Author: Al Cross
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Passport Health Plan drops secrecy as managed care expands
Passport Health Plan, the managed-care organization for Medicaid in the Louisville area, announced today that it would no longer fight to keep its records secret, deciding not to appeal a...
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Feds say they will post data on performance of dialysis centers
“Federal regulators say they are moving to make once-confidential data about the performance of kidney dialysis clinics more readily available to the public,” reports Robin Fields of ProPublica, the nonprofit,...
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Beshear will use line-item veto on Medicaid bill to remove mandatory cuts in other state programs and school funding
Democrats appear to have prevailed in the State Capitol battle over the budget and Medicaid. (Update, March 25: Beshear issued the vetoes.) After the Republican-controlled Senate passed a budget fix...
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Near-unanimous House passes Medicaid plan; Senate mum
By an overwhelming margin of 94-4, the state House today passed a bipartisan bill to fix the state Medicaid budget, again putting the ball in the court of the Republicans...
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New website, www.SortingThroughTheSmoke.com, offers journalists local and state information on tobacco and health
Three Kentucky organizations are launching a website to serve as a one-stop shop for journalists covering tobacco and health issues in Kentucky, and for others interested in documenting the impact...
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As meds-for-meth bill dies, backer asks colleagues to find solution
The bill that would have required prescriptions for three popular decongestants used to make methamphetamine “was buried today, but not without a eulogy and a promise to resurrect it,” Renee...
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States can’t reveal drug costs because federal law makes them secret; Montana governor blames drug lobby, Ky. contractor
When Montana journalists asked Gov. Brian Schweitzer to reveal the prices the state pays for drugs in government health care programs, he said he wanted to tell them, but had...
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Almost all nursing homes have employees with criminal past, estimated 5% of employees; background-check bill seems dead
A new federal report says 92 percent of nursing homes employ someone with a criminal record. Most states require such facilities to check the backgrounds of applicants for employment, but the...
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Judge issues permanent injunction barring Medi-Share, a Christian health-coverage plan, from operating in Kentucky
After a legal battle that lasted almost nine years, the Christian health-coverage plan Medi-Share will be prohibited from operating in Kentucky, Franklin Circuit Judge Thomas Wingate decided today. The state...
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Board for nursing-home administrators wants a law to let it issue secret admonitions; bill is in jeopardy
A bill that was introduced late and got a fast start, but has hit speed bumps and maybe a roadblock, would allow the Kentucky Board of Licensure for Nursing Home...