Health News
- As Nurse Practitioners Enjoy Their New, State-granted Authority, The Paducah Sun Looks At The Issue In Far Western Kentucky
Kentucky law has expanded the rights of nurse practitioners, Laurel Black notes for The Paducah Sun: "Local practitioners say the move will provide patients with better access to care, but not everyone in the medical community embraces the idea." The...
- Bill To Ease Prescription Rules For Advanced-practice Nurse Practitioners Is First To Pass In This Legislative Session
The first bill to pass the 2014 General Assembly and go to the governor is Senate Bill 7, which would allow more experienced advanced-practice registered nurses to prescribe non-narcotic drugs without having an agreement with a physician. Advocates of...
- Doctors Give Nurse Practitioners More Leeway On Prescriptions; Senator Says Tort-reform Lobbies Should Play Hardball With Money
"Concerns about a growing doctor shortage, especially in rural Kentucky, is fueling the urgency for lawmakers and medical groups to agree on an approach to allow nurse practitioners to be able to prescribe certain medicines without physician supervision,"...
- As Health Care Expands And More Providers Are Needed, Pressure Grows To Allow Nurse Practitioners More Prescribing Authority
By Molly Burchett Kentucky Health News As Kentucky expands Medicaid and implements the Affordable Care Act, more Kentuckians will have health coverage and access to care, worsening Kentucky's already existing shortage of physicians, particularly those...
- Bill To Make Medicaid Managed-care Firms Pay Up, And More Promptly, Nears Final Form In House And Will Get Attention In Senate
By Molly Burchett and Al Cross Kentucky Health News The complaints by many health-care providers about Medicare managed-care firms' delay or denial of payment claims appears to be generating a bipartisan solution in the General Assembly. A bill on...
Health News
Legislature eases physician assistant rules; nurse practitioners' prescription power, Medicaid prompt-payment bills, others linger
By Molly Burchett and Al Cross
Kentucky Health News
The Kentucky General Assembly has joined other states in easing the restrictions on physician assistants? medical practice, but has held up a similar move for advanced registered nurse practitioners. Both issues relate to the shortage of medical practitioners in many Kentucky counties, and the quality of medical care.
The Senate added the physician assistant language of Senate Bill 43 to House Bill 104, an art-therapy bill, in order to preserve an agreement between the Kentucky Medical Association and the Kentucky Academy of Physician Assistants. It will repeal the law that bans PAs from practicing for their first 18 months unless a physician is on site; one will still have to be available by telephone. The amended bill has been sent to Gov. Steve Beshear for his signature or veto.
The amendment was used because the House had tacked onto SB 43 an amendment from advance practice registered nurses that would have repealed the need for them to have a collaborative agreement with a physicians to prescribe non-narcotic drugs. The KMA opposes that idea.
"It's looking like the doctors win," said Sen. Julie Denton, R-Louisville, who favors the repeal. "I'm not hopeful" it can pass, she said, but added that some physicians also favor it: "With Obamacare coming in, we're going to need all the front-line physicians we can get." Leading opponents of the measure, Republicans Katie Stine of Fort Thomas and Carroll Gibson of Leitchfield, didn't return a call seeking comment.
Nurse practitioners say that SB 43 is necessary to allow them to fill health-care gaps in rural Kentucky and address the state's shortage of primary-care providers. The Kentucky Coalition of Nurse Practitioners and Nurse Midwives says in an article prepared for Kentucky newspapers that NPs have never been required to practice under physician supervision and 17 states allow full prescribing authority for non-scheduled medications.
The Medicaid prompt-payment bill, HB 5, went to a conference committee after the House refused to go along with Senate changes, and may be considered when the legislature returns later this month, ostensibly to consider any bills Beshear vetoes. The bill would apply prompt-payment laws to managed-care organizations and would move Medicaid late-payment complaints to the insurance department; those are now handled by the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, which administers Medicaid.
In the final crunch to pass legislation before the veto recess, lawmakers attached seven health care-related bills to HB 366, which had focused on identifying congenital heart disease in newborns. It had 10 additional measures "hung on it like a Christmas tree before the free conference committee of House and Senate members," reports Ryan Alessi of cn|2's "Pure Politics."
The bills still hanging on the measure, dubbed the "healthy Christmas tree," are:
Kentucky Health News
The Kentucky General Assembly has joined other states in easing the restrictions on physician assistants? medical practice, but has held up a similar move for advanced registered nurse practitioners. Both issues relate to the shortage of medical practitioners in many Kentucky counties, and the quality of medical care.
The Senate added the physician assistant language of Senate Bill 43 to House Bill 104, an art-therapy bill, in order to preserve an agreement between the Kentucky Medical Association and the Kentucky Academy of Physician Assistants. It will repeal the law that bans PAs from practicing for their first 18 months unless a physician is on site; one will still have to be available by telephone. The amended bill has been sent to Gov. Steve Beshear for his signature or veto.
The amendment was used because the House had tacked onto SB 43 an amendment from advance practice registered nurses that would have repealed the need for them to have a collaborative agreement with a physicians to prescribe non-narcotic drugs. The KMA opposes that idea.
"It's looking like the doctors win," said Sen. Julie Denton, R-Louisville, who favors the repeal. "I'm not hopeful" it can pass, she said, but added that some physicians also favor it: "With Obamacare coming in, we're going to need all the front-line physicians we can get." Leading opponents of the measure, Republicans Katie Stine of Fort Thomas and Carroll Gibson of Leitchfield, didn't return a call seeking comment.
Nurse practitioners say that SB 43 is necessary to allow them to fill health-care gaps in rural Kentucky and address the state's shortage of primary-care providers. The Kentucky Coalition of Nurse Practitioners and Nurse Midwives says in an article prepared for Kentucky newspapers that NPs have never been required to practice under physician supervision and 17 states allow full prescribing authority for non-scheduled medications.
The Medicaid prompt-payment bill, HB 5, went to a conference committee after the House refused to go along with Senate changes, and may be considered when the legislature returns later this month, ostensibly to consider any bills Beshear vetoes. The bill would apply prompt-payment laws to managed-care organizations and would move Medicaid late-payment complaints to the insurance department; those are now handled by the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, which administers Medicaid.
In the final crunch to pass legislation before the veto recess, lawmakers attached seven health care-related bills to HB 366, which had focused on identifying congenital heart disease in newborns. It had 10 additional measures "hung on it like a Christmas tree before the free conference committee of House and Senate members," reports Ryan Alessi of cn|2's "Pure Politics."
The bills still hanging on the measure, dubbed the "healthy Christmas tree," are:
- HB 187, addressing a free prescription-drug program for under-insured Kentuckians.
- HB 79, which would exempt licensed health care providers from being disciplined for prescribing naloxone in the event of an overdose.
- HB 387, which aims to provide nutritional supplements for low-birth-weight newborns.
- SB 201, which addresses licensed diabetes educators.
- SB 38, to require Medicaid to accept provider credentialing by a Medicaid managed-care organization.
- SB 108, relating to managed-care contracts with the IMPACT Plus program, a behavioral health program for children.
- As Nurse Practitioners Enjoy Their New, State-granted Authority, The Paducah Sun Looks At The Issue In Far Western Kentucky
Kentucky law has expanded the rights of nurse practitioners, Laurel Black notes for The Paducah Sun: "Local practitioners say the move will provide patients with better access to care, but not everyone in the medical community embraces the idea." The...
- Bill To Ease Prescription Rules For Advanced-practice Nurse Practitioners Is First To Pass In This Legislative Session
The first bill to pass the 2014 General Assembly and go to the governor is Senate Bill 7, which would allow more experienced advanced-practice registered nurses to prescribe non-narcotic drugs without having an agreement with a physician. Advocates of...
- Doctors Give Nurse Practitioners More Leeway On Prescriptions; Senator Says Tort-reform Lobbies Should Play Hardball With Money
"Concerns about a growing doctor shortage, especially in rural Kentucky, is fueling the urgency for lawmakers and medical groups to agree on an approach to allow nurse practitioners to be able to prescribe certain medicines without physician supervision,"...
- As Health Care Expands And More Providers Are Needed, Pressure Grows To Allow Nurse Practitioners More Prescribing Authority
By Molly Burchett Kentucky Health News As Kentucky expands Medicaid and implements the Affordable Care Act, more Kentuckians will have health coverage and access to care, worsening Kentucky's already existing shortage of physicians, particularly those...
- Bill To Make Medicaid Managed-care Firms Pay Up, And More Promptly, Nears Final Form In House And Will Get Attention In Senate
By Molly Burchett and Al Cross Kentucky Health News The complaints by many health-care providers about Medicare managed-care firms' delay or denial of payment claims appears to be generating a bipartisan solution in the General Assembly. A bill on...