Glasgow hospital buys bankrupt one in Columbia, stops admitting patients, seeks behavioral-health unit; bad management blamed

The bankrupt Westlake Regional Hospital in Columbia is now called T.J. Health Columbia, after its purchase last week by T.J. Samson Community Hospital of Glasgow. The lack of the word "hospital" in the name is significant; the facility is no longer admitting patients.

"T.J. will not necessarily be obligated to have inpatient services," Westlake CEO told the Adair County Community Voice. "He went on to say that it his understanding that T.J. Samson is actively pursuing an inpatient behavioral health unit for the facility." (UPDATE, May 2016: A behavioral health unit for up to 16 patients opened, employing 20 people.)

The Voice reports that T.J. Samson is paying $3.35 million for the 35-year-old hospital and its primary-care facility. For the next decade, Adair County taxpayers will keep paying a property tax of 10 cents per $100, enacted in 2013, to pay off $9.5 million in hospital debt, reduced greatly by the bankruptcy settlement.

Sharon Burton

Community Voice Editor and Publisher Sharon Burton has a unique perspective on the debacle: "I began this journey several years ago as the reporter across the table from the board, asking why they were borrowing $12.5 million with nothing to show for it," she wrote in an editorial. "After the district filed bankruptcy amid a $22 million debt, I became a member of that hospital district's board of directors," after being asked by new county Judge-Executive Mike Stephens.

Burton said she accepted the appointment "because I could not think of anything more important to do as someone who loves this community and the people who made it great." She recused herself from reporting or editing any hospital stories, and had an outside professional do the editing.

"This is a bittersweet day for most of us," Burton wrote in Thursday's paper. "I am tremendously thankful that T.J. Samson came on board and purchased the hospital district's assets at a time when the hospital was in bankruptcy and continued to lose money almost every month." Burton said she was sad "that it came to this. . . . The errors that got us to this point are inexcusable."

Burton noted that the deal preserved emergency care for the community, the district board's top priority. She said the hospital's failure was not the result of economic changes or "change in the health-care industry. It is the result of failed leadership," and "a reminder of how important is is to put the right people in charge of our tax dollars. It's a reminder of how important it is to hold accountable the people in charge of our public services."

Lifting of ban on federal funding for needle-exchange programs has the potential to help Kentucky fight disease, but not yet

By Melissa Patrick
Kentucky Health News

U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Kentucky's top Republicans in Congress, played a key role in lifting a longstanding ban on federal funding for needle-exchange programs in the budget deal enacted in December.

Rep. Hal Rogers, Sen. Mitch McConnell
(Getty Images photo by Win McNamee)

McConnell and Rogers said they acted to help thwart the spread of disease from increased intravenous drug use in Kentucky, but the change has had no immediate effect because no federal money in the state is allocated for needle exchanges.

"We don't have a pot of federal money that we can re-direct to needle exchange programs," said Scott Lockard, Clark County's public health director and president of the Kentucky Health Departments Association.

Most departments' "federal funding is tied to specific programs with specific guidelines and we don't have the flexibility to reallocate any of that to needle exchange," Lockard said. "On down the road it may be beneficial, but there is nothing immediate that is going to help health departments fund their programs."

Kentucky's needle-exchange programs are part of the anti-heroin bill the General Assembly passed in 2015. It is intended to prevent the spread of disease and steer drug users toward treatment. The law requires local government approval and funding, requirements that have discouraged needle exchanges. Fewer than 10 localities have them, and the Scott County Fiscal Court is the latest to delay action.

Kentucky suffers more than 1,000 drug overdose deaths each year and leads the nation in cases of hepatitis C. Dirty needles are also blamed for the spread of HIV, which leads to AIDS.

Rogers spokeswoman Danielle Smoot confirmed that there is no new federal money at this time to support needle exchange programs.

"What I understand is that the federal dollars that go through the state to the counties can be used for these programs," Smoot said. "The whole purpose of this is that it just relieves the restrictions on the money."

But it's not that simple, because the federal dollars allocated for public health come with restrictions.

Deputy Health Commissioner Kraig Humbaugh reaffirmed what Lockard said, explaining that the state Department of Public Health applies for federal grant awards, but these grants are always earmarked for a specific purpose and there is little leeway on how the grants can be used.

However, Humbaugh said, "It has the potential, certainly, to help communities decide to operate a syringe exchange program. ... We will keep our eyes open for potential opportunities for grant awards that might be out there ... or it could be that opportunities may come up for direct funding for the local health departments."

McConnell spokesman Robert Steurer said in an email that the intent of the law may help open up some federal dollars for needle exchanges. He said the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services "is developing guidelines to implement the flexibility provided in the omnibus language, and we have to wait for those guidelines before determining how Kentucky may benefit. The intent of the language makes clear that federal funds should flow to certain areas based on the approval of needle exchange programs at the state and local level, the rate or risk of an outbreak of Hep C and/or HIV, among other factors."

Female legislator files bill to put restrictions on erectile-dysfunction medications to make a point about men pushing abortion bills

Rep. Mary Lou Marzian

Fed up with a string of anti-abortion bills backed by religious conservatives, Democratic state Rep. Mary Lou Marzian of Louisville has filed a bill that would require men seeking medication to treat erectile dysfunction to have two office visits with a doctor -- and limit such prescriptions to married men who swear on a Bible that they will use the drug only for sex with their spouse, who would have to consent to the prescription.

“I just thought my 80 male colleagues in the House might like to consider what it feels like when legislators get between them and their physicians,” Marzian told John Cheves of the Lexington Herald-Leader.

“I’m just sick of them,” she told Joe Sonka of Insider Louisville. “It’s just to make a point. Should we have a bunch of politicians untrained in health care telling women what to do? So I thought I’d just tell them what to do.”

Sonka notes that Gov. Matt Bevin has already signed a bill requiring a woman seeking an abortion to have a face-to-face consultation with a doctor, and the Senate is moving a bill that would require a trans-vaginal ultrasound before an abortion.

Marzian's counter-measure is House Bill 396. "Much of the bill’s sentiment, and some of its precise language, mirrors the anti-abortion bills," Cheves notes. "That’s not a coincidence," said Marzian, a retired Louisville nurse. Cheves notes that almost half of House members are 60 or older.

Marzian told Sonka she may file the bill's language as an amendment to the Senate bill and other anti-abortion measures “to demonstrate how ridiculous it is for elected government officials to be meddling in private health care decisions. … they’re so obsessed with uteruses and ovaries and women’s health, but not concerned about the 9 percent cut to mental health services” proposed by Bevin as part of budget reductions for most state agencies.

New state insurance commissioner OKs Aetna-Humana merger without a hearing, drawing criticism from the left and right

 Critics on the left and right are criticizing the new state insurance commissioner's approval of the merger of health insurers Aetna Inc. and Louisville-based Humana Inc., “saying it deprived Kentuckians of a chance to voice their concerns,” Boris Ladwig reports for Insider Louisville.

Brian Maynard

Sharon Clark, who was commissioner during the Steve Beshear administration, “told IL in October that she did not foresee any kind of competition problems in the state as a result of the merger, she was planning to hold a public hearing on the matter this spring,” Ladwig notes. "Her successor, Brian Maynard, told IL Tuesday via email that he does not believe such a hearing is needed, saying it would have been an “'unnecessary formality.'”

A hearing is needed to let the public verify Maynard's conclusions, said Jim Waters, president of the Bluegrass Institute, a free-market think tank. He called "amazing" and "circular reasoning" this explanation by a department spokesperson, who said state law “requires the commissioner to approve a merger, unless the commissioner can prove at a public hearing that the merger does not meet the standards of (the law). After conducting the review of the filings, it was concluded that the merger met the standards of (the law). Therefore, it could not be proven at a public hearing that the merger did not meet the standards of (the law).”

The decision was also criticized by Richard Beliles, state chair of Common Cause Kentucky, and the Washington, D.C-based Sunlight Foundation, which campaign for open government; and Consumer Watchdog, a California-based nonprofit that says its mission is to "expose rip-offs and injustice" and "confront the industries and politicians responsible."

Carmen Balber, executive director of Consumer Watchdog, told Ladwig that public hearings are needed in states where Humana and Aetna do business “because of the significant impact the … merger could have on health insurance affordability and quality. Aetna has claimed savings from the merger, but in the past premiums have gone up after health insurance mergers, not down. Aetna-Humana have given no guarantee that it will be different this time.”

Ladwig notes that Humana has said, “The combined company will offer a broader choice of products and services, access to higher quality and more affordable care and a better overall experience in more locations around the country.”

"The Aetna-Humana merger would have very little impact on Kentucky’s health insurance industry because Aetna has such a limited presence here, according to the two researchers who analyzed the merger" for the insurance department, Insider Louisville reports.

Bill to make 21 legal age to buy tobacco products moves; one of several anti-tobacco bills from Rep. David Watkins, retired doctor

By Melissa Patrick
Kentucky Health News

A bill to raise the legal age to 21 to buy any tobacco or vaping products in Kentucky was approved Feb. 11 by the House Health and Welfare Committee and now heads to the House floor.

Rep. David Watkins

“Smoking basically contributes to heart disease, it contributes to chronic lung disease, it contributes to cancer, it contributes to peripheral vascular disease. . . . It does a lot of things that are negative,” Democratic Rep. David Watkins, a retired physician from Henderson and the bill's sponsor, said at the meeting. “We raised the age to use alcohol to 21 a long time ago. To me, raising the age for individuals to use tobacco to 21, I think, makes sense.”

House Bill 299 would take effect Aug. 1. Currently, anyone 18 and older can legally buy tobacco and vapor products in the state.

Watkins noted that more than 380,000 people die from tobacco-related illness in the U.S. each year and charged the committee to pass this bill saying, " If we want to change the health of Kentucky, we are going to have to do something different."

Rep. Tim Moore, R-Elizabethtown, said that while he appreciated the spirit of the bill, he could not support it unless it held an exemption for members of the military and veterans who are often "calmed and soothed by tobacco" after facing "very dire circumstances."

"I do not want legally to impose our will, however altruistic it is in this case, on those young men and women who have served in harms way in combat situations under the age of 21," Moore said. "So without that exemption, I cannot support this bill and encourage others not to."

Watkins said that while he respected veterans, he disagreed with Moore and said, "If we really want to do them a favor, we will help them stop smoking."

After the committee meeting, Watkins said it's important for Kentucky to attack tobacco, once the state's main cash crop, on several fronts.

In addition to supporting Rep. Susan Westrom's recently filed smoking ban bill, Watkins said he had filed two other anti-smoking bills, one that would increase the tax on cigarettes (HB 247) and another that would require retail outlets to conceal tobacco products until a customer request them (HB 322).

Watkins said, "If it's the number-one health problem that we can identify, then why in the world wouldn't we be trying to do something about it if you want your state to become healthier?"

So far, only the state of Hawaii has raised the legal smoking age to 21. According to the latest Kentucky Health Issues Poll, 61 percent of Kentuckians (the same percentage among Democrats and Republicans) support raising the legal age to to 21.

Bevin names hospital association executive Stephen P. Miller to be Kentucky's new Medicaid commissioner

Stephen P. Miller
image from hfmaky.org

Gov. Matt Bevin has appointed Stephen P. Miller, a hospital industry executive, as the state's new Medicaid commissioner

“As we work to redesign the Medicaid program and transition it to a more affordable, sustainable model tailored to Kentucky’s needs, it is important to have someone with a deep understanding of the healthcare industry leading the Department of Medicaid,” Gov. Bevin said in a news release. “The Commonwealth is fortunate to have someone of Stephen Miller’s caliber, financial acumen, and business experience willing to serve in this role.”

Miller has spent the past 24 years as vice president of finance with the Kentucky Hospital Association. He is a graduate of the University of Louisville, where he received a bachelor's degree in accounting.

“I look forward to heading the agency that provides the safety net for the most vulnerable of Kentucky citizens,” Miller said in the release.

Miller, his wife Mary and their two married daughters live in Louisville.

'Go Red for Women' events advise them to know heart-disease symptoms, their numbers, family history; and adjust lifestyle

Dozens of supporters showed up at University of Kentucky Chandler Hospital Feb. 5 to celebrate the American Heart Association's "Go Red for Women" day and learned how heart disease affects women differently than men, according to a UK news release.

"Sadly, we are seeing more women with heart disease at a younger age," Dr. Gretchen Wells, Gill Heart Institute's director of women's heart health and the event's featured speaker, said at the event. "It's critical we help women understand that heart disease affects them differently, that their heart attack symptoms can be different than men's, and that they shouldn't put off seeing a doctor if they have symptoms."

Wells explained that death rates for heart attacks are higher in women than in men primarily because "many women downplay their symptoms and/or don't recognize them as symptoms of a heart attack until it is too late."

Wells advised women to know what the symptoms of a heart attack are in women, noting that it is not always the typical "Hollywood Heart Attack." She said women are more likely to experience chest pressure, chest discomfort, back pain, jaw pain or even tooth pain. Other symptoms include shortness of breath, cold sweats, nausea or lightheartedness.

"Sadly, all of these symptoms mimic common illnesses like flu, and so women tend to dismiss them," Wells said.

In general, the three most commonly reported heart attack symptoms in men are chest pain, chest discomfort and chest pressure, according to WebMD.

Wells encouraged women to "know their numbers," including your waist size, which she said " is a good way to predict heart disease."

"Blood pressure, cholesterol, body weight and blood sugar are all factors that contribute to heart disease," Wells said. "It's critically important that you find out what your numbers are and take measures to correct anything that's out of line."

She also recommended paying attention to lifestyle factors and encouraged women to quit smoking, eat plenty of fruits and vegetables, get 150 minutes of exercise a week and to find ways to reduce stress.

And just as important, she advised women to know their family history regarding heart disease, and to find out the specifics.

"Nothing would make me happier than to see our women commit to healthier living," Wells said. "We are role models for our spouses, our children, and our peers, and we must learn to put our health first for our own sake and as a model for those who love us, admire us, and/or work with us."

Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky CEO makes the case for a statewide law to ban smoking in most public places

Susan Zepeda

The Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky, which doesn't lobby for or against particular legislation or endorse it, came close in a Feb. 11 "guest editorial" from its president and CEO, Susan Zepeda.

After recounting the damage that tobacco does to Kentucky's health, and public support for laws and ordinances that ban smoking in most public places, Zepeda notes that the foundation "supports comprehensive smoke-free policies at the state, local and organizational level" and says it "is particularly concerned about policies that leave any Kentuckians unprotected."

Since two-thirds of Kentuckians don't live in localities that have smoke-free ordinances, that's an implicit endorsement of a statewide ban on smoking in most public places, a proposal that is again up for debate in the General Assembly. Zepeda writes, "If you're an elected official, listen to what your voters are saying again in the most recent Kentucky Health Issues Poll" taken for the foundation, which showed "two-thirds of Kentuckians of all political persuasions" favor a statewide law.

Zepeda concludes, "It is time for us to act to protect all Kentuckians from this wholly preventable cause of death, disease and disability. And we must do so without leaving anyone behind."

In addition to elected officials, Zepeda also urges employers to "make your worksite smoke-free," and diners to patronize only smoke- free establishments. If you plan events, hold them in smoke-free jurisdictions."

Zepeda notes that "Tobacco is the single most preventable cause of death and disease in Kentucky and the U.S. No level of secondhand smoke is considered safe. This is painfully clear in Kentucky where we live with the consequences of the second highest smoking rate in the country, the highest rate of births to mothers who smoked during pregnancy, and the highest lung cancer and lung cancer death rates in the U.S."

She adds, "Low-income Kentuckians bear a heavier burden of disease, as a group, and are likely to die younger than their better-off neighbors. Rural areas of Kentucky, where the smoking rates are often higher and exposures to second-hand smoke often more frequent, are hit particularly hard. . . . Incomplete policies that leave some Kentuckians unprotected tend to do the most harm to low-income communities, communities of color, low-wage workers (including young people), and those of us in communities with limited job opportunities."

The Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky funds Kentucky Health News through a grant to the University of Kentucky's Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, which operates KHN as an independent news service.

State House, which passed smoking ban last year, may wait until after March 8 special elections to act on this year's version

By Melissa Patrick
Kentucky Health News

The politics of an election year could create obstacles for the recently filed bill to enact a statewide smoking ban.

House Speaker Greg Stumbo said Feb. 11 that he had been talking to the bill's sponsor, Rep. Susan Westrom, D-Lexington, about it earlier in the day. He said they were in the process of counting votes and "still may be a little bit short. . . . We are working on it."

Stumbo suggested that the four special elections for House seats on March 8 could play a role in whether they can get enough votes to pass the House as its did last year. House Republican Leader Jeff Hoover said he didn't think the current vacancies should matter, noting that it doesn't take 51 votes to pass it.

After five attempts, last year was the first year Westrom's smoking ban bill passed out of the House with a vote of 51-46. The bill was then placed in an unfavorable Senate committee and never brought up for discussion. Two members who voted for the bill are no longer in the House.

Sen. Julie Raque Adams, R-Louisville, who sponsored a smoking-ban bill in the Senate last year, said that she would "probably" introduce one this year, but "I'm trying to figure out exactly what it is. ... I will also be supporting Susan's bill if it makes it over here."

Westrom was asked if her bill needs to get passed before March 8, she said "yes, yes," but later suggested that it seemed unlikely because they still have "meat and potato" issues to deal with, like the budget, and noted that they were moving at a "grindingly slow" pace.

"We are back in a long session and it is an election year," she said. "It never fails in an election year that the leadership determines what bills are going to be voted on depending on how the caucus feels about it. ... Now we start putting feelers out to see what the comfort level is of our members."

This year's measure, House Bill 351, would exempt cigar bars, vaping shops, tobacco retailers and research facilities. These exemptions were added as an amendment to last year's bill and are likely needed to pass it if it is allowed to come up for a vote.

"I have always said from the beginning that I did not want to interrupt the businesses in the state of Kentucky," Westrom said in an interview.

Rep. Tom Burch, D-Louisville, chairman of the House Health and Welfare Committee, said of the bill, "If there are no objections, I am going to hear it."

Burch shared a story to demonstrate how far the idea has come, noting that 27 years ago he introduced the first smoking ban bill, which was assigned to the Agriculture Committee. Laughing, he said, "As I got up to present the bill, everybody lit up a cigarette on the panel, so I knew I was in deep trouble. I couldn't even get a motion to pass it out of committee."

72 in Estill County have stomach sickness; 35 salmonella cases confirmed; eight people hospitalized; restaurant closes voluntarily

The Estill County Health Department reported Feb. 11 that 72 people in the county have reported "gastrointestinal illness," 35 of them have tested positive for salmonella and eight have been hospitalized with "symptoms and suspected Salmonella poisoning," Lexington's WKYT-TV reports.

County and state health officials are still working to determine the cause of the outbreak.

The health department said most of the victims had eaten at the Eagles Roost Sports Bar in Irvine before getting sick, but not all, so "Officials are still searching for a source of the outbreak," WLEX-TV reports.

Health officials told WKYT Feb. 10 that an inspector from the state Food Safety Branch had inspected the restaurant in question and found no infractions, but did take two food samples back to the state lab for further testing. The restaurant received a score of 99 on its most recent health inspection and is cleared to be open.

However, the owner of the Eagles Roost, Don Wiseman, has voluntarily closed its doors for now and told WLEX that he is just being cautious: "I mean, in my heart I felt like I was okay, but I didn't know for sure. I didn't want to take a chance that, that I was the cause of any illness."

Symptoms of salmonella include diarrhea, fever and abdominal cramps; they usually appear 12 to 72 hours after becoming infected and last up to a week, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The elderly, infants, and those with impaired immune systems are more likely to have a severe illness from an infection.

People with these symptoms are asked to consult with their doctor and to report them to their local or state health department.

Salmonella infection is a type of food poisoning caused by one of several strains of Salmonella bacteria. Most often it is caused by eating foods contaminated with the bacteria, but it can also be caused by handling pets, especially if they have diarrhea, reptiles, baby chicks and ducklings and small pet rodents and then not washing your hands, according to WebMD.

Beshear starts campaign to fight Bevin's moves on health care

By Al Cross
Kentucky Health News

Steve Beshear, the Democrat who was the only Southern governor to expand Medicaid and create a state-based insurance exchange under federal health reform, announced Thursday that he has taken the unprecedented step of starting a lobbying campaign to fight new Republican Gov. Matt Bevin's plans to scale back the expansion and close the Kynect marketplace.

"For reasons he hasn't fully explained, Governor Bevin is working to take health care away from people," Beshear said at a Lexington news conference. "I won't let that opportunity be taken away from those folks, not without a fight." He said the mission of the effort is to make sure all Kentuckians have access to affordable health insurance.

Bevin told reporters that he wants to keep in place as much coverage as possible. He has suggested that better-off recipients of Medicaid should have "skin in the game" through premiums, co-payments, deductibles or health-savings accounts, and has ordered a revamp of the program that will be subject to approval by federal officials.

Bevin warned in his budget speech last month that if approval of his plan is not forthcoming, he would end the expansion, which covers 400,000 people with household incomes between 69 and 138 percent of the federal poverty level, because the state can't afford it.

Bevin has said Kynect does nothing that the federal exchange can't do for Kentuckians, and serves only 2 percent of the state's population while being supported by a 1 percent fee on all insurance policies sold in the state. The federal exchange charges 3.5 percent on policies it sells.

Beshear's press release said the federal exchange is "more costly and unwieldy" than Kynect, "and thousands of Kentuckians could fall through the cracks with the shift." Kynect is used for Medicaid enrollment, and a new system for that would have to be devised.

The federal government is paying the Medicaid expansion's full cost through this year. Next year, states will begin paying 5 percent, rising in annual steps to the law's limit of 10 percent in 2020.

Beshear argued as governor that the Medicaid expansion would paying for itself through 2020 by expanding the health-care system, creating jobs and tax revenue. He cited a study that predicted the expansion would create 15,500 jobs in 2014-15, but data from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics show that health-care and social-assistance jobs in Kentucky grew by only 10,000 during the period, and some of those would have been created by the economic recovery anyway.

Citing opinions of "leading economists," Bevin asserted in his speech, "Expanded Medicaid does not pay for itself."

Beshear said Bevin has provided no evidence of that. Asked about the jobs figures, he said even if only 8,000 jobs were created, "That's 8,000 more jobs than we would have had otherwise."

It is unclear just how much job growth would be required to make Medicaid pay for itself, but Beshear said, "There isn't any evidence out there that this is not sustainable," and if Bevin has such evidence, "He needs to put it out."

Beshear's press release said his campaign, called Save KY Healthcare, is bipartisan. Asked what Republicans are on the group's board, he cited retired dentist John Thompson of Lexington, who is on the Kynect advisory board. Other members include Crit Luallen, the former state auditor whom Beshear appointed lieutenant governor; Audrey Tayse Haynes, who as his health secretary oversaw his health initiatives; and Bill Hyers, Beshear's political campaign consultant.

At his own press conference, Bevin told reporters that Beshear "seems offended by the idea that I would keep a campaign promise" and is "still scrambling for a sense of relevancy."

Earlier, Bevin's office replied issued this statement: "While Gov. Beshear promotes his political legacy, Gov. Bevin is focused on fixing Kentucky's fiscal crisis after eight years of the Beshear administration's increasing runaway Medicaid costs and refusing to fund the pensions of teachers and state workers to the tune of over $30 billion in unfunded liabilities."

Beshear said at a news conference in Louisville that he has no political agenda. In Lexington, he said it is not a personal or political issue for him: "This is a moral issue."

Beshear acknowledged that he plans to make appearances for Democrats running in March 8 special elections that could cost the party its 95-year-old majority in the state House.

House Speaker Greg Stumbo, D-Prestonsburg, welcomed Beshear's challenge to Bevin. "What the governor really does by dismantling Kynect is put a bunch of Kentuckians under the federal system, which he and others of his party call Obamacare." He added later, "I can guarantee you . . . they will overwhelmingly say they want to stay on Kentucky Kynect and Beshearcare."

A Kaiser Family Foundation poll Nov. 18-Dec. 1 found that 52 percent of Kentucky adults wanted to keep Kynect while 26 percent wanted it closed and 19 percent weren't sure.

UPDATE: Joseph Gerth, political writer for The Courier-Journal, says "We really should have seen this coming," because Bevin has been throwing "broadsides on Beshear."

Information for this story was also gathered by Kentucky Health News reporter Melissa Patrick.

Kentucky Health News is an independent news service of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, based in the School of Journalism and Telecommunications at the University of Kentucky, with support from the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky.

Louisville cancer center will offer new one-day breast cancer treatment for early-stage breast cancer patients

"A Louisville cancer center will be the first in the state to offer a one-day surgery and radiation treatment for early-stage breast cancer patients," Boris Ladwig reports for Insider Louisville.

This new treatment will "minimize side effects from radiation, save time and money, and increase the number of women who will seek treatment," a local oncologist told Ladwig.

The James Graham Brown Cancer Center, operated by KentuckyOne Health and the University of Louisville, will treat its first patients with the new procedure, called intraoperative radiation therapy (IORT), this week, Ladwig reports.

The procedure involves removing the cancerous tumor from the breast, called a lumpectomy, and then delivering a concentrated dose of radiation directly in the cavity where the tumor was removed. The "radiation is delivered in as little as eight minutes," Ladwig reports.

IORT will be offered for patients who are post-menopausal and in an early stage of breast cancer, which includes about "60 percent of patients in the area," Dragun told Ladwig.

Dr. Anthony E. Dragun, a U of L radiation oncologist, told Ladwig that "the new treatment will produce better health outcomes for some patients and will make breast cancer treatments available for more women."

Traditional therapies typically require patients undergo radiation treatments five days per week for up to eight week, Ladwig notes. Dragun explained that this is not feasible for many women because they can't afford to take so much time off work, don't have access to childcare to accommodate the daily treatments or don't have access to transportation to get them to their appointments. So, they choose a mastectomy or have the lumpectomy "and fail to follow up on radiation treatments, resulting in a higher chance of the cancer returning," Ladwig writes.

"According to a study co-funded by the University College London Hospitals, the IORT when delivered together with the lumpectomy had about the same breast cancer outcomes — and a “significant reduction in deaths from causes other than breast cancer.” However, when IORT was delivered in a second procedure, breast cancer recurrence was higher than with traditional radiation therapy," Ladwig writes. Dragun told Ladwig that the studies "clearly indicate the benefits of the new treatment.

Dragun said of the procedure, " It's definitely a game changer."