Chair of U.S. Senate health committee demands maker of weight-loss drugs, most popular in Kentucky, cut prices by two-thirds
Kentucky Health News
by Al Cross
6h ago
Axios Visuals map, adapted by Kentucky Health News Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who chairs the U.S. Senate's Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee says the maker of two popular diabetes and weight-loss drugs Ozempic and Wegovy should lower their list prices of “to no more than what they charge for this drug in Canada.” Sanders, an independent who votes with Democrats, "is demanding that Novo Nordisk slash the prices of its blockbuster drugs Ozempic and Wegovy, citing a new study on the manufacturing costs of the diabetes and weight-loss medications," The Washington ..read more
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Government Accountability Office says Medicare, Medicaid paid about $100 billion too much to health-care providers in 2023
Kentucky Health News
by Al Cross
7h ago
Inside Health Policy chart; Government Accountability Office data Improper payments, mainly through overpayments, in Medicare and Medicaid are expected to total about $50 billion each for 2023, the federal Government Accountability Office says in its annual report on the topic. Both programs showed declines in improper payments from 2022: $11 billion in Medicare and about $30 billion in Medicaid, the latter due mainly to "the end of states’ Covid-19 flexibilities, including the suspension of eligibility determinations and provider enrollment requirements," reports Amy Lotven of I ..read more
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Four-part series from PBS and KET tells the story of public health
Kentucky Health News
by Al Cross
2d ago
To play the trailer for the series, click on the arrow button. Kentucky Health News "Public health saved your life today and you don't even know it." That's the catchphrase of a PBS series that began on KET Tuesday night, about the history of public health and how it has extended Americans' life expectancy by 25 years in the last century with vaccinations, clean water, prenatal care, school lunches, restaurant inspections, workplace safety, and other measures that usually don't have high visibility but have become a key element of modern life. That increased life expectancy "is t ..read more
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Legislature sends Beshear bill decriminalizing medical mistakes; some in vitro fertilization advocates say bill will protect it
Kentucky Health News
by Al Cross
3d ago
By Sarah LaddKentucky Lantern A bill giving Kentucky’s health-care providers criminal immunity for medical mistakes — which one lawmaker thinks will enshrine protections for in vitro fertilization by default — is on its way to Gov. Andy Beshear’s desk. House Bill 159, which would decriminalize medical mistakes made by health care providers, passed the House in February by a vote of 94-0. On Friday it cleared the Senate — also without dissent. The bill follows a 2022 Tennessee case in which a nurse was found guilty after a patient died from a medical mistake. The conviction led to protests a ..read more
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Health insurers again win lobbying battle with doctors and hospitals over prior authorization of procedures, treatments
Kentucky Health News
by Melissa Patrick
4d ago
By Melissa Patrick Kentucky Health News A bill to exempt health-care providers who have 90% or more of their claims approved from health-insurance companies' requirements for prior authorization of ceratin treatments has failed again.  "Unfortunately House Bill 317 looks like it's dead," said its sponsor, state Rep. Kim Moser. "We tried in good faith to work out a compromise and we did not have the same reciprocation. And so, you know,  I'm not exactly sure why it didn't get a hearing."  HB 317 was placed in House Banking and Insurance Committee and had two of its three required ..read more
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Emergency-department visits and hospitalizations for respiratory illness keep dropping; at 'moderate' level for first time since fall
Kentucky Health News
by Melissa Patrick
4d ago
State Department for Public Health graphs, adapted by Kentucky Health News By Melissa Patrick Kentucky Health News For the first time since December, the state Department for Public Health says both respiratory-virus activity and hospital admissions related to respiratory disease are moderate and declining in Kentucky.  In the week ended March 16, emergency-department visits for influenza, Covid-19 and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) dropped 30%, to 1,936. Of those visits, 1,555 were for flu.  Hospital admissions for the diseases dropped 38%, to 272. Of those, 141 ho ..read more
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State Senate weakens bill to curb underage vaping and sends it to the House with just days left in the legislative session
Kentucky Health News
by Melissa Patrick
4d ago
By Melissa Patrick Kentucky Health News A bill set up a regulatory framework to curb underage vaping passed out of the Senate on Thursday, March 21, but hasn't yet been assigned to a committee in the House, with only a few days left in the legislative session. State Sen. Brandon Storm Senate Bill 344, sponsored by Sen. Brandon Storm, R-London, passed 29-8-1 with a floor amendment that reduced the civil penalties in the original bill and made some technical changes.  Storm said the goal of the bill is to clean up the illicit market in electronic vaping devices. He said it wo ..read more
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Bill targeting certificate-of-need process for health-care facilities gets only three votes in House Health Services Committee
Kentucky Health News
by Al Cross
4d ago
State Rep. Marianne Proctor (KL photo by Sarah Ladd) By Sarah Ladd Kentucky Lantern A bill that opponents said would effectively repeal Kentucky’s certificate-of-need law for health-care facilities failed in a strong bipartisan vote of the House Health Services Committee Thursday. House Bill 204 would have blocked the ability of a dominant provider to sue a certificate-of-need applicant during the process. It failed as 13 committee members voted no, three voted yes and two lawmakers passed. Both Republicans and Democrats voiced concern that the bill was premature and would place ru ..read more
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'Momnibus' bill nears passage with change to require hospitals, birthing centers and midwives to offer perinatal palliative care
Kentucky Health News
by Melissa Patrick
4d ago
By Melissa Patrick Kentucky Health News A House-approved bill aimed at reducing maternal-mortality rates in Kentucky was approved unanimously by the Senate Health Services Committee on March 22 and sent to the Senate on the consent calendar, reserved for bills that are passed without debate. State Rep. Kim Moser "Kentucky has the ranking as second in the nation in maternal deaths in the year following childbirth," said the bill's sponsor, Rep. Kim Moser, R-Taylor Mill. "For this reason, we really started looking at some of the most significant problems and how to solve them." Moser's ..read more
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Bill to let pharmacists give vaccines to children 5 and older heads to governor's desk; 11 Senate Republicans vote against it
Kentucky Health News
by Melissa Patrick
4d ago
By Melissa Patrick Kentucky Health News A bill to allow Kentucky pharmacists to order and administer vaccinations to children down to the age of 5 has gained final passage, but only after several senators voiced their concerns about the bill and four of them changed their votes from "yes" to "no." Since 2017, Kentucky pharmacists have been able to administer vaccinations to children as young as 9, and younger with an order from a health-care provider. The age was lowered to 3 during the Covid-19 public health emergency to help increase access to care, but that law is set to expire O ..read more
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