Smoking ban has 'around 50' votes in House, sponsor says

UPDATE, Friday, Feb. 21: The bill has still not come to a vote. House Speaker Greg Stumbo said Thursday it had less than half of the 20 Republican votes needed to pass it, despite a floor amendment Westrom filed Tuesday that would exempt electronic cigarettes, private clubs and cigar bars.

The sponsor of the bill to ban smoking in enclosed public places says she expects to bring it to a vote in the state House on Wednesday or Thursday.

Rep. Susan Westrom, D-Lexington, declined to say exactly how many votes she has for House Bill 173, but averred, "I would say around 50." The House has 100 members; they do not have to vote, but at least 40 votes are needed to pass a bill. Jeff Harper, a lobbyist for Kentucky Farm Bureau, which opposes the bill, said he has heard from legislators that the bill has 46 votes.

The bill has gotten out of committee several times, but has not been brought to a floor vote because it lacked the support to pass. Senate President Robert Stivers opposes the legislation, but "Westrom believes there is sufficient support among rank-and-file senators," reports Stu Johnson of Kentucky Public Radio.

Four amendments have been filed to the measure. The one getting the most attention appears to be the one filed by Rep. Stan Lee, R-Lexington, which would eliminate electronic cigarettes. Westrom said House members have seen "a mass pounding of emails" for the amendment, but many of the senders seem to think her bill would ban e-cigarettes entirely, which it would not.

Philip Morris Cos., which typically spends more at the legislature than any other lobbying interest, recently said it would get into the burgeoning e-cigarette business. It reported spending $30,697.63 in January on lobbying the General Assembly, more than any January since 2006. Of that amount, $19,841.74 was for five lobbyists and the remaining $10,855.89 was for unspecified expenses.

Westrom said the other amendment getting considerable discussion is one by Rep. Jim Gooch, D-Providence, that would exempt cigar bars. Rep. Wilson Stone, D-Franklin, would exempt pari-mutuel wagering facilities, and Rep. Jim Stewart, R-Flat Lick, would put fines for violations in the state General Fund rather than the agency issuing the citation.

Westrom told Kentucky Public Radio that she's prepared for amendments, and said local communities could impose stricter rules than the bill even it becomes law. “They can make the bill stronger if that’s what they choose to do within their own communities,” she said. “So, I don’t look at that as a defeat or something bad.”

Westrom said she thinks the bill will pass because "the facts are so compelling and the fears are unfounded." She said the most common comment she hears from legislators is that they have many smokers in their districts, "especially in Eastern Kentucky."

Kentucky has the nation's highest smoking rate, 28.3 percent. Its Appalachian region had the lowest level of support for a ban in the Kentucky Health Issues Poll taken last fall for the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky, but even in that area, 62 percent favored it while 34 percent opposed it. The poll defines Appalachian Kentucky as the 46 counties in the Big Sandy, Buffalo Trace, Cumberland Valley, Fivco, Gateway, Kentucky River and Lake Cumberland area development districts. The Appalachian results may reflect the fact that the region is where residents are most likely to be smokers.

Accreditation commission designates UK as one of 63 comprehensive stroke centers

The Joint Commission for accredting health-care organizations, the American Heart Association and the American Stroke Association have designated UK HealthCare a Comprehensive Stroke Center. The university's medical center joins 63 other institutions with the designation.

The certification is bestowed upon hospitals with not only state-of-the-art infrastructures and 24/7 availability of special treatment but also dedicated staff with the education and experience to help patients who suffered from complex strokes. "We are justifiably proud of the many people at UK HealthCare whose expertise and commitment to quality of care earned us this designation," said Dr. Michael Karpf, UK's executive vice president for health.

Traci Beasley, a 35-year-old elementary math teacher and mother of two, had a stroke in 2012 and was airlifted to UK, where she received the kind of care and treatment that earned the institution the designation. "Mrs. Beasley's condition required immediate intervention, and the particulars of her case led us to use an older but less commonly employed approach to prevent aneurysm from re-rupturing," said Dr. Justin Fraser, who led the team that treated Beasley.

A UK press release says, "In the hospital's state-of-the-art hybrid OR, the only one of its kind in the region, he used a microscope to deploy a tiny metal clip that sealed off the aneurysm." While caregivers watched for any subsequent problems, Beasley went to the angiography suite to correct her cerebral vasospasm, a condition that restricts blood supply to brain tissue as a result of narrowing arteries. Soon after, she returned home.

Fraser said the stroke center designation is a result of teamwork and collaboration: "Weakness in an arm or speech problems . . . are obvious neurological deficits caused by a stroke, but our goal is to achieve a more elegant solution. Can the patient balance their checkbook? Can they follow a list at the grocery store? Can they return to work and a normal life? That's why we're here."

In wide-ranging interview, secretary says her state health cabinet is a national leader in guarding the privacy of electronic data

Despite concerns elsewhere about the privacy of personal health information, Kentucky's top health official says her agency is one of the best in the nation at protecting and managing such data.

Audrey Tayse Haynes, secretary of the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, talked about information technology and privacy in an interview with Mark Green, editor of The Lane Report, a Lexington-based business publication. She credited her cabinet's information-technology department and its good record on privacy.

Secretary Audrey Haynes

"We have an extraordinary IT department at this cabinet," Haynes said. "They really are stellar. I’ve worked at national organizations, in the federal government, and of course at the state level, and we have as good an IT department, if not better, than any I’ve seen. That gives us in-house expertise and also, obviously, they can contract for further expertise."

She added, "This cabinet has a long history of maintaining people’s private information because of Medicaid and food stamps and many other programs that we run here. Last year millions of dollars were collected for Kentucky’s kids through court-ordered child support that runs through this cabinet. We have very strict requirements, both at the federal and state levels, and we take privacy very seriously. Our IT department and others plan for it, and we’re alert to it all the time."

Haynes said Kentucky is also a national leader in helping health-care providers share electronic health records, through the Kentucky Health Information Exchange, with more than 2,000 participating and getting more than $144 million in federal incentive payments. The information exchange "is nationally recognized as being in the forefront for the exchange of health information records," Haynes said. "We are one of the most progressive in the nation."

She noted that the cabinet also runs KASPER (the Kentucky All Schedule Prescription Electronic Reporting) system, which doctors and medical professionals check before prescribing controlled substances to prevent drug abuse. A 2012 law cracking down on prescription painkillers required prescribers to use the system, and it now has more than 24,700 users, Haynes said. "KASPER is a very complex system to maintain," she said, "but it is keeping Kentucky at the forefront nationally as far as helping to curb the prescription drug problem in our state.

Green and Haynes touched on many subjects in the interview, which as published runs almost 3,000 words. She said the state's health-insurance exchange, Kynect, has been successful also because of its executive director, Carrie Banahan, who "has a long history of experience with insurance, with Medicaid and with management. That’s critical. And we made it not just Carrie’s project but a Cabinet project. Then we were able to get a great company that was very committed to the success of this in Deloitte" Consulting, which built the system. "Finally, we kept it simple. We knew we could make improvements as the months and years went on. We didn’t try to be too fancy right out of the gate. We knew that it needed to work well when it was launched – that was more important than making it the fanciest online system right away."

Haynes concluded, "When I came back from Washington, D.C., to take this job, people who know me and know this cabinet were very surprised, but I’ve never regretted it. I believe in public service as well as in the role of the private sector, and this has been a dream job for me because I’ve had an opportunity to work making good policy. I’ve had some pretty neat dream jobs in my career, but this is certainly going to be the topper. Few of us ever have an opportunity to say that we have done something that can truly have an impact and be part of something that’s going to have an impact for many, many years. I think about that all the time. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else." (Read more)

Bill to create panels to review medical-malpractice lawsuits passes Senate committee

UPDATE, Feb. 20: The Senate passed the bill 23-13, but House Speaker Greg Stumbo said he does not expect it to make any progress in the House.

By Melissa Patrick
Kentucky Health News

The state Senate Health and Welfare Committee approved an expanded bill Wednesday to put a hurdle in front of medical malpractice lawsuits in Kentucky.

Senate Bill 119, sponsored by committee chair Julie Denton, R-Louisville, would establish medical review panels to offer initial opinions on the merit of medical-malpractice lawsuits. A panel would consist of three medical experts. Each side in the lawsuit would choose one, and the chosen two would choose the third.

Chamber President Dave Adkisson
testifies for the bill. (KET image)

The bill is the fallback position for nursing homes (and earlier, doctors) who have been unable to get the General Assembly to offer the voters a constitutional amendment that would allow the legislature to limit damages in lawsuits. They want to decrease the number of cases that they consider frivolous but sometimes settle to limit legal fees. Hospitals and doctors recently joined the lobbying effort; the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce is also on board.

"This is common sense legislation to make sure there is merit, " Denton said. The bill passed on a 6-4 vote, with Sen. Julian Carroll, D-Frankfort, not voting after a two-hour debate.

Supporters of the bill told the committee that Kentucky's liability laws make it difficult to recruit physicians and health-care providers to the state, increase malpractice- and health-insurance premiums, and take money away from actual health care because providers spend so much on defensive practices. They said the bill would decrease the time it takes to resolve cases and decrease health-care costs.

Lawyer Larry Forgy, who represents 13 nursing homes, said lawyers from states like Florida and Texas that have passed limits on liability lawsuits were moving to Kentucky and suing the nursing homes. He said, "We have had a gator invasion in Kentucky."

Opponents of the bill said that nursing homes improved the quality of care, there would be no need for these panels. Another opponent said it would not allow adequate time for the panels to make sure all information submitted was factual.

Wanda Delaplane of Frankfort, who won a $20 million malpractice judgment, said it took four years to gather the facts for her father's case because the nursing home gave her and the state false information. She said the panel would only get information that the medical provider gave them and that this was "information that has a high degree of probability to be falsified."

Patrick Clinch of Scott County, who said his father did not receive adequate health care while in a nursing home and subsequently died, reminded the committee that the debate is not just about lawsuits, but about people, often the elderly. He said medical experts on the panels would be biased toward their colleagues, and suggested the answer to this problem is improving the quality of care.

Jim Kimbrough, AARP Kentucky state president, agreed that quality of care was the problem.

"We believe the solution to implementing the issues of care in facilities lies within each facility to improve the quality of care," Kimbrough said. He said the bill would delay the aggrieved their rightful access to the court system, and "Justice delayed is justice denied."

Similar legislation passed the Senate in 2013, but didn't get out of a House committee. It remains to be seen whether the additional lobbying power of hospitals and doctors, who are leading campaign contributors to legislators, will make a difference.

Advocates, including governor, rally for statewide smoking ban

The annual Smoke-Free Kentucky rally was held Wednesday in the rotunda of the Capitol to promote passage of a statewide smoking ban. Gov. Steve Beshear and Dave Adkisson, president and CEO of the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce, were among the advocates. Others included the sponsors of the legislation, Reps. Susan Westrom, D-Lexington, and Julie Raque Adams, R-Louisville, and Sen. Julie Denton, R-Louisville; and Sgt. Dakota Meyer of Columbia, Marine Corps veteran and Medal of Honor recipient.

Dakota Meyer said he got involved in the issue after his friend
Regan Judd, right, a spokeswoman for the American Heart
Association, told him the dangers of secondhand smoke.
(Photo by Charles Bertram, Lexington Herald-Leader)

“This is not a law that’s going against liberty,” said Meyer, 25, who has said he is interested in a political career. “It’s going (for) protecting others, and that’s what laws are for.” Other speakers at the event "said they’ve reached a tipping point, and the state that tops the nation for smoking may finally be close to passing a smoking ban," Laura Ungar and Sebastian Kitchen report for The Courier-Journal.

Smoking-ban legislation has never come to a vote in the full House because it lacked the votes to pass, but its chief sponsor said recently that she now has the votes. A similar bill has been introduced in the Republican-controlled Senate for the first time, but Senate leaders sent it to the Judiciary Committee rather than the Health and Welfare Committee, which is chaired by the bill's sponsor.

Senate President Robert Stivers, who opposes the bill, told The Courier-Journal that "he has not polled members to know how much support there is in the Senate," the Louisville newspaper reports. "He acknowledged there are mixed opinions on the legislation and there is a possibility it could come to the floor for a vote. Beshear said he will keep pushing the bill because “The health of our people demands that we do this.”

Child obesity persists among the poor and less educated; early-life factors also matter; Kentucky's rate is high

Although youth obesity has become slightly less prevalent, most of the improvement has been restricted to children in families with higher salaries and educations, according to a Harvard University Kennedy School of Government analysis by Robert Putnam and colleagues. They examined data pertaining to education and income from the 1988-2010 National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys and the 2003-2011 National Survey of Children's Health, Joe Rojas-Burke writes for Covering Health, published by the Association of Health Care Journalists.

Childhood obesity is at 18 percent in Kentucky—one of the highest in the country—and 35.7 percent of children ages 10 to 17 are overweight or obese, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. Nationally, rural children are more likely to be obese than those in cities and suburbs. 

Obesity in children whose parents have a college degree began falling about 10 years ago, but increased among children whose parents have a high-school degree or less. There were similar findings among income levels, and the trend was also found in non-Hispanic whites. Although calorie intake did not vary much by education or wealth, physical activity varied greatly. "Children of college-educated parents became more active than they were a decade ago, while children of less educated parents showed no improvement. One factor in this trend is that children from families with high education and incomes are playing increasingly more high-school sports, and children from poorer, less educated families have been playing fewer high-school sports.

Some believe that obesity is an issue in low-income neighborhoods because their lack of parks, recreational centers, outdoor trails and safety discourage physical activity. However, there isn't much evidence to support that claim, and "The effects of income and education tend to trump the influence of neighborhood characteristics," Rojas-Burke writes. Does an outdoor environment convenient for physical activity always pull children away from their video games and Internet?

People often seem to forget that factors from very early in life can influence and individual's likelihood of becoming obese. According to the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, which followed 7,738 kindergarteners for 10 years beginning in 1998, half the children who became obese were already overweight in preschool, and that doesn't include the 12 percent who were already obese in kindergarten, researchers reported in the New England Journal of Medicine. "Overweight 5-year-olds were four times as likely as normal-weight children to become obese by the end of the study," Rojas-Burke writes.

Sometimes factors before a person is born can make a difference. According to the authors of the NEJM paper, children with high birth weights were only 12 percent of the population but represented more than 36 percent of people who were obese at age 14. A pregnant mother's undernourishment or overnourishment can alter fetal metabolism and brain development, which may contribute to obesity. "Observational studies have linked bottle-feeding rather than breast-feeding to weight gain," Rojas-Burke repots. Societal changes have made it more difficult for children to stay healthy. Food companies are making more and more high-calorie, low-nutrient foods. A common concern—insufficient sleep—even affects toddlers, and it can interfere with the regulation of hormones. These factors and others likely vary depending on family income, education and cultural background. (Read more)

Medical identity theft increasing; survey says 43% of leaks involve medical records

Modern technology has brought about an increase in identity theft and lately in a particularly dangerous form: medical identity theft. According to a survey conducted by the Identity Theft Resource Center, 43 percent of all record breaches in personal information in 2013 involved health records . That's more than those involved with banking and finance, education, the government and the military, Michael Ollove writes for Stateline.

Medical identity theft is deceptively obtaining another person's personal information—such as name, Social Security number and health-insurance number—to get medical services, reimbursements or prescription drugs. "Medical identity theft is a growing and dangerous crime that leaves its victims with little to no recourse for recovery," said Pam Dixon, World Privacy Forum's founder and executive director. "Victims often experience financial repercussions and worse yet, they frequently discover erroneous information has been added to their personal medical files due to the thief's activities."

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act has caused even more concern about the privacy of medical information. Some people worry that online marketplaces could compromise confidentiality, and with the increased push for digitized medical records comes questions about the level of security of the computer networks. "Edward Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor who has disclosed the agency's activities to the media, says the NSA has cracked the encryption used to protect the medical records of millions of Americans," Ollove writes.

According to Sam Imandoust of the Identity Theft Resource Center, thieves can obtain medical information by stealing laptops or hacking into computer networks. "With a click of a few buttons, you might have access to the records of 10,000 patients. Each bit of information can be sold for $10 to $20," he said. Over half of the security breaches result from a stolen electronic device, 20 percent result from a person's obtaining unauthorized access to information or giving it to someone who shouldn't have it and 14 percent result from hacking.

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act and the Health Information Technology Act are the two federal laws that mandate the confidentiality of medical records. A business, institution or provider can be charged between $100 and $50,000 for failing to meet privacy standards, and a person who violates HIPAA could be charged a fine of $50,000 and serve up to a year in prison.

Even if the breach is discovered, that doesn't undo all the damage, Ollove writes. "It's almost impossible to clear up a medical record once medical identity theft has occurred," said James Pyles, a Washington, D.C., lawyer who has dealt with health issues for more than 40 years. "If someone is getting false information into your file, theirs gets laced with yours, and it's impossible to segregate what information is about you and what is about them." The U.S. has "a regulated industry that is saddled with laws with so many loopholes that they don't know what they are responsible for and a public that doesn't believe their health information is being protected." (Read more)

U of L researchers developing a breath test for lung cancer

Lung cancer victims often don't notice any symptoms before it's too late, and Kentucky suffers from the highest rate of the disease — 3,500 deaths per year. Smoking, the leading cause of lung cancer, is the nation's highest among Kentucky adults — 28.3 percent. Experts say approximately 85 percent of lung cancer cases or linked to smoking.

Now University of Louisville scientists are among those working on a test to detect the disease sooner, by analyzing exhaled breath.  The scientists use a specially designed microchip to test the breath of patients who have suspicious lung lesions, Laura Ungar reports for The Courier-Journal.

"Patients are very enthusiastic about it. The concept of having a painless method to tell if you've got cancer is really appealing," Dr. Michael Bousamra told Ungar. Bousamra and his colleague Xiao-An Fu said the test might be available to the public in five years or less to ascertain who should undergo possibly dangerous biopsies.

"Instead of sending patients for invasive biopsy procedures when a suspicious lung mass is identified, our study suggests that exhaled breath could identify which patients may be directed for an immediate" sugical treatment, Bousamra said. While the current method of diagnosis, the PET scan, can cost more than $2,000, the breath analysis could cost $50 or less.

Lung cancer is the deadliest form of cancer; it kills 158,000 Americans every year, and the National Cancer Institute statistics show that the five-year survival rate for people whose lung cancer has spread to different organs is less than 4 percent — but is 54 percent when the cancer is only in the lung. "Dr. Norman Edelman, a Long Island pulmonologist who is a senior medical adviser for the American Lung Association, said he's encouraged by the U of L study and a growing body of research looking at exhaled breath," Ungar writes. "We're delighted to see this type of research going on. It's important," Edelman told her. "The survival rate depends critically on early detection."

Researchers hold breath test bag and microchip (U of L photo)

Researchers tested 150 patients with possible or diagnosed lung cancer and 85 healthy patients. Each patient exhaled a liter of air into a bag. A vacuum pulled the air across a specially coated silicone microchip, which analyzed specific compounds of the breath with a mass spectrometer, which measures the mass of a molecule to identify it. "Two of the four compounds they found in lung-cancer patients were previously known to be associated with the disease, but Fu discovered that the two others were also linked to lung cancer," Ungar reports.

Bousamra said patients with high levels of all four compounds always had cancer. Three or four elevated compounds was predictive of the disease of 95 percent of patients with a mass, and two elevated compounds was predictive of the disease in two-thirds of patients. The absence of elevated compounds predicted a non-canercous mass 80 percent of the time. "High levels of the compounds among those with lung cancer returned to normal after doctors removed the mass," Ungar writes.

Similar research is happening in other places as well. Edelman said this research will help doctors "make real strides against the disease," but people need to remember that quitting tobacco is a key factor, too. "Half the people who are regular smokers will die of smoking-related disease," he said. "The cure is very simple." (Read more)

Kentucky hospitals disagree on how to battle MRSA, an antibiotic-resistant and highly contagious bacteria that plagues them

Hospitals agree that precautions must be taken to fight the potentially deadly super bug MRSA, but they differ in their approaches, Laura Ungar reports for The Courier-Journal.

Swab kits are used to screen for MRSA. (Photo: Matt Stone, C-J)

Ungar focuses on the Louisville Veterans Affairs Medical Center's screening approach to fight MRSA, the acronym for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Every patient is screened upon admission and when moved to another floor. The hospital also stresses hand washing, wearing gowns and gloves if a patient has MRSA, and continuing education on the issue.

The hospital began routine screening of the antibiotic-resistant and highly contagious bacteria in 2007 and says its infection rates have dropped 20 percent, falling to 0.09 infections per 1,000 days patients are in a hospital bed, compared with 1.89 infections per 1,000 in 2008, Ungar reports. A study of long-term-care facilities using this approach found a decrease in MRSA infections (36 percent over 42 months), according to an article in The American Journal of Infection Control.

“We don’t see many patients getting MRSA when they’re in the hospital anymore,”  Dr. Raul Nakamatsu, an infectious disease physician at the Louisville VA Medical Center, said.

Some say more hospitals should follow the VA's lead. Dr. Kevin Kavanagh, chairman of Health Watch USA, and Lisa McGiffert, director of the Safe Patient Project at Consumers Union support this strategy. “All hospitals should be doing this,” McGiffert told Ungar. “It’s a strategy that’s proven to work.”

Other hospitals in the Louisville area screen only for high-risk patients, based on studies that encourage reducing MRSA with antibiotics and anti-infection cleansing cloths, Ungar reports. The cost of screening, which is about $55 per screening, is a concern, especially when hospitals consider other infection-control methods equally effective.

Those methods include emphasis on hand washing, isolating patients with MRSA, and wearing gowns and gloves while caring for them.  Some hospitals only have private rooms, which they say decreases the chance of infection, and others wash high-risk patients with anti-infection cleansing or use antibiotics.

“In general, we have not done surveillance screening. It’s somewhat of a controversial topic,” Dr. Paul Schulz, an infectious disease specialist with Norton Healthcare, which promotes hand washing, isolation and wearing gowns and gloves to combat MRSA, told Ungar. “We do all we can do that makes the most sense.”

The state only requires hospitals to report MRSA outbreaks, with no clear definition of what this means making it difficult to compare the two strategies, Ungar notes. No MRSA outbreaks in hospitals were reported in the state last year. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention don’t require or recommend routine MRSA screening, although CDC does provide some guidelines on prevention strategies.

While people can carry MRSA without being infected, when an infection occurs, it causes serious skin, wound or blood infections, or pneumonia, which can be deadly, Ungar reports. Those most at risk are the chronically ill or those in hospitals or nursing homes. The Journal of the American Medical Association said there were more than 80,000 infections in 2011. The cost of treatment for severe MRSA infections can range from $20,000 into the millions, McGiffert told Ungar.

Five states now require screening of high-risk patients and although Kavanagh said that he thinks the chances are slim of Kentucky passing this law (a bill failed to pass in 2008) he would like to see it done voluntarily. “If you have one facility that’s not doing a good job at controlling these infections,” he said, “it can affect the whole community.”

Hospitals recognize that they must have a strategy to combat MRSA, but many have not found the need to move toward the aggressive screening procedures used by the VA. Those include the ALbert B. Chandler Medical Center at the University of Kentucky.

Dr. Derek Forster, medical director for infection prevention and control for UK HealthCare, told Ungar that the hospital keeps current on research and is willing to change strategies if it finds good evidence that one works much better than another: "We always keep an open mind."

Poll finds 52% of Ky. adults favor legalizing medical marijuana

A slight majority of Kentuckians favor allowing the use of medical marijuana in Kentucky, according to the latest Bluegrass Poll by SurveyUSA for four Kentucky news media outlets.

The poll from Jan. 30 through Feb. 4 found that 52 percent of Kentucky adults support the legalization of marijuana for medical purposes. Thirty-seven percent were opposed and 12 percent were not sure. Most supporters were under the age of 50, white and registered Democratic. The margin of error was plus or minus 3 percentage points.

SurveyUSA polled 1,082 registered voters with home phones and cell phones for The Courier-Journal, the Lexington Herald-Leader, Lexington's WKYT-TV and Louisville's WHAS-TV.

Sen. Perry Clark, D-Louisville, has filed a bill to allow patients in Kentucky to qualify to use medical marijuana through the health department. Similar versions of this bill have not passed the Senate in recent years. On Monday Rep. Mary Lou Marzian, a nurse, introduced a similar bill in the House, the first in that chamber. Washington, D.C., and 20 states have passed medical-marijuana laws.

House Speaker Greg Stumbo says he’s open to discussing the idea, and Rep. Tom Burch, who chairs the House Health and Welfare Committee, said he strongly supports it, Laura Ungar reports for The Courier-Journal. But Senate President Robert Stivers said he wants to see studies that show medical marijuana has a definite medical value. He said he’s only heard of anecdotal evidence so far, Greg Hall reports for the Louisville newspaper.

Neither bill is expected to pass, but another bill has been introduced that would allow the use of cannabidiol, the marijuana-based oil that some parents credit with reducing seizures in their children. It was introduced by by Sen. Julie Denton, R-Louisville, chair of the Senate Health and Welfare Committee. The oil could legally be given only on the recommendation of a doctor associated with a research hospital or if the patient is in a clinical trial sponsored by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Janet Patton reports for the Herald-Leader.

Rep. Robert Benvenuti, R-Lexington, said at a House Health and Welfare committee meeting that he feared medical-marijuana legislation was a "Trojan horse to legalize recreational use of marijuana" in a state already bedeviled by drug addiction, but he was open to Denton's bill. "That oil has been the subject of clinical trials, and if that can benefit, I think it could have a chance of passing," he told Patton.

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2014/02/09/3078633/slim-majority-supports-allowing.html#storylink=cpy

People who support medical marijuana gathered in Frankfort last week to voice their opinion. Supporters included two parents who shared their story of how the oil made from marijuana had helped their children cope with seizures and a man who said marijuana helped with the pain and muscle spasms associated with multiple sclerosis, Patton reports.

Those who support medical marijuana say that it is useful for symptoms of cancer, AIDS, multiple sclerosis, glaucoma, epilepsy, pain and other conditions.  Opponents note that it lacks FDA approval, and say effective legal drugs are available that do not injure the lungs, immune system or brain, or risk leading to harder drug use, ProCon.org reports.

Poll indicates Northern Kentucky is having a heroin epidemic

A poll indicates that Northern Kentucky is the hotbed for heroin use in the state, which has increased since the state legislature cracked down on abuse of prescription painkillers.

The Kentucky Health Issues Poll, conducted Oct. 25 through Nov. 26, found that 30 percent of the respondents in Northern Kentucky said they knew of a family member or friend who had experienced problems as a result of using heroin. Responses in other regions of the state ranged from 7 to 9 percent, well within the poll's error margin of 2.5 percentage points.

The poll was conducted among Kentucky adults by the Institute for Policy Research at the University of Cincinnati for the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky and Interact for Health, formerly the Health Foundation of Greater Cincinnati. Its findings are corroborated by repirts from police and hospitals in the region, as reported by Terry DeMio of The Kentucky Enquirer.

The foundation noted in its press release, "Cross-sector advocates in Northern Kentucky mobilized in September 2012 to look at the problem of heroin and in 2013 released a report, “Northern Kentucky’s Collective Response to the Heroin Epidemic: Our Plan for Recovery.” It also noted that Kentucky ranks third in the nation for drug-overdose deaths, behind West Virginia and New Mexico.

The poll also asked respondents if they had family members or friends who had experienced problems as a result of abusing prescription painkillers. Twenty-seven percent said they had, down from 33 percent in 2012. The question did not specify a time period.

Methamphetamine has also been a popular illegal drug in Kentucky. The poll found that 15 percent of Kentucky adults reported knowing friends or family members who had experienced problems as a result of using meth. For the foundation's release, click here.

Less than a third of school districts in Ky., which has high child-obesity rates, are in program to increase physical activity

Fifty-four of Kentucky's 173 school districts have joined a national initiative to increase physical activity in schools, and school officials hope other school districts will soon join in.

Let's Move Active Schools is a program that encourages schools to create active environments to get all students moving; helps promote physical activity before, during and after school; and encourages parent and community involvement in helping students become healthier, says a state Department of Education press release.

Kentucky has one of the highest childhood obesity rates in the country, 18 percent, and 35.7 percent of those aged 10-17 are considered either overweight or obese, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.

"Let's Move helps schools create active environments that get students moving every day and supports their success in school," state Education Commissioner Terry Holiday said.

Children need at least 60 minutes of daily physical activity, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Studies show that students who get regular physical activity do better in school. Because kids spend so many hours at school, it is considered a great place to make sure they are getting the exercise they need.

The program, part of First Lady Michelle Obama's effort to fight child obesity, also offers support to teachers as they work to align their physical activity programs with program expectations.

County school districts that have joined the initiative are Anderson, Barren, Boone, Bourbon, Bullitt , Butler, Daviess, Estill, Fayette, Franklin, Fort Knox, Graves, Grayson, Greenup, Hancock, Hardin, Hart, Henderson, Henry, Hopkins, Jefferson, Jessamine, Kenton, Lee, Leslie, Letcher, Logan, Madison, Morgan, Nelson, Ohio, Oldham, Owen, Perry, Pike, Rockcastle, Rowan, Spencer, Trigg, Warren, Wayne, Whitley, Wolfe and Woodford.

Independent school districts in the program are Ashland, Bardstown, Beechwood, Berea, Caverna, Covington, Glasgow, Newport, Russell and Williamstown.

The Catholic schools in Louisville that have joined are Holy Spirit School, Notre Dame Academy and St. Gabriel the Archangel. Saint Pius X in Northern Kentucky has also joined the program.

Jamie Sparks, director of coordinated school health for the Department of Education, said in the release, "I would encourage other districts in the state to follow suit and bring Let's Move! into their schools."