Health News
Dr. Stephanie Mayfield has been appointed as the commissioner for the state Department for Public Health, making her the first woman and first African American to hold the position, which has typically been held by a physician. The appointment was made by Audrey Haynes, secretary of health and family services.
The department is the largest health-care provider in the state, with an annual budget this year of almost $400 million. It includes 59 county and district health departments, many of which are "financially struggling," notes Beth Musgrave of the Lexington Herald-Leader. "The health departments have seen their budgets cut in recent years, leading to some lay offs and furloughs." (Read more)
Mayfield has been director of Kentucky?s public health laboratory since 2005. According to the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, Mayfield and the state lab team have been instrumental in speeding up tuberculosis detection and in testing the state's newborns for a wide array of problems. In addition to overseeing the state lab, Mayfield has also served as a lecturer on rotation at the University of Kentucky School of Medicine?s Preventive and Occupational Medicine Residencies and the University of Louisville School of Medicine?s Department of Pathology.
Dr. Steve Davis, who as deputy commissioner has run the department for more than a year, tells Kentucky Health News that he will remain in the agency.
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Health News
Mayfield named state's top doctor, as head of health department
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| Dr. Stephanie Mayfield |
The department is the largest health-care provider in the state, with an annual budget this year of almost $400 million. It includes 59 county and district health departments, many of which are "financially struggling," notes Beth Musgrave of the Lexington Herald-Leader. "The health departments have seen their budgets cut in recent years, leading to some lay offs and furloughs." (Read more)
Mayfield has been director of Kentucky?s public health laboratory since 2005. According to the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, Mayfield and the state lab team have been instrumental in speeding up tuberculosis detection and in testing the state's newborns for a wide array of problems. In addition to overseeing the state lab, Mayfield has also served as a lecturer on rotation at the University of Kentucky School of Medicine?s Preventive and Occupational Medicine Residencies and the University of Louisville School of Medicine?s Department of Pathology.
Dr. Steve Davis, who as deputy commissioner has run the department for more than a year, tells Kentucky Health News that he will remain in the agency.
- State's Commissioners Of Education And Health Urge Kentucky's School Boards To Make Their Campuses Smoke-free
The commissioners of Kentucky?s education and health departments have jointly signed and sent letters to all 173 school superintendents in the state asking them to pass full smoking bans "to protect the health of students," Devin Katayama reports for...
- Women Leading Kentucky Health: State Health Commissioner Sees 'stars Aligned' For Kentucky To Finally Get Healthier
Health Commissioner Stephanie Mayfield GibsonThis is the third in a series of stories about four high-ranking female state officials who have guided the state's embrace of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. By Melissa PatrickKentucky...
- Medicaid Managed-care Forums For Health-care Providers To Be Held Around Kentucky In Next Six Weeks
The Cabinet for Health and Family Services has scheduled a new round of forums for health-care providers in each of the eight Medicaid regions during August and September. The forums will be attended by senior officials from CHFS, including cabinet Secretary...
- Group Overseeing Effort To Make State Healthier Hears Of 'dire Need,' Tools For Improvement
Kentucky's health is "in dire need of improvement," but the state has some tools to do that, including health-care reform and the insurance program for its own employees, the group of officials charged with improving the state's health heard at...
- Public Health Week Theme: It's A Good Investment, Saving Lives And Money
April 1-7 is National Public Health Week, and the Kentucky Department for Public Health is working to raise awareness and help people live longer, healthier lives by promoting the 2013 week's theme: the return on investment of public-health services....