Health News
The University of Kentucky will manage the new Eastern State Hospital, replacing the Bluegrass Regional Mental Health-Mental Retardation Board, which has operated the current facility since 1995. The new hospital, being built on UK's Coldstream Research Campus off Newtown Pike, will replace an outdated facility along that boulevard in central Lexington.
Gov. Steve Beshear "said the state and UK intend for Bluegrass Regional to remain an 'integral part' of the new hospital, and would help with the transition, but he provided no details," Linda Blackford reports for the Lexington Herald-Leader. The state and UK HealthCare have signed a letter of intent to enter into a contract, but details remain to be worked out, said Audrey Tayse Haynes, secretary of the Cabinet for Health and Family Services. She said the initial contract would be for one year and $43 million.
"Beshear said talks between the state and UK began before the Lexington Herald-Leader reported in June 2012 on questionable spending at Bluegrass," leading to a state audit, Blackford reports. "The audit found lax board oversight and lavish spending on executives while front-line workers went without pay raises."
"Beshear said the new partnership would put Kentucky at the forefront of mental health care because of the clinical expertise that UK brings in neuroscience, psychiatry, pharmacy, nursing and social work," Blackford writes.
Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2013/01/18/2481231/university-of-kentucky-expected.html#storylink=cpy
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Health News
UK, not questioned mental-health agency, will run Eastern State
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| Herald-Leader photo by Mark Mahan: Hospital nears completion |
Gov. Steve Beshear "said the state and UK intend for Bluegrass Regional to remain an 'integral part' of the new hospital, and would help with the transition, but he provided no details," Linda Blackford reports for the Lexington Herald-Leader. The state and UK HealthCare have signed a letter of intent to enter into a contract, but details remain to be worked out, said Audrey Tayse Haynes, secretary of the Cabinet for Health and Family Services. She said the initial contract would be for one year and $43 million.
"Beshear said talks between the state and UK began before the Lexington Herald-Leader reported in June 2012 on questionable spending at Bluegrass," leading to a state audit, Blackford reports. "The audit found lax board oversight and lavish spending on executives while front-line workers went without pay raises."
"Beshear said the new partnership would put Kentucky at the forefront of mental health care because of the clinical expertise that UK brings in neuroscience, psychiatry, pharmacy, nursing and social work," Blackford writes.
Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2013/01/18/2481231/university-of-kentucky-expected.html#storylink=cpy
- Petition Drive From Parents Asks Uk Healthcare To Release Mortality Rates For Cardiothoracic Surgeries On Children
More than 250 people have signed a petition asking the University of Kentucky hospital "to make public the mortality rates for pediatric cardiothoracic surgery patients from 2010, 2011 and 2012," Linda Blackford reports for the Lexington Herald-Leader....
- State Auditor Edelen Faults Bluegrass Mental-health Agency For Executive Compensation, Lax Management And Board Oversight
The Bluegrass Regional Mental Health-Mental Retardation Board, a nonprofit agency that gets two-thirds of its money from taxpayers, "paid more than $2.8 million in executive-benefit contributions since 1997 to the president/CEO and various other employees...
- Herald-leader Dislikes Mental Health Agency's 'clubby Glow'
In an editorial today, the Lexington Herald-Leader criticized the "clubby glow emanating from the inner circle" of the Bluegrass Regional Mental Health-Mental Retardation Board, whose financial status was featured in Sunday's issue of the newspaper....
- Significant Management Improvements At Passport Health Plan, Audit Finds
Passport Health Plan has improved significantly since a 2010 audit uncovered wasteful spending and other problems, a new audit has concluded. The managed care organization that cares for Medicaid recipients in Jefferson and 15 surrounding counties "has...
- Federal Supervision Of Oakwood Mental-health Facility Ends
The federal supervision of Oakwood, the long-beleaguered Somerset facility for the mentally disabled, is no longer necessary and will end, officials announced yesterday. The move means the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services and the U.S....