Health News
- Bill To Shield Nursing Homes From Lawsuits Clears Senate Along Party Lines; Not Looking Healthy In House Despite Tv, Radio Ads
Last week the state Senate approved on party lines a bill that would make lawsuits against nursing homes go through a review panel first. Republicans supported the bill and Democrats voted against it in a 23-12 vote that marked the clearest...
- Effort To Boost Oral Health In Nursing Homes Gets Tangled Up With Industry's Attempt To Insulate Itself From Lawsuits; Both Bills Die
A bill to get nursing-home residents better dental services "appears to be dead after the Senate added language from another bill designed to shield the nursing-home industry from litigation," Deborah Yetter reports for The Courier-Journal. House Bill...
- Smoking Ban Can't Get A Vote Due To Republican Boycott Over Chairman's Block Of Measure For Drug Tests For Welfare Recipients
There could have been a vote Thursday on a bill for a statewide smoking ban, but a Republican boycott of the Democratic-controlled House Health and Welfare Committee over another bill prevented that. "Republicans were upset over the committee chairman's...
- Ex-boss Of Defunct Jenkins Personal-care Home Accepts Federal Plea Deal; He And Relatives Still Face State Charges
"The former administrator of a Letcher County personal-care home that was recently shut down by the state pleaded guilty Thursday in federal court to a charge that he took thousands of dollars from residents," Valarie Honeycutt Spears reports for the...
- Abortion Bills Die In House Health And Welfare Committee
Four bills that would have made it more difficult to have an abortion in Kentucky won't make it past the House Health and Welfare Committee. House Bill 390 and House Bill 215 would have prohibited a woman from having abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy...
Health News
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 Administrators to admonish them in secret without the action being "considered a disciplinary action against the licensee."
The chairman of the board committee that recommended the bill said the alternative already exists, though not in law, and "would only be used for situations that were not serious enough to warrant action against an administrator's license," reports Valarie Honeycutt Spears of the Lexington Herald-Leader.
House Bill 414, which would make several other changes, was introduced Feb. 9 by Rep. Tom Burch, D-Louisville. On Feb. 14, he posted the bill for consideration by the Health and Welfare Committee, which he chairs, and got the House to waive the rule that bills be posted for three days before being considered. The next day, the committee approved the bill 14-0 and put it on the consent calendar, which is used to pass non-controverial bills without debate. It was posted for passage Feb. 18, but was removed from the consent calendar that day and has languished on the regular calendar since.
On. Feb. 22, Rep. Tim Moore, R-Elizabethtown, filed an amendment to the bill that could doom it. His is one of several measures that would require abortion clinics to give women face-to-face counseling and offer them an opportunity to see an ultrasound image of their unborn child. Because of that, "Burch said this week he did not think the bill would continue to move," Sepears reports. However, the contents of the bill could be revived as an amendment to another one.
Spears, who has done much reporting about problems in nursing homes, notes that the board minutes from Februrary 2010 referred to 29 complaints, one was from 2006 and the rest were from 2007 through 2010. Among the cases was a nursing home administrator who did not contact authorities when aides abused a resident, an administrator criminally charged with stealing prescription drugs and an administrator sentenced to 10 years in prison for theft and exploiting an adult. The bill does not specify what kind of infractions would result in private criticisms." (Read more)
The chairman of the board committee that recommended the bill said the alternative already exists, though not in law, and "would only be used for situations that were not serious enough to warrant action against an administrator's license," reports Valarie Honeycutt Spears of the Lexington Herald-Leader.
House Bill 414, which would make several other changes, was introduced Feb. 9 by Rep. Tom Burch, D-Louisville. On Feb. 14, he posted the bill for consideration by the Health and Welfare Committee, which he chairs, and got the House to waive the rule that bills be posted for three days before being considered. The next day, the committee approved the bill 14-0 and put it on the consent calendar, which is used to pass non-controverial bills without debate. It was posted for passage Feb. 18, but was removed from the consent calendar that day and has languished on the regular calendar since.
On. Feb. 22, Rep. Tim Moore, R-Elizabethtown, filed an amendment to the bill that could doom it. His is one of several measures that would require abortion clinics to give women face-to-face counseling and offer them an opportunity to see an ultrasound image of their unborn child. Because of that, "Burch said this week he did not think the bill would continue to move," Sepears reports. However, the contents of the bill could be revived as an amendment to another one.
Spears, who has done much reporting about problems in nursing homes, notes that the board minutes from Februrary 2010 referred to 29 complaints, one was from 2006 and the rest were from 2007 through 2010. Among the cases was a nursing home administrator who did not contact authorities when aides abused a resident, an administrator criminally charged with stealing prescription drugs and an administrator sentenced to 10 years in prison for theft and exploiting an adult. The bill does not specify what kind of infractions would result in private criticisms." (Read more)
- Bill To Shield Nursing Homes From Lawsuits Clears Senate Along Party Lines; Not Looking Healthy In House Despite Tv, Radio Ads
Last week the state Senate approved on party lines a bill that would make lawsuits against nursing homes go through a review panel first. Republicans supported the bill and Democrats voted against it in a 23-12 vote that marked the clearest...
- Effort To Boost Oral Health In Nursing Homes Gets Tangled Up With Industry's Attempt To Insulate Itself From Lawsuits; Both Bills Die
A bill to get nursing-home residents better dental services "appears to be dead after the Senate added language from another bill designed to shield the nursing-home industry from litigation," Deborah Yetter reports for The Courier-Journal. House Bill...
- Smoking Ban Can't Get A Vote Due To Republican Boycott Over Chairman's Block Of Measure For Drug Tests For Welfare Recipients
There could have been a vote Thursday on a bill for a statewide smoking ban, but a Republican boycott of the Democratic-controlled House Health and Welfare Committee over another bill prevented that. "Republicans were upset over the committee chairman's...
- Ex-boss Of Defunct Jenkins Personal-care Home Accepts Federal Plea Deal; He And Relatives Still Face State Charges
"The former administrator of a Letcher County personal-care home that was recently shut down by the state pleaded guilty Thursday in federal court to a charge that he took thousands of dollars from residents," Valarie Honeycutt Spears reports for the...
- Abortion Bills Die In House Health And Welfare Committee
Four bills that would have made it more difficult to have an abortion in Kentucky won't make it past the House Health and Welfare Committee. House Bill 390 and House Bill 215 would have prohibited a woman from having abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy...