Health News
- Beshear To Study Nursing-home Staffing Minimums, Suggests Homes' High Liability Costs Are Related To Poorly Ranked Care
Responding to a letter from Kentuckians for Nursing Home Reform, which cited a low ranking for the state's nursing homes, Gov. Steve Beshear said he is "committed to taking steps toward improving the quality of care in Kentucky nursing homes,"...
- Kentucky Nursing Homes Rank 40th In The Nation In New Survey; Reformers Ask Governor To Create Special Task Force For Action
Kentucky got a D grade and a rank of 40th among the states in a new national survey of nursing-home care, and reform advocates are calling on Gov. Steve Beshear and other policymakers to take corrective action. The state ranks lowest in the Southeast,...
- Group Fighting Meds-for-meth Bill Says It Spent Nearly $200,000 In January On Lobbying, And That Apparently Omits Radio Buys
The group fighting a bill that would make the key ingredient for making methamphetamine available only by prescription spent more than $194,000 last month alone to lobby lawmakers, far more than any other lobbying interest at the General Assembly. The...
- Nursing Homes Want Panel To Review Lawsuits Against Them
"A long-term care industry group wants a new law in Kentucky that would create medical review panels to evaluable potential lawsuits against nursing homes, personal care homes and some facilities for the intellectually and developmentally disabled," reports...
- Optometrists' Well-financed Bill Is First To Clear General Assembly
The bill that would significantly increase the care optometrists can provide passed the House Friday morning by a 81-14 vote. The bill, which now heads to Gov. Steve Beshear's desk, is the first this session to clear both houses of the General Assembly, The...
Health News
Nursing-home industry cited as example of how campaign-funding lobbying interests get what they want from General Assembly
Lobbying groups' political action committees gave almost 40 percent of the money that the campaign committees of the legislature's party caucuses received in the last 18 months, Tom Loftus reports for The Courier-Journal.
"Much of the remaining 60 percent came in contributions from officers of corporations and associations representing highway contractors, nursing homes, coal companies, payday lenders and other interests with an active lobbying presence in the state capital," Loftus writes. "The Senate Republican Caucus got at least $26,000 from about 30 owners or employees of Kentucky nursing homes."
"It's a part of the equation where we can't compete," Bernie Vonderheide, president and founder of Kentuckians for Nursing Home Reform, told Loftus. "The only tool we have to compete with that is to try to make our case to the public and hope." For several sessions of the legislature, the group has lobbied for staffing requirements at nursing homes, to no avail.
The winner of that lobbying battle is the Kentucky Association of Health Care Facilities, which has a generic name but is in fact the main lobby for nursing-home owners. KAHCF President Betsy Johnson sent Loftus this statement: "We support candidates who have consistently supported Kentucky's excellent caregivers, and in particular some of our most pressing issues including medical liability reform."
Loftus reports, "The General Assembly's two top leaders, who have been leading fundraising drives for their caucuses for the past month, say there's no problem." He quotes Senate President Robert Stivers, R-Manchester: "Contributions do not influence policy. ... It's the policy that influences contributions."
House Speaker Greg Stumbo, D-Prestonsburg, told Loftus, "We tell them when we have our fundraisers that this doesn't guarantee anything except that we will promise we will listen to your problems and we'll try to be honest with you." (Read more)
"Much of the remaining 60 percent came in contributions from officers of corporations and associations representing highway contractors, nursing homes, coal companies, payday lenders and other interests with an active lobbying presence in the state capital," Loftus writes. "The Senate Republican Caucus got at least $26,000 from about 30 owners or employees of Kentucky nursing homes."
"It's a part of the equation where we can't compete," Bernie Vonderheide, president and founder of Kentuckians for Nursing Home Reform, told Loftus. "The only tool we have to compete with that is to try to make our case to the public and hope." For several sessions of the legislature, the group has lobbied for staffing requirements at nursing homes, to no avail.
The winner of that lobbying battle is the Kentucky Association of Health Care Facilities, which has a generic name but is in fact the main lobby for nursing-home owners. KAHCF President Betsy Johnson sent Loftus this statement: "We support candidates who have consistently supported Kentucky's excellent caregivers, and in particular some of our most pressing issues including medical liability reform."
Loftus reports, "The General Assembly's two top leaders, who have been leading fundraising drives for their caucuses for the past month, say there's no problem." He quotes Senate President Robert Stivers, R-Manchester: "Contributions do not influence policy. ... It's the policy that influences contributions."
House Speaker Greg Stumbo, D-Prestonsburg, told Loftus, "We tell them when we have our fundraisers that this doesn't guarantee anything except that we will promise we will listen to your problems and we'll try to be honest with you." (Read more)
- Beshear To Study Nursing-home Staffing Minimums, Suggests Homes' High Liability Costs Are Related To Poorly Ranked Care
Responding to a letter from Kentuckians for Nursing Home Reform, which cited a low ranking for the state's nursing homes, Gov. Steve Beshear said he is "committed to taking steps toward improving the quality of care in Kentucky nursing homes,"...
- Kentucky Nursing Homes Rank 40th In The Nation In New Survey; Reformers Ask Governor To Create Special Task Force For Action
Kentucky got a D grade and a rank of 40th among the states in a new national survey of nursing-home care, and reform advocates are calling on Gov. Steve Beshear and other policymakers to take corrective action. The state ranks lowest in the Southeast,...
- Group Fighting Meds-for-meth Bill Says It Spent Nearly $200,000 In January On Lobbying, And That Apparently Omits Radio Buys
The group fighting a bill that would make the key ingredient for making methamphetamine available only by prescription spent more than $194,000 last month alone to lobby lawmakers, far more than any other lobbying interest at the General Assembly. The...
- Nursing Homes Want Panel To Review Lawsuits Against Them
"A long-term care industry group wants a new law in Kentucky that would create medical review panels to evaluable potential lawsuits against nursing homes, personal care homes and some facilities for the intellectually and developmentally disabled," reports...
- Optometrists' Well-financed Bill Is First To Clear General Assembly
The bill that would significantly increase the care optometrists can provide passed the House Friday morning by a 81-14 vote. The bill, which now heads to Gov. Steve Beshear's desk, is the first this session to clear both houses of the General Assembly, The...