Teaming Up for a Healthier Kentucky
Kentucky is a place that boasts a rich history, breathtaking landscapes and an unbridled spirit in the people who call this Commonwealth their home.
Unfortunately, Kentucky is also a state that faces serious health-related challenges. Among them is the prevalence of diabetes, which recent studies indicate afflict more than 1 in 10 Kentuckians. The annual price tag for those with diabetes on Medicaid in Kentucky is about $1 billion. The total annual cost of diabetes in Kentucky for 2015 is estimated to be $5.6 billion.
Critical Changes to Medicaid Managed Care
Major healthcare reform in Kentucky began two years ago with Medicaid managed care, a structure pushed into place by the state in order to stem a $1 billion Medicaid funding deficit during the national recession. Cofounder has been involved since the beginning for Coventry Cares, part of the famous Aetna brand. Aetna has provided outstanding service by guiding decisions toward sensible, affordable, meaningful health care. During the last two legislative sessions in Kentucky, managed care has often been a major subject as this broad transformation has been completed.
Removing Needless Regulation from Physician Assistants
Physician assistants won a change in 2013 to eliminate the wait-to-practice requirement once their graduate education is finished and certification exams are passed. Some 48 states had already made this move. Along with Jamie Ennis Bloyd of our partner firm JJEB Public Affairs, Cofounder was co-lead on this enactment.
Then, in 2014, another piece of legislation, supported by physician assistants, simplified the physician sign-offs for routine actions that physician assistants manage for their doctors.
For 2015, Cofounder along with the outstanding officers of the Physician Assistant professional society, are working to increase the number of these important medical professionals a medical doctor may employ from two to four. This move also conforms to other states’ rules and best practices in health care.
One of the hallmarks of the physician assistant advances — formal support by the Kentucky Medical Association — is a partnership Cofounder and Jamie have been privileged to facilitate among top professionals.
Helping Cancer Patients Access New Treatment
Signed into law in Kentucky in 2014, the “oral cancer parity law” mirrored the change in health innovations enacted in a number of other states. “Oral chemo” is, just as it sounds, a “pill” form of treatment. Traditional chemotherapy is intravenous. Recent growth in research and development within the biotech industry has centered on oral solutions. Working to form and guide an outstanding team of advocates — professionals, association executives and patient volunteers — Cofounder helped Senate and House members work with the health insurance industry and a diverse group of stakeholders to hammer out a highly respected law.
Eyeing Needed Changes in Vision Care
The “eye drops refill bill,” pushed by Ophthalmologists, then also supported by optometrists among others, represented a solid step forward in Kentucky law.