Grant applications open to nonprofits that work with substance-use disorder and mental health in underserved communities

Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky photo 

By Melissa Patrick

Kentucky Health News

The second round of Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky grants to expand services and programming for substance use recovery and mental heath support in minoritized communities is open through Sept. 13. 

The Funding for Recovery Equity and Expansion program, dubbed FREE II, will provide at least 10 grants in the amount of $50,000 to nonprofit organizations, with priority given to grass-roots organizations, Black-led organizations and organizations that primarily work in minoritized, under-resourced and BIPOC communities. BIPOC stands for Black, indigenous and people of color. 

Among other things, the program aims to fund projects that work toward expanding services and programing for substance use recovery and mental health support in marginalized communities and to reduce the stigma associated with assessing evidence-based interventions that support substance use recovery and mental health. 

"With this project, we aim to reduce overdose deaths and increase the overall well-being of these historically under-resourced Kentucky communities," says the release.

This program is in partnership with the Kentucky Opioid Response Effort and the Kentucky Department for Health and Family Services. 

According to the website, the collaboration will only fund projects that:

• Use a trauma-informed and resilience-informed care approach to reduce premature death of BIPOC Kentuckians
• Provide culturally responsive, evidence-based prevention, mental health treatment and recovery support services to BIPOC Kentuckians
• Strengthen treatment and prevention infrastructure through collaborative projects centering BIPOC voices

Go to healthy-ky.org/free-program to learn more  about the program and to access the application. 

Addiction Recovery Care says it’s cooperating with FBI investigation into possible fraud

Addiction Recovery Care, Kentucky’s largest provider of
drug and alcohol treatment, has offices and other facilities
 in Louisa. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Matthew Mueller)

By Deborah Yetter
Kentucky Lantern

Kentucky’s largest provider of addiction treatment services, Addiction Recovery Care, or ARC, is the subject of an FBI investigation into possible health care fraud, according to a July 30 post on a website of the federal agency’s Louisville office.

ARC, which is funded almost entirely through Kentucky’s Medicaid program, has not been charged with any crime but the agency is asking people with information to fill out an online form “if you believe you were victimized by ARC or have information relevant to this investigation.”

ARC, a for-profit company based in Louisa, and whose CEO and affiliates have emerged as prolific political donors in recent years, said in a statement from spokesman Kyle Collier that it is cooperating with the FBI.

“We have recently learned that there is a federal investigation into ARC,” the statement said. “As we all know, healthcare is one of the most highly regulated fields in the country, and addiction treatment is among the most highly scrutinized healthcare services. ARC is a trailblazer in the field of addiction services. We are confident in our program and in the services we offer. We, and our legal counsel, are cooperating fully in the investigation.”

Collier directed further inquiries to ARC’s chief legal officer, Jessica Burke, who provided a similar statement.

ARC has developed a reputation for aggressive expansion since it was launched by Tim Robinson, a Lawrence County lawyer who founded the company with a single halfway house for alcohol treatment in 2010. Fueled by the availability of new Medicaid funds for substance use disorder treatment since 2014 under the Affordable Care Act, ARC operates some 1,800 treatment beds in 24 counties and reaches hundreds more clients through outpatient services, the Kentucky Lantern reported in July.

Last year, ARC took in $130 million in Medicaid funds, the government health plan which gets most of its money from the federal government, making it by far the state’s largest provider of substance use services.

Robinson and his wife, Lelia, own ARC and some related entities which provide them with an annual income of $533,400, according to a 2022 tax filing of a related non-profit company, Odyssey Inc.

The company has been singled out for praise by politicians including Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, who spoke at an ARC ribbon cutting for a new ARC facility in March.

“With the help of organizations like ARC, we are working to build a safer, healthier commonwealth for our people,” Beshear said.

He also praised Robinson, ARC’s founder, in his State of the Commonwealth speech in January.

“With us today,” Beshear said, “is Tim Robinson, founder and CEO of ARC, an essential partner in our fight against addiction. … I’m proud to say we now have more treatment beds per capita than any other state in the country.”

From mid-2021 through the end of 2023 Robinson, his corporations and employees gave at least $252,500 to political committees supporting Beshear, according to reporter Tom Loftus’ analysis in the Kentucky Lantern of campaign finance records.

The donations to Democrat Beshear were a shift in the giving pattern for Robinson, a lifelong and loyal Republican. He also gave big to Beshear’s opponent in the 2019 governor’s race, Republican incumbent Gov. Matt Bevin.

The Lantern’s analysis shows that — including money contributed to Beshear committees — Robinson, his corporations and employees have made at least $570,000 in political contributions over the past decade as his for-profit company grew.

He also has donated to Kentucky Republican lawmakers, including some who wrote recent letters on ARC’s behalf, asking that rate cuts proposed to ARC and other addiction providers be suspended until further study.

The rate cuts of 15% to 20% proposed by three of the six private insurance companies that process state Medicaid claims became public recently at a legislative hearing. ARC and another provider told lawmakers that such cuts would devastate Kentucky’s efforts to turn the tide of addiction to drugs and alcohol.

“Kentucky has made significant strides in access to treatment,” Matt Brown, chief administrative officer for ARC, told a July 30 legislative committee. “With these cuts, it could completely set back addiction treatment in our state 20 years.”

Six national insurance companies known as managed care organizations, or MCOs, handle the majority of the state’s $16 billion a year Medicaid business. Under contracts with the state, they are paid a fixed rate per member to cover the cost of care.

Brown, the ARC official, told lawmakers this is no time to cut payments for addiction services, citing some indicators of success.

Brown noted that overdose deaths in Kentucky have declined for the past two years after years of rising. Kentucky also has the most treatment beds per resident, most of them through ARC, he said.

The state’s latest annual overdose report, released in June, shows a decrease in deaths to 1,984 from 2,200 the year before, a decline of 9.8%.

In a statement released after the hearing on the cuts, the Kentucky Association of Health Plans, which represents the MCOs, said its members “are proud to work collaboratively with quality, trustworthy providers of behavioral health and substance use disorder treatment” and access to those services is “top of mind” to ensure those in need receive care.

“Health plans strive for the best networks possible and are encouraged by the state to prioritize plan member outcomes and value-based care,” it said.

The FBI posting on the website seeking information on ARC does not provide further information about the nature of the investigation,

A spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A questionnaire people are asked to fill out includes several questions including whether they have been or are a patient at ARC and if so, what services were received. It also asks whether the person responding has ever made a complaint before about ARC and if so, to whom.

Lawmakers join Ky's largest addiction treatment provider to oppose Medicaid payment cuts; centers trying to negotiate cuts

By Deborah Yetter and Tom Loftus
Kentucky Lantern

The state’s largest provider of drug and alcohol treatment is warning that looming cuts in Medicaid reimbursement to some providers could damage efforts to curb addiction that has engulfed Kentucky — just as the state is showing improvements.

Matt Brown

“Kentucky has made significant strides in access to treatment,” Matt Brown, chief administrative officer for Addiction Recovery Care, or ARC, told a legislative committee Tuesday. “With these cuts, it could completely set back addiction treatment in our state 20 years.”

A handful of companies that provide substance use disorder treatment, including ARC, have been notified they face cuts of 15% to 20% from some private insurers that handle most Medicaid claims, Brown told the committee.

Brown noted that overdose deaths in Kentucky have declined for the past two years after years of rising. Kentucky also has the most treatment beds per resident, most of them through ARC, he said.

The state’s latest annual overdose report, released in June, shows a decrease in deaths to 1,984 from 2,200 the year before, a decline of 9.8%.

Brown was joined by Deron Bibb, chief financial officer for Stepworks, a recovery program based in Elizabethtown, and ARC executive John Wilson, also executive director of the Kentucky Association of Independent Recovery Organizations, speaking to the interim joint Health Services Committee about the cuts.

“This will likely result in higher overdose rates, higher recidivism, more crime and incarceration,” Bibb said. “We need to understand the full scope and impact of these cuts.”

The cuts have been announced by three of the six managed care organizations, or MCOs, private insurance companies that handle claims for most of the state’s $16 billion-a-year Medicaid program, Brown said.

Under their contracts with the state, the MCOs generally have authority to set rates they pay providers. The state pays MCOs a fixed amount per member to cover Medicaid costs.

One company also has begun notifying patients it will no longer cover addiction services at ARC effective Sept. 30, Brown said.

He did not identify the MCOs that have announced cuts and declined to do so after the hearing, saying ARC and other companies are still attempting to negotiate with them.

The Kentucky Association of Health Plans, which represents the MCOs, said in a statement released Thursday by spokesman Tyler Glick, that its members “are proud to work collaboratively with quality, trustworthy providers of behavioral health and substance use disorder treatment” and access to those services is “top of mind” to ensure those in need receive care.

“Health plans strive for the best networks possible and are encouraged by the state to prioritize plan member outcomes and value-based care,” it said.

Sen. Stephen Meredith, R-Leitchfield and co-chairman of the health committee, said Tuesday the lawmakers likely would seek more testimony on the subject, including from the MCOs.

“I know there’s two sides to every story,” he said.

Wellcare, with 420,000 members, is the largest of the six MCOs followed by Passport by Molina, Aetna, Anthem, Humana and United HealthCare. Together they oversee payment of Medicaid claims for about 1.4 million Kentuckians.

Wilson said the recovery organization he represents wants to make sure lawmakers are aware of the situation and already has asked them to voice concerns.

“There’s going to be real world consequences and I think it’s important to let legislators know what’s taking place,” he said.

Some defenders benefitted from owner’s largesse

Several lawmakers have signed letters urging that the MCOs suspend any cuts to substance use treatment until the General Assembly can further review the matter. They include some in key leadership positions and some who have benefited from campaign donations from ARC founder and owner Tim Robinson and his employees.

ARC, a for-profit company based in Louisa, has emerged as the state’s largest and fastest growing provider of addiction services, financed largely by Medicaid, the government health plan with the majority of funds from the federal government. Growth took off after 2014 when substance use treatment was included in the Medicaid expansion authorized by the Affordable Care Act.

The Lantern reported the company took in about $130 million last year in Medicaid funds and was by far the largest recipient of the about $1.2 billion the state spent on substance use treatment.

The company and Robinson also have become among Kentucky’s major political donors with more than $500,000 in contributions over the last decade — with funds divided among Republican causes and those of Gov. Andy Beshear, a Democrat, the Lantern reported earlier this month, citing campaign finance and other public records.

Sen. Phillip Wheeler, R-Pikeville, who has received $19,900 in contributions from Robinson, his wife Lelia and ARC employees since 2016, on July 9 sent a letter to Kentucky Medicaid Commissioner Lisa Lee urging the cuts for addiction services be suspended “until the legislature fully understands the reasons behind them.”

“Kentucky has made great progress in tackling the addiction crisis that has touched so many of our constituents, neighbors, colleagues, friends and family members,” Wheeler said.

Cutting reimbursement now “could negatively affect some of our most vulnerable citizens and prevent us from seeing these positive trends continue,” his letter said.

A similar letter addressed to “to whom it may concern” was signed by Rep. Patrick Flannery, R-Olive Hill, who has received about $17,000 in campaign contributions from Robinson and ARC employees.

Another letter was signed jointly by Senate President Robert Stivers, R-Manchester, House Speaker David Osborne, R- Prospect, Rep. Kimberly Moser, R-Taylor Mill and Meredith. Moser and Meredith are co-chairs of the joint Health Services Committee which heard from ARC and other treatment officials Tuesday.

Republican supermajorities control the Kentucky House and Senate.

Robinson has given $10,000 to the Kentucky House Republican Caucus, and $15,000 to the Kentucky Senate Republican Caucus in the last four years.

Robinson also has given other contributions to campaigns of Republican state legislators in the past decade including $4,100 to Moser and $2,000 to Osborne.

From 2021 through 2023, ARC companies and employees gave about $252,000 to a political committee supporting Beshear, whom Robinson, a Republican, has said he admires and would like to see run for president.

Bibb, Stepworks’ chief financial officer, gave $500 to Flannery in December 2023 and $2,500 to the Kentucky House Republican Caucus in October 2022, according to Kentucky Registry of Election Finance records.

Not asking for more money, just no cuts, says company official

Brown said that one concern of the MCOs is the cost of treatment, in particular long-term treatment for addiction.

ARC understands concerns about costs, but experience shows people with addiction benefit the most from long-term services, Brown told the committee.

“It is not just about surviving from their addiction but thriving in their communities,” he said. “Long-term treatment is vital.”

Without quality treatment, costs to the state will rise elsewhere, Bibb said.

“These costs will not go away,” Bibb said. “They simply will shift back to the emergency room, the judicial system, foster care, homelessness.”

ARC is willing to work with the MCOs and the state to ensure it is using money efficiently and effectively, Brown said after the hearing.

“Everybody’s got to be good stewards,” he said. “We’re committed to helping provide a solution.”

Brown and Wilson said representatives of treatment providers plan to meet with MCOs and state officials in coming weeks to try to resolve their differences.

“We’re not asking for more money,” Brown said. “We’re asking for no cuts.”

Wheeler, in an interview, said he appreciates the support of Robinson, a longtime friend since college together at the University of Kentucky, but that’s not why he sent the letter.

Rather he’s concerned about the impact of cuts of up to 20% on ARC’s services, which he said have helped many people in the region including a brother who benefited from its treatment program.

Also, he said, ARC is a major employer in the area where jobs have been scarce and also trains its clients for jobs.

Drug to reverse opioid overdoses is more available than it used to be; health official says stigma still exist around carrying it

By Shepherd Snyder, WEKU

The annual Kentucky Drug Overdose Fatality Report says overdose deaths in 2023 dropped by 9.8 percent from the year prior; 2022’s report showed a 5 percent decrease compared to 2021.

Photo from Wikimedia Commons

That comes as access to naloxone has improved, in part because of state and federal programs that support local health departments and emergency services.
Holly Buchenroth, an assistant professor in Eastern Kentucky University’s Emergency Medical Care Program, says requesting access to naloxone has become an easy process.

“Any first-responder agency can get access to this naloxone if they qualify and are in a rural county that's eligible, and all they have to do is complete a training, make a request and document the usage or distribution,” Buchenroth said.

Naloxone is a nasal spray medicine that reverses opioid overdoses with no negative side effects. It’s also sold under the brand names Narcan and Evzio.

Kentucky got $800,000 last year from the federal government to dispense Narcan to first responders in rural counties. Last year, more than 160,000 units of the medicine were distributed across the state.

Scott Lockard, public health director of the Kentucky River District Health Department, says the added resources have been a big help. The health department serves Knott, Lee, Leslie, Letcher, Owsley, Perry and Wolfe Counties. 

“A couple years ago, Narcan was much harder to access, and we've seen much more awareness around harm reduction and the importance of getting Narcan, naloxone out there,” Lockard said. “So pretty much there's no excuse now.”

Other agencies, like the Pike County Health Department have fared similarly. Director Tammy Riley says in 2021, the agency wasn’t able to distribute any naloxone kits to individual community members, with just 82 Narcan kits distributed to the county in total.

They’ve since been able to turn that around.

“Compare that to our 2023 data, 3,500 Naloxone kits were distributed through the harm reduction program, 25 Naloxone kits through first responder and community organizations and 240 Naloxone kits to individual community members,” Riley said.

Riley says they’ve also focused on education. For every box of Narcan they give out, they inform its receiver on how to use it.

“When you see those numbers of distribution, every box that's distributed to an individual is provided with about a five to 10 minute education session,” Riley said. “We don't just hand naloxone to an individual and say, ‘Good luck.’”

The life-saving drug is also getting cheaper. Buchenroth says that’s in part because of its availability over-the-counter at chain pharmacies.

“You can pick up a generic two pack now for about $35, so the price has come down,” Buchenroth said.

But access in rural areas could still improve. Riley says in places like Pike County, where the health department covers a large area, it’s harder to follow up with those in recovery compared to urban areas like Lexington or Louisville.

“We need a Quick Response Team in Pike County, so when those individuals do refuse those 911, first responder services, we could deploy a Quick Response Team to find that individual in the throes of reversal when they're most likely to seek treatment,” Riley said.

Other officials, like Lockard, say getting rid of the stigma that carrying Narcan involves is also an issue.

“Although the resource of the service may be here, they're still reluctant to make themselves available to the resources that they can access,” Lockard said. “So how do we reduce the stigma? How do we do more training in the communities?”

Maria Slone is a social worker with Lexington’s community paramedicine program and works with a quick-response team. She says there’s a simple way to bridge that gap: community involvement.

“They're not going to have as many resources as we have, but how much buy-in is in their community members and their law enforcement and their courts and EMS providers?” Slone asked. “What does that look like for them to have that buy-in?”

Most recently, the state has launched a website that shows a map of all the locations naloxone is available, both for free and for purchase. It’s available at findnaloxone.ky.gov.

Local governments mulling ways to use opioid settlement funds

KFF Health News graphic

By Zacharie Lamb
WKMS

More than a year after local governments across Kentucky began receiving shares of the legal  settlement with opioid manufacturers and distributors, several local leaders in far western Kentucky are still figuring out how best they can use those funds to tackle the opioid epidemic.

State governments across the country have been tasked with stewarding a portion of funds acquired through regional and national opioid settlements with companies including Johnson & Johnson, McKesson and CVS. The settlements stem from multiple nationwide lawsuits against the firms for their role in fueling the opioid epidemic.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, around 75% of drug overdose deaths were connected with opioids in 2022. That accounts for the deaths of more than 81,000 Americans that year. Kentucky’s Justice and Public Safety Cabinet said in its 2022 Overdose Fatality Report that a little over 1,500 people who died from overdoses in the state were found to have fentanyl in their system.

State governments and localities are using the settlement funds to try to heal communities affected by the opioid crisis and prevent others from being affected.

Kentucky has secured around $900 million from the settlements. Those funds have been split into two pools, with half earmarked for a state commission and half divvied up among the state’s county and city governments. The state sent the first installments to local governments in December 2022. Payments are expected to continue until 2038, with no deadline for when funds must be spent.

Lauren Carr. opioid-settlement adviser for the Kentucky Association of Counties, helps county officials follow the best practices and reporting guidelines for the settlement funds.

“You can't take these funds and use it for a program that was already being funded. You can't take these funds and supplant. These funds are supposed to be to supplement,” Carr said. “Either integrate a new program or supplement the existing programs that you have – seeing where barriers are – and providing those services.”

(However, Morgain Patterson, director of municipal law with the Kentucky League of Cities, told Kentucky Health News that while some states prohibit opioid settlement dollars from being used to fund existing programs, called supplanting, Kentucky's statute does not, "so they could be used for current programs . . . as long as they relate back to opioid-use disorder or co-occurring substance-use disorder and mental health issues." For example, she said settlement money could be used to purchase Narcan, even if the city or county is already paying for it. That said, Johns Hopkins University has put together a document of principles it supports that says, 'Jurisdictions should use the funds to supplement rather than replace existing spending.' This document is posted on KACo's website.)

The law creating the state opioid commission has a list of 29 possible uses for the funds. Carr said the list provides pathways for localities but doesn’t expressly limit their use.

The Paducah Police Department is using some of the city’s settlement dollars to staff a new position focused on lowering recidivism for the people with substance-use disorder. Police Chief Brian Laird said hiring a deflection specialist has been a long-term goal for his department.

“We encounter folks regularly that are homeless, folks that have mental health issues, folks that have drug abuse issues,” Laird said. “Instead of the officers continuing to respond over and over to these folks, we have somebody that can follow up with these individuals and try to get them some help.”

Deflection is a relatively new philosophy in law enforcement that focuses on keeping individuals with substance-use disorder from entering or re-entering the court system by avoiding interactions with police. Laird said that he’s aware of other social-work positions in police departments in Kentucky but believes Paducah may be the first in the state to hire a deflection specialist.

The position will be paid partly by the department's budget, but most of the funding comes directly from settlement money. Applications for the position closed in April, and Laird hopes the specialist to be on board by August.

Other county and city governments in far western Kentucky are still trying to figure out how to spend their portion of settlement funds.

Murray officials formed a work group before the first payments were received to investigate possible uses of the funding. City Administrator Jim Osborne said the city is still working with the state Attorney General’s office, which oversees the opioid commission, but that no official plans have been made.

“The goal would be using the money to not necessarily just in one area of but could combine areas that are approved uses,” Osborne said. “I think the key is finding a happy medium of where best it would be used … something that's legal, transparent and would help the community.”

Similarly, Marshall County Judge-Executive Kevin Spraggs said he wants to make sure settlement funds are used in the most efficient way possible.

“We want to make sure wherever this money goes, ultimately, it's put to the best possible use,” Spraggs said. “We don't want to jump into something without doing a lot of research, and we'd like to do something with a proven track record, percentage wise, where the most people are being helped.”

For Carr, addressing the opioid epidemic has two major components – prevention and harm reduction. She said that many localities focus on prevention, with programs like “Just Say No” to kepe people from becoming substance users in the first place. Harm reduction focuses on helping individuals who are already using drugs.

The list of 29 potential uses include programs for intervention, treatment and recovery services for substance users. The funds could also be used to educate the general public and provide training to health care providers, recovery specialists or law enforcement.

The list also includes things like drug take-back and disposal programs and expenss for naloxone, branded as Narcan, that can block opioid overdoses. Carr said that increasing accessibility to the medication and teaching the public about its use could help to prevent deaths.

“At the end of the day, a dead person doesn't recover,” Carr said. “We all can be first responders. Whether it's at a basketball game, at the library or at a Walmart, you never know when you may be a first responder, and so being prepared is something that will help save lives for individuals that are in active addiction right now.”

Program for mothers and pregnant women with substance-use disorder gets grant to help more Black women get its services

Freedom House (Photo provided to Kentucky Lantern)

By Sarah Ladd

Kentucky Lantern

The Volunteers of America chapter that includes Kentucky will spend $123,000 over the next nine months to figure out how to get more Black women into treatment for substance-use disorder.

Volunteers of America Mid-States received the money from the Kentucky Association of Health Plans, the trade group for health insurers in the state, to fund a new initiative called Access Justice.

With the grant money, scholar, writer and activist Brandy Kelly Pryor will evaluate VOA’s Freedom House, which is a program for “pregnant and parenting women” who have substance-use disorders. Her report is due in April.

The 31-year-old program, with locations in Louisville and Manchester, also lets minor children (under the age of 18) stay with their mothers during treatment. Kelly Pryor will primarily study Louisville and may branch out elsewhere at later.

Jennifer Hancock, president and CEO of Volunteers of America Mid-States, said this move is in direct response to the high rates of maternal mortality among Black women and the disproportionately high overdose rates among Black Kentuckians.

Kentucky overdose deaths decreased in 2023 for the second year in a row, according to the state's Drug Overdose Fatality Report.

In 2022, 2,135 Kentuckians died from an overdose, marking the first decline since 2018. Ninety percent of those deaths were from opioids and/or fentanyl.

In 2023, the number of fatal overdoses was down to 1,984. Fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid, was involbved in 1,570 of those — about 79% of the 2023 deaths. The 35-44 age group was most at risk, the report shows. Methamphetamine was involved in 55% of 2023’s overdose deaths.

Despite the overall decrease in the state, the number of Black Kentuckians who died from a drug overdose increased from 259 in 2022 to 264 in 2023.

A 2023 state report on maternal mortality also showed substance-use disorder contributed to nearly 60% of all maternal deaths. Most maternal deaths in Kentucky, 88%, are preventable, says the report from the state Cabinet for Health and Family Services.

Black partcipants at Freedom House's Kentucky locations are less likely to complete its program than those of other races, Hancock said.

“I think some of it is about the stigma that they face coming into treatment,” Hancock said. “I think that there could be some cultural and familial pressures that they experience disproportionately.”

Kelly Pryor’s study is expected to provide answers as to why Black Kentuckians leave the Freedom House program without completing it, she said.

“Women, generally speaking, have to be convinced that they deserve treatments and that they are worthy of getting this help and support versus trying to do it on their own,” Hancock said.

In her analysis, Kelly Pryor will “identify gaps in care and opportunities for improvement, ensuring that substance-use-disorder recovery services are equitable and accessible for everyone who needs them,” VOA said. The nonprofit will then come up with plans to fill any gaps in care and access.

Hancock doesn’t know if the solution will be “an internal-to-VOA process that needs to be improved, or if it’s more of a public campaign that we need to wage to reassure Black women that they’re worthy of treatment, that treatment is a place where they can feel supported and feel seen and heard.”

The measure of success, Hancock said, will be when VOA and Freedom House start seeing “better engagement rates of Black women” and higher program completion rates.

Kelly Pryor said in a prepared statement, “Building on principles of healing justice, we will ensure a process that facilitates those most affected, leading us toward the best solutions for recovery and prevention. This effort will take time and involve critical self-reflection, yet the return will have an indelible impact on Kentucky and beyond.”

Kentucky can soon provide Medicaid coverage to people nearing release from prison or juvenile detention; jails might come later

By Melissa Patrick
Kentucky Health News

Kentucky is one of five additional states that will soon provide Medicaid health coverage for people nearing release from prison or juvenile detention, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. 

"We've been eagerly anticipating CMS's approval of Kentucky's healthy re-entry demonstration for years now," said Emily Beauregard, executive director of Kentucky Voices for Health, a coalition of health advocacy groups.

The program started as a demonstration focused on treatment for substance-use disorder during incarceration and "has expanded to focus on putting in place all of the physical and behavioral health treatment, care coordination, and wrap-around supports justice-involved Kentuckians need to successfully return to their communities and thrive," Beauregard said in an email. 

This demonstration program is operated under a partial waiver of the Medicaid program's inmate-exclusion policy, which prohibits paying for services to inmates unless they are admitted to a hospital.

"Providing avenues for greater health outcomes is always the right thing to do, and this program does just that," state Cabinet for Health and Family Services spokesman Brice Mitchell said in an email.

Before the state can start the coverage, it must submit an implementation plan to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Mitchell said: "Upon receiving implementation approval from CMS, Kentucky will cover a select set of pre-release health-care services through Medicaid and the Kentucky Children’s Health Insurance Program for up to 60 days before an individual’s expected date of release."

Kentucky didn't take full advantage of the waiver, which allows states to provide coverage up to 90 days before the expected release date. Eligibility is based on income; the limit is 138 percent of the federal poverty level.

Mitchell added, "The individual must be eligible for Medicaid or KCHIP to qualify and must be a state inmate housed in one of Kentucky’s 14 prisons or a post-adjudicated juvenile in the custody of the Department for Juvenile Justice."

Mitchell provided data from the state Department of Corrections, which said "There are 19,220 individuals serving felony convictions in state prisons or jails, as well as an additional 49,700 on active supervision with the Division of Probation and Parole. At least 95% of the state inmate population will be released from incarceration at some point." 

Kentucky's waiver doesn't allow inmates in jails to participate, because its jails are operated by counties, not the state. Beauregard said, "We've advocated for allowing jails to opt in, if they are willing to meet requirements and participate fully." She said the state Department for Medcaid Services "has said they will consider [jails] as a future phase of this project."

Coverage will be available not only to adult prisoners, but incarcerrated youth, under the Children's Health Insurance Program, called KCHIP in Kentucky. Beauregard praised the inclusion of youth in the coverage, which was not part of the original demonstration program for substance-use-disorder treatment and not part of the orignal application for its expansion. 

"Another important expansion from the original waiver is that youth who are in detention facilities will also get these services and wrap-around supports, which has the potential to reduce recidivism," Beauregard said.

 

A July 2 news release from HHS noted that incarcerated people often report higher levels of substance-use disorders, chronic health conditions and other health concerns, and that people transitioning out of jail or prison can experience delays in obtaining access to Medicaid or CHIP. 

HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said in the release, "For people involved in the justice system, ensuring a successful transition back into the community includes having the health-care supports and services they need."

Kentucky is the first Southern state in the program. The other newly approved states are Illinois, Oregon, Utah and Vermont; California, Massachusetts, Montana and Washington had already been approved.

Saint Joseph hospitals in Lexington, London and Mount Sterling seek applications for grants to improve well-being, health equity

By Melissa Patrick

Kentucky Health News

The CHI Saint Joseph Health hospitals in Kentucky are accepting applications for local nonprofit organizations to apply for grants aimed at supporting services to improve well-being and health equity in their service areas. 

The grants are part of the Community Health Improvement Grants program, which was created in 2019 when Catholic Health Initiatives and Dignity Health came together to create the national health system CommonSpirit Health.

Grants through Saint Joseph Hospital and Saint Joseph East in Lexington, and Saint Joseph London, can be as small as $20,000 and as large as $100,000. Grant opportunities are also available at Saint Joseph Mount Sterling to serve that area, ranging from $10,000 to $19,500.  Click here for the link to the application website. 

"Grant applications must include collaborating partner organizations helping to deliver services and not be solely about one agency’s work,” Michael Bilton, CommonSpirit Health's senior director for community health and benefit, said in a news release. 

The application period is open through Aug. 16. Grants are available to nonprofit organizations that address substance-use disorders, mental health, and issues involving weight, physical activity and nutrition. All projects must be planned for calendar year 2025. 

The priorities were identified in the hospitals' most recent community health needs assessment, which is conducted every three years. 

“We are deeply committed to the well-being of our community," Christy Spitser, interim market president of CHI Saint Joseph Health, said in the release. "Providing grants to local nonprofits is a vital part of our mission to give back and make a tangible difference in the lives of those we serve.” 

Interested organizations can learn more about the grant program, including eligibility criteria, how to apply, and a local contact for questions, by visiting https://www.commonspirit.org/communitygrants.

Recovering alcoholic built Kentucky's largest substance-use treatment provider, which has 1,800 beds and 1,350 employees

Map from Addiction Recovery Care website, via Kentucky Lantern, adapted by Ky. Health News

By Deborah Yetter
Kentucky Lantern

LOUISA, Ky. — Around the office at Addiction Recovery Care, Vanessa Keeton is still known as “Client One” — marking her status as the first client of the first recovery center ARC opened as a group home in Lawrence County.

But her official title is vice president of marketing, where she has worked since 2012, a little more than a year after she entered the program known as Karen’s House — choosing it over jail for a string of drug and alcohol-related offenses.

Vanessa Keeton
(Lantern photo by Matthew Mueller)

“Dec. 2, 2010, that was my first day,” she said. “That’s a day I’ll never forget as long as I live. That’s the day that everything changed.”

ARC, too, has changed dramatically since it started as a treatment home for women run by volunteers, based largely on Bible study and prayer.

It now operates as a for-profit company paid $130 million last year by Medicaid, the federal-state health plan which in 2014 expanded access to addiction treatment, or substance-use disorder, as it’s now known.

Gov. Andy Beshear has praised ARC for helping Kentucky — ravaged in recent years by addiction and overdose deaths — become the state with the most treatment beds per resident in the nation, according to an East Tennessee State University study.

“With the help of organizations like ARC, we are working to build a safer, healthier commonwealth for our people,” Beshear said, speaking at an ARC ribbon-cutting for a new facility in March.

Owned by founder and CEO Tim Robinson and his wife, Lelia, the company provides the couple an annual income of about $533,400, according to a 2022 tax-filing by Odyssey Inc., a non-profit affiliated with ARC.

Tim Robinson (Lantern photo by Matthew Mueller)

Robinson said he and his wife struggled financially for years while establishing the treatment business — facing potential foreclosure on their home and repossession of their car. He doesn’t think that income is unreasonable.

“We took a lot of risks,” said Robinson, 48, a lawyer and recovered alcoholic who says he has been sober since 2006 — two years before he started building the faith-based treatment business that would become ARC. “I’m living the American dream. I’m doing better than I ever thought I could be doing financially.”

Kentucky’s largest provider

The fast-growing company is by far the state’s largest substance-use treatment provider, with 1,800 residential beds in 24 Kentucky counties, and reaches hundreds more clients through outpatient services. ARC, which estimates it provides 75% of treatment beds in Kentucky, also is planning programs in Ohio and Virginia.

Earlier this year, ARC opened a 40-bed behavioral health unit with plans to expand to 300 at the former Our Lady of Bellefonte Hospital in Ashland, which closed in 2020. In 2020, ARC opened its largest center — with a capacity for 700 — on the campus of St. Catharine College in Springfield, which closed in 2016.

ARC is no longer simply a treatment organization, said Matt Brown, a former ARC client who overcame addiction and now serves as ARC’s chief administrative officer and president of ARC Healthcare. “We view ourselves as a behavioral health system,” Brown said.

While Christian faith remains at the heart of its mission, ARC relies on professional therapists, medical specialists including nurses and doctors, a structured treatment program and medication such as Suboxone to reduce the cravings of some patients for drugs and help them maintain sobriety, Robinson said.

Its religious component — which includes tracking how many clients decide “to follow Christ” (1,320 in 2023) — is strictly voluntary, according to Robinson, who said he was able to get sober in 2006 with the help of a local pastor and friend who “led me to the Lord.”

More importantly, he said, is that the number of clients who agree to stay in long-term treatment up to six months has increased steadily, which he thinks is the best indicator of effectiveness of the program.

Medicaid, which funds the majority of substance treatment, doesn’t require programs to measure outcomes.

But ARC measures its own outcomes, which it reports to Medicaid quarterly, Robinson said. That includes a retention rate of around 70% of its clients in treatment for up to six months and even longer through periodic contact with a case manager.

“I’ve been in this a long time,” Robinson said. “Long-term residential treatment is the reason people recover.”

As an indicator of success in addressing addiction, the Beshear administration points to the decline, for the second year in a row, of overdose deaths in Kentucky.

The state’s latest overdose report, released in June, shows a decrease in deaths to 1,984 from 2,200 the year before, a decline of 9.8%.

Last year, ARC received about $130 million in payments from Kentucky’s Medicaid program — more than double the amount of its closest competitor, Spero Health, a Nashville- based company that received $60 million in Kentucky Medicaid funds in 2023, according to the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, which licenses and oversees treatment facilities and Medicaid.

ARC accepts private insurance, but Robinson and Brown said almost all of the company’s revenue is from Medicaid, since their clients generally have lost jobs and any health insurance because of addiction.

The state spent $1.2 billion on substance-use-disorder services in the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2023, with most funds coming from the federal government, according to the cabinet.

Robinson, a former county prosecutor who started his business from a home office in Louisa, has emerged as a major political donor and well-connected business leader who recently joined the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce board.

Beshear singled out Robinson for recognition in his State of the Commonwealth speech in January, calling him “an essential partner in our fight against addiction.”

Robinson, a lifelong Republican, is effusive in praise for Beshear, a Democrat, in part because of the governor’s emphasis on addiction treatment and the governor’s frequent references to his own religious faith.

“I’ve never been for anybody like I’ve been for Andy Beshear,” Robinson said. “I hope he runs for president.”

‘Treatment on demand’

ARC employs 1,350 people, 500 at its headquarters in Louisa, population 2,600, perched above the forks of the Big Sandy River, across from West Virginia. The company is Lawrence County’s largest employer, even more than the school system.

About 40% of its workers are “graduates” of its treatment program, Robinson said, and most of its upper management — himself included — are in recovery from addiction.

ARC promises “treatment on demand,” and operates a 24-hour hotline people can call to identify help within 15 minutes, including transportation, if needed, to one of its centers. Last year it served more than 12,000 individuals from 119 of Kentucky’s 120 counties.

Tim Robinson in front of one of his buildings in 
downtown Louisa (Lantern photo by Deborah Yetter)

It has developed a network of job-training programs including welding, automotive repair, lawn service, culinary arts, chaplaincy and food service. As part of that, ARC has rebuilt more than a block of rundown buildings in downtown Louisa into a coffee shop, commercial kitchen, community theater and an event space.

It offers clients a chance to get certification toward a trade and get college credit for some training.

ARC owns a pharmacy used to provide medication to clients, a laboratory for medical testing and operates a health clinic in Louisa. Also, Tim and Lelia Robinson founded the private Millard School, a Christian academy in Louisa attended by some children of their employees.

Vanessa Keeton and her husband James live in Louisa and their son attends the Millard School. James, a 2011 ARC graduate, manages the Second Chance garage which repairs and restores vehicles for the public as well as maintaining an ARC fleet of about 200. “We restore cars and we restore lives,” he said.

ARC runs a sophisticated marketing program complete with a website, billboards, television and radio commercials, a social media presence, sponsorships and news releases, contracting with the Louisville-based public relations firm, RunSwitch. Scott Jennings, a CNN commentator and Republican political consultant, is one of RunSwitch’s founding partners. ARC spends about 4.5% of its revenue, or about $5.8 million a year on marketing.

Vanessa Keeton said the marketing is important to promote awareness of its services to those in need, “to meet people where you are.”

‘Dangerously brilliant’?

Some outsiders criticize ARC for its rapid growth, its size and Robinson’s political giving, including Mark La Palme, the founder and former CEO of Isaiah House, a treatment program based in Harrodsburg.

La Palme, now retired, said he worked with Robinson on a project in the mid-2000s but parted ways over disagreement with practices including designating clients as “interns” in ARC programs for low pay while in treatment, saving the company the cost of paying a regular employee.

He calls ARC “huge,” has called it a “bully” in a social media post and questions its rapid expansion. La Palme also questions the prolific giving of Robinson and ARC entities, which rank among the state’s major political contributors.

“It seems like you’re buying political influence,” he said.

But he acknowledges that Robinson has been highly effective in building ARC into the state’s largest treatment system: “He’s dangerously brilliant.”

Robinson said he considered La Palme a friend and colleague but they parted ways after a proposed collaboration fell through. Robinson said ARC’s programs meet all state standards, are accredited and the company works to provide high quality care.

He said internships are a way of introducing people to job skills they will need to succeed once they leave treatment and interns in various job training programs receive a paycheck either through ARC or an outside employer.

Robinson said he doesn’t apologize for political giving, seeing it as a way to support causes and politicians he believes in.

And he doesn’t think ARC is too big, saying that the company had to expand to remain viable within the constraints of Medicaid reimbursement, which pays for most of its clients. “We had to grow to survive,” he said.

The Robinson employees who spoke with Kentucky Lantern, including Brown, are highly enthusiastic about the boss.

Brown, trained as a physical therapist, battled addiction for 18 years before coming to ARC as a patient and remaining as an employee.

Robinson is “a visionary,” Brown said during a tour of ARC properties in Louisa, “He sees things in people before they see it in themselves.”

‘Papaw taught me’

Robinson said he grew up in adjoining Martin County, in “the poorest part” of a poor county. His introduction to business came from his grandfather who owned a country store. “He put me on a pop carton to run the cash register,” he said. “Papaw taught me about business.”

Another boyhood business venture of Robinson’s — selling baseball cards — would provide a life-changing entrée into college and law school, when he was befriended by Inez banker and businessman Mike Duncan, a former Republican national chairman and mentor to many young people in Martin County.

Robinson said he and Duncan crossed paths when he began selling baseball cards to Duncan's son, Robert M. “Rob” Duncan, who was appointed U.S. attorney for Eastern Kentucky under Donald Trump. Duncan is now the top deputy to state Attorney General Russell Coleman.

Robinson said he considers both Duncans friends but remains closest to Mike Duncan, a trusted friend and adviser. He said Mike Duncan, showed interest in his boyhood baseball-card venture and became a mentor, encouraging Robinson to go to college — a prospect he hadn’t considered.

“Nobody in my family ever went to college,” Robinson said.

But with Duncan’s encouragement, Robinson graduated from the University of the Cumberlands in Williamsburg, earned a law degree from the University of Kentucky and was elected student body president at both institutions.

Good times and bad times

“He helped me through the good times and the bad times,” Robinson said.

Among the worst times: Robinson’s 2003 indictment for felony vote fraud while he was student body president at UK, after some 750 voter registration cards collected during a student government drive were never turned in. Apparently forgotten, they were later found in a student-government office, according to a 2003 Lexington Herald-Leader story.

“It was devastating,” Robinson said. “I thought my whole life was over.”

Instead, with the help of his lawyers, Robinson pleaded guilty to a lesser misdemeanor charge of failing to turn in the registration cards and paid $90 restitution. Robinson said he dropped out of law school during the legal case, but was readmitted and graduated.

But that ordeal, plus the death of his mother while he was at UK, “finished my mental health off,” Robinson said. He returned home to Eastern Kentucky to work but alcohol by then had a powerful hold on his life.

Back in Lawrence County, Robinson joined in law practice with a friend and became an assistant county attorney but by then said he had become a “raging alcoholic” though still somehow able to perform his job.

He would drink on weekends, come to work on Mondays hung over and avoid alcohol on days he had to be in court. Toward the end of the week, Robinson said, he’d resume drinking and stay drunk till the following Monday. “I was leading kind of a double life,” he said.

That continued until a deputy sheriff at the courthouse where Robinson worked intervened. The deputy, also a pastor and a recovering alcoholic, helped Robinson stop drinking through prayer and support — taking him with him to nightly events where he would preach and play Bluegrass music.

Though Robinson said he knew nothing about treatment or programs such as Alcoholics Anonymous, he decided he needed to expand services in the region that in the mid-2000s offered little.

“I was convinced God was calling me to stop practicing law and start a recovery center,” Robinson said.

So he did, leaving his law job and starting out of a home office on Nov. 3, 2008.

Robinson got help from Rev. Ralph Beiting, a Catholic priest who founded the Christian Appalachian Project. Together they opened a recovery house for women in Lawrence County called Karen’s House.

It was a makeshift operation run by volunteers with donated goods, including some old Army cots. Meanwhile, Robinson was taking men to the closest treatment center, Chad’s Hope in Clay County, getting occasional funding from Operation UNITE, launched in 2003 by U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers to help Kentucky battle rising addiction — in particular the tide of opioid pain pills engulfing the state.

But broke and discouraged, Robinson was close to quitting when he contacted a consultant who suggested he expand by opening a second recovery center for men. He located a site in Fleming County and in 2013, Belle Grove Springs was opened by the company that would become ARC.

Brown, now ARC’s chief administrative officer, was among the first clients admitted to the men’s center.

The following year, under the expansion authorized by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Medicaid began funding substance use disorder services and a reliable funding stream opened. Kentucky was among the first states to include addiction as a service covered by Medicaid.

While the income was welcome, it wasn’t enough to finance ARC’s operation and Robinson said the company’s only choice was to expand and recoup more money through a higher volume of clients. “People thought we were growing because we were booming but we had to grow to survive,” he said. “You cannot make it on a couple of small facilities.”

ARC didn’t show a positive cash flow until 2019, he said.

‘Take our time’

While ARC expansion has slowed, Robinson said the company is still looking at other opportunities, including expansion into Virginia, which has far fewer treatment beds than Kentucky. “We’re going to take our time,” he said.

ARC also was flagged in a budget item this year by the state General Assembly with a $12 million allocation over two years directed to the Life Learning Center in Covington, an organization aimed at helping people develop skills to improve their lives “through gainful employment.”

The budget line says the funds are to be distributed to the center to support “treatment, rehabilitation, and community reintegration in partnership with Odyssey Inc.,” the non-profit arm affiliated with ARC.

Robinson said he expects Odyssey to submit a proposal as treatment provider for a program the center plans to establish in Somerset.

And while his work has expanded statewide and beyond, Robinson said he’s committed to staying in Louisa and keeping his company headquartered there.

“I’m where I’m going to be,” he said. “This is my adopted hometown.”

Some Ky. counties using settlement money to make new opioid-withdrawal treatment available to a small number of residents

The device uses low-intensity electrical pulses to reduce withdrawal symptoms. (WDRB photo, from NET Recovery Corp.)

The device uses low-intensity electrical pulses to reduce

withdrawal symptoms. (WDRB photo, from NET Recovery Corp.)

This story has been updated.

By Melissa Patrick

Kentucky Health News

four Kentucky counties are making a new treatment to reduce opioid-withdrawal symptoms available free to a few of their residents, using money from the state's settlements with drug manufacturers and distributors.

Three more counties are in the queue, and others are in discussion. Counties and most Kentucky cities get half the settlement money, more than $900 million over the next 15 years.

Meade, Scott, Bullitt and Franklin counties have committed settlement money for the treatment of limited numbers of residents with opioid-use disorder. Letcher and Shelby counties are in the process of final approval, and Bell County is in discussions with NET Recovery Corp.

The company is named for the "neuro-electric therapy" that its non-invasive "NET Device" delivers. Asked about the device's success rate, company spokesman Jeff Lott said, "A person treated with the NET Device for more than one day is significantly more likely to remain opioid-free without medication."

The amount of money committed to NET Recovery for treatment from each county varies. 

Company spokesman Jeff Lott said since the NET Device gained U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval, the cost for a treatment is $5,500. He said in an email that some counties received a discount if they started negotiations before FDA approval. 

"If we had already started negotiations with an amount for less than $5,500, we are still honoring that price for the first contract," Lott said. 

In Bullitt County, CFO and Community Development Director Keith Griffee said the county has signed a service contract for $50,000 to provide treatment services for 15 residents, or $3,333 per person.

The same per-person figure applies in Meade County, where Treasurer Tammy Graham said the county had allocated $60,000 of its opioid-abatement money for services to 18 residents.

Scott County Court Clerk Stacy Hamilton said Scott County had approved $110,000 for 34 residents. That amounts to $3,235 per person.

Franklin County's $75,000 contract is for 15 patients at $5,000 each, The State Journal reports.  

Lott said Shelby County plans to vote on its contract Tuesday, July 2. He said the county is looking to commit $100,000 to the program. He did not say how many residents this contract would serve. 

He said Franklin County had voted to approve a service agreement for $75,000 to cover 15 patients, but the contract has not been signed. That amounts to $5,000 per person.

Lott said NET Recovery is still in talks with Letcher County, which had backed out of its initial $125,000 contract with NET Recovery.  Lott said the two-year contracts allow either party to terminate the contract. 

"It is my understanding that they still want to participate for a lesser amount," Lott said.

He said the company is working to get other counties "to help their people get a brand new FDA-cleared treatment that can change the lives of their residents."

"We are counting on the counties to help fund this," Lott said. "If anyone has a question about how they can get their county to sponsor it, they can email me. I'd love to talk them through it." (His email address is jeff.lott@netrecovery.net.)

Isaiah House lauds NET Device

The neuro-electric therapy to reduce withdrawal symptoms will be offered exclusively through Isaiah House, a Christian-based rehabilitation center based in Harrodsburg.

The NET Device (Photo from company website)

Mike Cox, chief operating officer of Isaiah House, said the treatment involves taping tiny electrodes behind the participant's mastoid process, behind the ear, to deliver a carefully programmed series of tiny electrical pulses that stimulate the production of the body's natural neurotransmitters, such as endorphins.

"We know that those neurotransmitters become depleted and replaced by the drug" chosen by those with opioid-use disorder, Cox said. "When a person tries to stop taking the drug, then he or she begins to experience intense cravings and the body goes into withdrawal. It is that terrible experience of intense cravings, that horrible sickness that keeps people from stopping using the substance that keeps them using. Not for the euphoria of it, but just to survive." 

He said they will have 30 reusable units on hand for the treatment, which lasts five to seven days.

While the device will be helpful, Cox said, it is not the single solution. 

"We see it as a tool to help them on the front end of treatment," he said. "This device is a new tool in the toolbox to really help people overcome the fear and experience of being sick from withdrawal and the intense cravings, which are . . . really the reasons why many people are afraid to get treatment." 

According to state data, in 2023, nearly 80% of Kentucky's overdose deaths involved opioids.

Medications are available to treat opioid-use disorder, but Cox noted that many people use more than one substance. And while the clinical trial of the NET Device focused on opiates, he said it also helps with the withdrawal symptoms of other drugs, from nicotine to methamphetamine.

"We know the device to be effective for all drugs," Cox said. "They have specific programming for each type of drug, which makes this device unique. . . . The additional upside to this device over medications is that it addresses the concerns of abuse and diversion."

Later, he said, "We have witnessed, really the positive impact of this device on a lot of people without any negative side effects. And, FDA approval is further evidence of the efficacy of this device in reducing cravings and withdrawal symptoms."

Cox said Isaiah House will only be paid a "small amount" for the additional work required by his staff to offer the therapy.

Who qualifies for it? 

Cox said participants will be considered for the NET Device on a case-by-case basis. "We just want to help people," he said.

Because insurance does not pay for the treatment, Lott said, "At this time, we're only focusing on treating people from counties who have paid for it or anyone can choose to pay and be treated." 

Bullitt County's contract says the participant must be diagnosed with opioid-use disorder, be admitted on a separately paid basis into a participating service program with a residential drug-addiction treatment facility, be a resident of the contracted county, and meet the clinical eligibility for the treatment, including a desire to participate in the program. 

Lott added that a participant must also be 18, and cannot be pregnant or have a pacemaker.

Cox said Isaiah House is starting the program in one of its men's facilities in Washington County and one of its women's facilities in Mercer County. Eventually, he said the treatment would be offered at all of their residential facilities.

Kentuckians are invited to virtual June town-hall meetings on helping families with complications from substance use

By Sarah Ladd

Kentucky Lantern

Kentuckians with ideas to improve outcomes for children placed in foster care because of substance use complications will get the chance to share them during a series of town halls this June, the Administrative Office of the Courts announced Wednesday.

Registration is required for the four virtual town halls, which Citizen Foster Care Review Boards are hosting on June 3, 5, 11 and 14.

“Community input is vital to identifying needs in each area of the state,” the AOC said in the release. “Due to confidentiality, specific cases will not be discussed.”

The town halls will seek to answer the following questions, and findings will be reported back to the Citizen Foster Care Review Board:

•  Do families and children in your community have equitable and timely access to substance use disorder assessment and treatment services?
• What are the barriers to accessing treatment for substance use disorder?
• What solutions could be identified to remedy barriers to access and treatment and lead to resilience and recovery?

The four town hall dates and locations are as follows: 

June 3, 11 a.m.-noon CT/12-1 p.m. ET. Register for this town hall at kcoj.info/June32024 if you live in Allen, Ballard, Barren, Breckinridge, Butler, Caldwell, Calloway, Carlisle, Christian, Crittenden, Daviess, Edmonson, Fulton, Graves, Grayson, Hancock, Hardin, Hart, Henderson, Hickman, Hopkins, LaRue, Livingston, Logan, Lyon, Marshall, McCracken, McLean, Meade, Metcalfe, Muhlenberg, Nelson, Ohio, Simpson, Todd, Trigg, Union, Warren or Webster Counties.

June 5, 11 a.m. – noon CT/12-1 p.m. ET. Register for this town hall at kcoj.info/June52024 if you live in Adair, Bath, Bell, Boyd, Breathitt, Carter, Casey, Clay, Clinton, Cumberland, Elliott, Floyd, Green, Greenup, Harlan, Jackson, Johnson, Knott, Knox, Laurel, Lawrence, Leslie, Letcher, Lewis, Magoffin, Marion, Martin, McCreary, Menifee, Monroe, Montgomery, Morgan, Perry, Pike, Powell, Pulaski, Rockcastle, Rowan, Russell, Taylor, Washington, Wayne, Whitley or Wolfe Counties.

June 11, 11 a.m.-noon CT/noon-1 p.m. ET. Register for this town hall at kcoj.info/June112024 if you live in Bullitt, Fayette or Jefferson counties.

June 14,11 a.m.-noon CT/noon-1 p.m. ET. Register for this town hall at kcoj.info/June142024 if you live in Anderson, Boone, Bourbon, Boyle, Bracken, Campbell, Carroll, Clark, Estill, Fleming, Franklin, Gallatin, Garrard, Grant, Harrison, Henry, Jessamine, Kenton, Lee, Lincoln, Madison, Mason, Mercer, Nicholas, Oldham, Owen, Owsley, Pendleton, Robertson, Scott, Shelby, Spencer, Trimble or Woodford counties.

Kentucky treatment and recovery leaders honored with awards

By Melissa Patrick

Kentucky Health News

Six Kentuckians were honored with 2024 Champions of Recovery Awards at the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce's ninth annual Kentucky Workforce Summit held in Lexington on May 14. 

The awards are sponsored by the Kentucky Association of Independent Recovery Organizations and the Recovery Consortium of Kentucky.

Recipients of the inaugural KAIROS Legislative Champion Award, recognizing state legislators who have partnered to advance significant legislation to improve treatment resources, standards of patient care, and long-term results for Kentuckians, were:

• Rep. Kim Moser, R-Taylor Mill — lead sponsor of this year's House Bill 505, which amended requirements for peer-support specialists to increase accountability and standardize qualifications, training and oversight across the industry to help better serve persons in treatment.
• Rep. Samara Heavrin, R-Leitchfield — lead sponsor of last year’s HB 248 (and co-sponsor of this year’s HB 462), which established quality standards for recovery housing in Kentucky – a critical component to sustaining long-term recovery among individuals with substance-use disorder.
• Sen. Phillip Wheeler, R-Pikeville — lead sponsor of this year’s Senate Bill 71, which implemented guidelines for addiction-treatment centers to provide transportation services to clients leaving recovery programs and included important guardrails for the alternative sentencing worker program.

“The 2,100 plus dedicated professionals represented by KAIROS are extremely grateful for our strong legislative partners,” John Wilson, Addiction Recovery Care market president and KAIROS chairman, said in a news release from the two groups. “Thanks to their collaboration and commitment, we are advancing the commonwealth as a national leader in addiction treatment and recovery.”

Three Kentuckians were inducted into the fourth annual RECON Kentucky Recovery Hall of Fame. These awards recognize individuals in long-term recovery and those who have taken a leading role in addressing Kentucky’s addiction crisis through prevention, treatment, education and advocacy efforts. Two of the awards are named after inaugural inductees U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers and Jay Davidson of The Healing Place.

Nancy Hale
(All photos provided)

Nancy Hale, of Mount Vernon, received the Congressman Hal Rogers Award, which recognizes Kentucky public officials who have advocated legislation and policies that address the addiction crisis and help Kentuckians with substance-use disorders reach long-term recovery.

Hale received the award for her 34-year career in public education and her efforts to help lead Operation UNITE, an innovative substance misuse and recovery collaboration serving 33 southern and eastern Kentucky counties, for more than a decade. Hale served as Operation UNITE's third president and CEO from 2015-2023. UNITE is an acronym for Unlawful Narcotics Investigations, Treatment and Education. 

Dr. Burns M. Brady

The late Dr. Burns M. Brady of Louisville posthumously received the Jay Davidson Award, which recognizes an individual in recovery who has helped to support Kentuckians with their long-term recovery.

Brady was a family doctor for 25 years, co-founded The Healing Place, an award-winning Louisville-based addiction recovery program serving individuals at no cost to the client, and volunteered extensively across the U.S. to help with recovery efforts in the prison system, the release said.

Logan Aluminum of Russellville received the Second Chance Employer of the Year Award for its fair-chance employment of people in recovery and advocacy of the Chamber’s Workforce Recovery Program. Logan Aluminum was also influential in the passage of SB 191 in 2020, which provides businesses with liability protections when hiring individuals in recovery through the Kentucky Transformational Employment Program, according to the release.