, perhaps by August.

"The Indiana model is just one of many models that we are looking at for influence in crafting a plan that is specifically tailored for the needs of Kentucky," Bevin spokeswoman Jessica Ditto said in an e-mail. "We are working closely, and in good faith, with HHS as this process moves forward and have confidence that what we offer for their consideration will be a thoughtful, deliberate and unique plan that will improve health outcomes in a sustainable manner."

Under federal health reform, then-Gov. Steve Beshear expanded Medicaid to those in the state with incomes up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level, adding 400,000 people. The federal government pays for this expanded population through this year, but then the state will be responsible for 5 percent of the expansion, rising to the reform law's limit of 10 percent in 2020.

Bevin has said that Kentucky's revised program should require its members to have "skin in the game," and that the state cannot continue to pay for the health insurance of "able-bodied adults."

Healthy Indiana Plan

That sounds like Indiana, which has monthly fees and co-payments and refers its participants to a work program.

Even if it is just a dollar, everyone on Medicaid in Indiana pays something, whether it's through a monthly fee or through co-payments.

The Healthy Indiana Plan has two levels, HIP Plus and HIP Basic. Both plans offer incentives for using preventive services, but HIP Plus, which requires a monthly fee, also includes dental and vision services.

Those fees go into an account that is like a health savings account and is used for the first $2,500 of medical expenses each year. The state of Indiana pays the bulk of the $2,500 and if the participant's health-care expenses exceed this amount, the state will pay for the additional care at no cost to the individual.

HIP Plus is considered the best value and is available to everyone in the state with income below 138 percent of the federal poverty level. The consequences for not paying the required monthly fee vary by income level.

Those in HIP plus who make at or below the poverty level and fail to pay the fee are moved down to HIP Basic plan, which requires co-payments of up to $8 per service and $75 for each inpatient hospital stay. Both plans have a co-payment for using the emergency room for non-emergency reasons, $8 the first time and then $25 per visit thereafter.

HIP Basic members who make more than the poverty level are locked out of coverage for six months if they fail to make their monthly payment.

"No other program has been allowed to require health spending accounts, much less threaten to yank coverage for a person not paying in," Galewitz writes, paraphrasing Salo.

HIP members who are unemployed or work less than 20 hours a week are referred to available employment, work search and job training programs to help them gain employment or find better employment. This is a free and voluntary program and does not affect the receipt of benefits.

All members of HIP Plus must pay something. About half of Indiana Medicaid members have annual incomes below $600; they must pay a $1 monthly premium.

The monthly fee adjusts with income and family size. For example, a single person who makes $16,242, the maximum for expanded Medicaid, pays $27.07 per month to get HIP Plus, or $324.85 per year. A family of two could make as much as $21,983 and would pay $36.64 or $439.68 per year; and a family of four could make $33,465 and would pay $55.78, or $669.36 per year. Information comes from the eligibility calculator on the Healthy Indiana Plan website.

Is Indiana's plan working?

Indiana health officials told Galewitz that 94 percent of those who have signed up for HIP Plus continue to pay their fees.

Michelle Stoughton, senior director of government relations for Indianapolis-based Anthem Insurance Cos., called that a success. She said nearly 75 percent of Anthem's members on this HIP Plus have visited a dentist, and 65 percent sought vision care in the first three months of coverage. Anthem is one of three private insurers providing coverage under the Healthy Indiana Plan.

�What we heard for years .?.?. is that these people won�t pay and don�t have the ability to pay,� Stoughton told Galewitz. �But this has turned those arguments around and been able to show that people do want to be engaged.�

Indiana's hospitals and doctors support the Healthy Indiana Plan, mostly because the state increased their Medicaid rates, hospitals by an average of 20 percent and doctors' reimbursements by an average of 25 percent, Galewitz reports.

"As a result, Medicaid has gained more than 5,300 providers in the past year, and patients report few problems getting care," he writes. But he also noted that about 2,200 members have lost coverage since it began in May 2015 because they didn't pay their monthly fees.

Critics of Indiana's plan worry that the monthly payments and complicated structure will keep the poor from getting care. which goes against the core goal of Medicaid expansion, Galewitz writes. In addition, some conservative groups say the program may be more expensive than traditional Medicaid, because it provides dental and vision care and pays providers more. Others say that the red tape in the plan exceeds that of any state's Medicaid expansion.

The state had also hoped third parties would step up and help the poor pay for their monthly contributions, but this hasn't happened, Joan Alker, executive director of the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families, told Galewitz. She said, �It�s premature for Indiana to take a victory lap.�

Princess Health and Boyd, Clark counties approve needle exchanges; Boyd's is a limited, one-for one; Covington's proposed limits draw objections. Princessiccia

Princess Health and Boyd, Clark counties approve needle exchanges; Boyd's is a limited, one-for one; Covington's proposed limits draw objections. Princessiccia

AIDS county health boards drug abuse General Assembly health departments hepatitis HIV legislation legislature needle exchanges public health state government

Gusty 16:00 Add Comment

By Melissa Patrick
Kentucky Health News

Clark and Boyd counties are the ninth and 10th Kentucky counties to approve a needle-exchange program, and Madison and Anderson counties are talking about it. Meanwhile, the city of Covington has approved an exchange with conditions that don't match its health department's plan, and one of the conditions might not even be legal.

Needle exchanges were approved under the state's anti-heroin law passed in 2015, and require both local approval and funding. They are meant to slow the spread of HIV and the hepatitis C virus (HCV), which are commonly spread by the sharing of needles among intravenous drug users.

Clark County Health Director Scott Lockard noted that the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has "identified 54 counties in Kentucky as being vulnerable to rapid dissemination of HIV or HCV infection among persons who inject drugs. Of the top 25 most vulnerable counties in the nation 16 of them are in our state."

Clark County

On March 23, the Clark County Fiscal Court approved on a 4-2 vote a needle exchange that will start on or before June 1, but the program will need re-authorization in January, Greg Kocher reports for the Lexington Herald-Leader.

"Both the Fiscal Court and the [Winchester] City Commission inserted a sunset clause in the orders requiring the health department to present data on our program in January 2017 in order to get re-authorization for a longer time period," Lockard told Kentucky Health News in an e-mail.

He noted that the CDC identified nearby Wolfe County as the most vulnerable county in the nation to rapid dissemination of HIV and HCV among drug users, with adjoining Powell and Estill counties 15th and 25th, respectively.

"Residents from all three of these counties frequently come to Clark County for medical services from our provider community and the health department," he said. "More must be done in the area of prevention if we are to avoid a situation similar to what Scott County, Indiana, encountered."

That county, about 30 miles north of Louisville, has drawn national attention for its high rates of HIV and hepatitis C, mostly caused by intravenous drug users who share needles. According to published reports, "from November 2014 to mid-June 2015, the Indiana county of 24,200 reported 170 HIV cases. It reported 130 new cases of hepatitis C in 2014," noted Bill Robinson of The Richmond Register.

According to Lockard, Clark County's program will use a patient negotiation model, which does not require a one-to-one needle exchange, during the initial visit, but will try to get close to a one-for-one model on subsequent visits.

"We will educate participants that they need to return needles to get needles," he said.

Boyd County

The Boyd County Fiscal Court voted 4-1 March 15 to approve a one-to-one needle exchange for one year, Lana Bellamy reports for The Daily Independent. 

The Ashland City Commission had already given its approval for the exchange, which may begin as early as July. Bellamy reports that the program will be paid for by special taxing districts, and all of the fiscal court members voiced concerns about the sustainability of the funding.

Ashland-Boyd County Health Department Director Maria Hardy told the court that syringes typically cost about 97 cents each, but the health department will be able to buy needles from a distributor for 9 cents each, Bellamy writes.

The Boyd County program will assign tracking numbers to its participants to protect their identities and allow a maximum of 40 needles to be exchanged each week.

County Commissioner John Greer, the only member to vote against the resolution, said he was concerned the program would encourage drug abuse and Sheriff Bobby Jack Woods agreed, Bellamy reports. This is a common concern among opponents of needle exchange programs, though evidence-based studies have proven otherwise.

Covington

During the same week, the City of Covington approved a needle-exchange program, but with conditions that could kill the program, Terry DeMio reports for The Cincinnati Enquirer.

The conditions are that all participants be tested for hepatitis C, hepatitis B, HIV, and, where applicable, pregnancy. That could be illegal, DeMio reports.

A Northern Kentucky Health Board spokeswoman told DeMio that they believe that they cannot require anyone to undergo any medical procedures, but said they were checking with legal counsel. Other health and harm-reduction officials told DeMio that this requirement is not legal, and that such a condition would likely prevent a program from getting off the ground.

"The Covington commission's resolution includes other conditions that differ from the health board's model program, too, and would require passage from the Kenton County Fiscal Court and the Board of Health before it's approved," DeMio writes.

These conditions include a requirement that two other counties in the Northern Kentucky Health District also adopt a needle-exchange program (only Grant County has); restrict use of the program residents of the district's four counties; and moving the exchange to St. Elizabeth Healthcare hospital.

The city also wants a one-for-one exchange, Michael Monks reports for The River City News.

The health department says its plan is "need-based," not one-for-one, because studies show that is the best way to reduce the risk of community exposure and spread of HIV and HCV. This is the main goal of the program, although needle-exchange programs also provide HIV and HCV testing and access to drug treatment.

The health department's plan is to initially provide clients with the number of syringes they would use in a week, along with a safe container for their return with instruction to return the used needles for new ones. Participants who don't return dirty needles after three trips would not receive new syringes, DeMio reports.

The department has been trying to establish needle-exchange programs in the district since the law passed one year ago. The Kenton County Fiscal Court is expected to discuss a needle exchange plan March 29, DeMio reports.

Dr. Lynne Saddler, the health department's director, told the Enquirer "that the Covington resolution was a start and that more discussion is planned by the health department."

Other counties

Madison County Health Department officials are also worried about becoming another Scott County, Indiana, as they face an epidemic of heroin use in their county, Bill Robinson reports for The Richmond Register.

Thus they have begun the process of educating their public officials, Robinson writes. Public Health Director Nancy Crewe presented her detailed findings to support a needle exchange at a quarterly joint meeting of the county Fiscal Court, Richmond City Commission and Berea City Council, noting that they were just beginning the long process of educating the public.

A needle exchange program was also brought up at the March meeting of the Anderson County Fiscal Court meeting, and was met with some disparaging remarks, Ben Carson reports for The Anderson News.

"What jackass thought of that idea?" asked Magistrate David Montgomery. "We might as well give them the dope, too."

Despite these comments, Montgomery did volunteer to be on a committee to explore a needle exchange program along with members of the health board, Lawrenceburg City Council, law enforcement, EMS and county jailer.

Robinson also reports that the Bourbon County Fiscal Court has voted to reject an exchange.

The other needle exchanges in the state that are either operating or have been approved are in Louisville and Lexington and in the counties of Pendleton, Carter, Elliott, Franklin, Grant, and Jessamine.

Princess Health and Republicans accuse Beshear of holding down failed co-op's premiums to make Obamacare look good; he denies the charge. Princessiccia

Princess Health and Republicans accuse Beshear of holding down failed co-op's premiums to make Obamacare look good; he denies the charge. Princessiccia

federal spending General Assembly governor health insurance health reform insurance Kynect legislature Medicaid obamacare Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act politics state government

Gusty 13:09 Add Comment

By Al Cross
Kentucky Health News

Did Kentucky's government-sponsored insurance company fail because then-Gov. Steve Beshear and federal officials kept its rates artificially low to make Beshear's embrace of federal health reform look better?

Sen. Ralph Alvarado

That's what Republican state Sen. Ralph Alvarado of Winchester, using documents provided by Gov. Matt Bevin's office, suggested or claimed March 14 in a Senate floor speech about the Kentucky Health Cooperative.

"It appears that rates for the co-op may have been purposely kept down for the sake of optics, to make the rollout of the ACA in Kentucky appear successful when it clearly was not," Alvarado said, citing "multiple meetings between the co-op, the governor's office and CMS," the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which oversees the state-based co-ops created under the reform law, in the fall of 2014.

"Somewhere along the way rates were kept down despite these actuarial recommendations," which said the money-losing cooperative should increase its rates 35 to 40 percent for the 2015 plan year, Alvarado said. The co-op's average increase, announced in late October 2014, was 15 percent. In November, CMS expanded the co-op's $47 million solvency loan to $125 million "to try to sustain this company," he said.

Beshear denied the charges through a spokeswoman, Hayley Prim. She said in an email, "Rates were set by the co-op, which was a privately run insurance plan. Like all other insurance plans, the rates must be certified by the Department of Insurance and actuarially sound. The state did not hold rates artificially lower to improve optics."

CMS officials encouraged co-ops "to price their plans low and grow as fast as they could," Adam Cancryn reported for SNL Financial in November 2015, in a long article that is widely regarded as the best written about the failure of the co-ops. Twelve of the 23 have closed or plan to.

The insurance co-op's offices are in eastern Jefferson County.

In December 2014, the Kentucky Health Cooperative reported a loss of $50 million, "with several hazardous financial conditions indicated," Alvarado said, but that year its chief executive officer, chief financial officer and member-services vice president got bonuses of $50,000, $40,000 and $40,000 on top of their salaries of $250,000, $179,000 and $131,000.

"This company had no money, was in deficit, and yet funds were being used clearly for bonuses," Alvarado said. Its CFO, Leonard Sherman, left the company in December 2014, according to a document filed by its liquidators.

Joe Smith of Frankfort, who was chair of the cooperative's now-dissolved board, said in an interview that the salaries and bonuses were "probably a little bit less" than typical in the insurance industry. He said bonuses were paid because the co-op enrolled many more customers than expected, but no bonuses were paid after the first year.

Smith blamed "the Republican Congress" for killing the co-op and those in many other states by limiting the "risk corridor" subsidies paid to insurance companies for covering sicker-than-average populations.

He acknowledged that the Obama administration largely abandoned the co-ops, making them "a sacrificial lamb," but he said they could not effectively compete with large insurance companies, mainly because the reform law prohibited them from advertising, as the big insurers wanted. The law created funding for the not-for-profit cooperatives as a way to provide competition with for-profit insurers and hold premiums down.

Janie Miller, who was Beshear's first health secretary, resigned as CEO of the Kentucky Health Cooperative in June 2015. That October, the co-op said it had largely eliminated its losses but would close because it was getting only a $9.7 million of a $77 million risk-corridor subsidy that it needed to stay afloat. It is now in liquidation, supervised by Franklin Circuit Court.

Alvarado said Miller and her successor, Glenn Jennings, refused to appear at a legislative budget subcommittee meeting in November. He said the Insurance Department "gave us very limited answers about what happened, [which] made me wonder if any wrongdoing was involved."

Alvarado said the legislature's Program Review and Investigations Committee should examine the co-op's finances and the Senate should issue a subpoena requiring Miller and Jennings to appear.

Then-Gov. Steve Beshear,
discussing health reform at the
Brookings Institution in D.C.

Prim, Beshear's spokeswoman, said, "While it is unfortunate the co-op did not succeed, an overwhelming majority of Kentuckians have a positive view of Kynect," the online exchange where Kentuckians can buy federally subsidized health-insurance policies. "It has succeeded by providing low-cost health insurance options and creating a competitive marketplace for private insurers that have kept rates low for everyone."

In his speech, Alvarado incorrectly referred to Kynect policies as Medicaid, the federal-state health plan for the poor and disabled. Beshear expanded Medicaid eligibility to Kentuckians in households with incomes up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level.

Alvarado declined to give Kentucky Health News the documents to which he referred in his speech, saying he got them from Bevin's office, which could be asked for them.

Bevin's office provided the liquidators' first report, filed Dec. 31; an actuarial report on small-group plans for 2016, submitted in July 2015; an actuarial report on individual plans for 2015, filed in August 2014; and a February 2015 letter from Miller responding to the Insurance Department's request for a "corrective action plan." None of the documents mention the meetings Alvarado said occurred among CMS, the co-op and the governor's office.

The August 2014 actuarial report said, "The financial viability of KHC is in question. . . . KHC's projections reflect very aggressive assumptions, albeit within a reasonable range, and may result in a very optimistic view of future experience."

The co-op's members used medical services more often than it expected. In the second quarter, there were 263 hospital patient days per 1,000 members, higher than the pricing assumption of 184 per 1,000 but a still a "significant decrease" from the first quarter, for which the report did not give a figure.

The co-op was also having trouble dealing with members and health-care providers. Its corrective plan filed in February 2015 addressed complaints about such things as slow payment standards, paid premiums not being posted to members' accounts, complaints from in-network providers about being processed as out-of-network, and long waits for customer service, with supervisors not being available.

The liquidators' report to the court estimated that the co-op still owes about $80 million in claims, and their financial analysis left unclear whether all those claims would be paid. The balance sheet in the liquidators' statement, dated June 30, said the co-op had $117 million in assets and $128 million in liabilities, and the liabilities included only $67.7 million in unpaid claims. However, the co-op's biggest federal loan, of $125 million, is "subordinate to policyholder obligations, claimant and beneficiary claims, operating expenses and state reserve and solvency requirements," the report said. CMS, the federal agency, has asked an independent actuary to provide its own estimate of unpaid claims.