Bill to expand optometrists' scope of care, aided by political money, continues rapid progression through General Assembly

A bill that would considerably expand optometrists' scope of care cleared the House Licensing and Occupations Committee in an hour-long meeting this afternoon, the latest move in its speedy progression through the General Assembly.

Senate Bill 110 was introduced last week and was passed 33-3 by the full Senate last Friday. It passed through the House Licensing and Occupations Committee today by a 14-2 vote. It will likely be considered by the full House Friday, The Courier-Journal's Tom Loftus reports.

Loftus reported this morning that legislators have received more than $400,000 from optometrists' political action committee and its individual members, with 137 of Kentucky's 138 legislators and Gov. Steve Beshear receiving campaign money. The Kentucky Optometric Association, which employs 18 lobbyists, has given more than $327,000 alone in the past two years through its PAC. (Read more)

"In 2010, optometrists gave $249,273 to all political candidates, including local candidates," Beth Musgrave reports for the Lexington Herald-Leader. "Ophthalmologists, in comparison, gave only $575 in 2010, according to the Kentucky Registry of Election Finance." (Read more)

Both sides are running advertising campaigns, but the ophthalmologists and their fellow medical doctors seem to be behind in that competition, too. A radio ad from the Kentucky Medical Association this week urged listeners to call their senators, though the bill had already passed the Senate.

The bill, sponsored by Republican Sen. Robert Stivers of Manchester, left, extends the scope of care optometrists can provide, most notably allowing them to conduct some laser procedures usually performed by opthamologists. "These are considered minor, non-invasive laser procedures," Dr. Joe Ellis, a spokesman for the Kentucky Optometric Association, told Kentucky Health News. "They're most commonly performed when a person has cataract surgery. There is a membrane that clouds over and they would be allowed to remove that."

Nationwide, only optometrists in Oklahoma are allowed to perform this type of laser procedure, Ellis said. They have been permitted to do so since 1998.

The bill would also allow optometrists to "remove lumps and bumps around the eye," Ellis said, which is currently only permitted in Oklahoma, Louisiana, Tennessee and North Carolina. It would also allow optometrists to do what Ellis termed "routes of administration." "Like if a person had an inflammation around the eye, you can inject a steroid to reduce inflammation," he said, adding nine states allow optometrists to do that.

The proposal would also allow optometrists to prescribe certain drugs, and would let the state Board of Optometric Examiners define what procedures optometrists could legally perform. Supporters say it would make certain types of eye care more available in rural areas, which have few ophthalmologists.

Physicians take issue with the proposal, saying optometrists are not properly trained to perform the procedures. Critics are also suspicious over the speed with which the bill is moving. An editorial in the Herald-Leader today says, "We've long known that politicians are blinded by political money," the opinon piece says. "If this bill becomes law, some of their constituents could be, too." (Read more)

Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky awarded nearly $3 million in grants in 2010

The Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky awarded nearly $3 million to community organizations, schools, government agencies and institutions in 2010. The funds, awarded in 80 grants, will support programs and policy development for health improvement and access to health care.

The grants supported health advocacy initiatives; helped civic leaders identify and address key health concerns; supported the integration of mental health and medical services; helped communities get planning assistance and funding for federally-qualified health clinics; and helped four foundations address nutrition, physical activity and environment policy issues.

The largest sums went to Burkesville-based Cumberland Family Medical Center for the Kentucky Health Futures Initiative; Home of the Innocents to improve access to dental care; Montgomery County Health Department for the Gateway Rural Health Investment Network; and Saint Joseph Health System to deliver virtual care. Each of these four organizations received $250,000.

The Foundations spends earnings on a $45 million settlement that then-Attorney General Ben Chandler reached in 1999 with Anthem Inc. as a result of the company's conversion of the charitable assets of the old Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Kentucky. For the foundation's history and other background click here.

Panel OKs bill to ban children under 14 from tanning booths

A bill that would prevent children under the age of 14 from bronzing their skin at tanning booths cleared the House's Health and Welfare Committee Tuesday. House Bill 338 will now move to the full House for consideration.

The bill is sponsored by Henderson Democratic Rep. David Watkins, who is a physician. "This is simply trying to protect our children and trying to protect our young people," Watkins, right, told WTVQ-TV. "They are utilizing tanning booths to an excess amount and I think parents need to be aware of this."

The bill is backed by the Kentucky Medical Association and the American Cancer Society. If it passes, a parent or business that allows a child under 14 would not face any penalties, though the bill's sponsors would eventually like to see penalties added. (Read more)

Cost is one obstacle for bill that would require coroners to look into nursing home deaths

A bill that would require coroners to be called when someone dies in a nursing home may be in jeopardy. At issue is how to pay for it.

Chief State Medical Examiner Tracey Corey estimates she would need three more doctors, more support staff and more equipment if even 10 percent of deaths needed investigation, the Lexington Herald-Leader's Valarie Honeycutt-Spears reports.

House Bill 69, sponsored by Rep. Tom Burch, D-Louisville, right, would require a nursing home or hospice staff member to alert a coroner about a death on the premises within 24 hours. If they, and they alone, suspect abuse, coroners would be required to inform law enforcement authorities or prosecutors. The aim is to determine if abuse or neglect might have occurred.

"But Burch said if Corey's financial concerns lead to the bill being sent to the committee making decisions about state spending, he think it 'means sudden death' for the legislation," Honeycutt-Spears reports.

Burch also said nursing home officials are balking at the bill's aim to increase the penalties for failing to report abuse or neglect. As of now, such a failure is considered a Class B misdemeanor, which carries a punishment of up to 90 days in jail and a $250 fine. The bill would change it to a Class A misdemeanor, which can result in up to 12 months in jail and a fine up to $500.

The bill would also mean long-term care facilities that fail to designate a staff member to report deaths to the coroner would be fined $200 a week. (Read more)

Drug czar coming to Kentucky to look at prescription pill abuse

The White House drug czar will visit Kentucky next week to investigate prescription pill abuse, a problem he called "heartbreaking." In a four-day tour, Gil Kerlikowske, President Obama's chief advisor on drug issues, will meet with law-enforcement officials, recovering addicts, drug-treatment workers, business leaders and politicians, Roger Alford of The Associated Press reports.

On Monday, U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky met with Kerlikowske, right, to discuss his visit. They discussed several of the state's drug issues, including prescription drug abuse, meth production and marijuana cultivation.

Kerlikowske's visit will focus on prescription pill abuse. Earlier this year, Kentucky's two largest newspapers published in-depth reports on the issue. In its series "Prescription for Tragedy," The Courier-Journal reported more Kentuckians die from prescription pill overdoses than car crashes. In its look at "pill mills," the Lexington Herald-Leader investigated how some counties are passing legislation to keep the faux medical clinics out of their areas.

Alford reports the problem drastically grew in 2000 upon the explosion in use of of OxyContin, which became known in Appalachia as the "Heroin of the Hills." When Kentucky started maintaining narcotic monitoring systems, drug traffickers went south to Florida, where there is no such system, to buy the drug. In one raid in South Florida in the early 2000s, authorities found more than 1,000 files from patients who lived in Eastern Kentucky, the Herald-Leader found. Most recently, Florida's Gov. Rick Scott proposed a budget that would leave a new prescription drug monitoring program unfunded. The chairman of the Health and Human Services Committee of the Florida House called the monitoring system "big brother."

Given the tight economy, Kerlikowske said it will be important to deal with the issue in "smart ways." "If we educate kids about the dangers of pills ... if we clean out medicine cabinets in a safe way, if we get physicians more information about how to recognize addiction and how to deal with this, and then we can crack down on doctor shopping and physicians who are over-prescribing, we have huge potential to really begin to bring this under control." (Read more)

Campbell County expected to repeal smoking ban

UPDATE, Feb. 17: The county Fiscal Court voted 3-1 to repeal the ban, Mike Rutledge of The Kentucky Enquirer reports.

A smoking ban in Campbell County may be repealed before it even takes effect. Campbell County commissioners will vote on the matter tomorrow.

The ordinance, which would ban smoking in workplaces and public places like bars and restaurants, originally passed in December, The Kentucky Post's Chris Reed reports. But with two new members on the four-member commission, both of whom have expressed their opposition to the ban, it may be overturned.

Opponents say a ban would hurt Newport bars and restaurants, citing studies that show businesses that go smoke free experience a 20 to 30 percent loss in revenue. Supporters are still fighting to keep the ban. "We're trying extremely hard to convince the commissioners to leave the ban in place, said Jenny Beene-Skuban, volunteer for Smoke-Free Northern Kentucky. (Read more)

New fitness program in Clay County designed to get kids moving

Every fourth- and fifth-grader in the Clay County schools will receive a pedometer as part of a new fitness program designed to combat childhood obesity.

"The goal is to motivate students to be more physically active in a county where one research project found that 47 percent of children were overweight or obese," the Lexington Herald-Leader's Bill Estep reports.

The program integrates physical activity in lesson planning in subjects like math and geography. "It does that through challenges to walk enough steps to get to Houston, for instance, with lessons about the geography or history of places along the route," Estep reports. "We want to see some changes," said Deann Allen, instructional supervisor for the school system.

The program is a venture between the system, Kosair Children's Hospital in Louisville and Manchester Memorial Hospital. Kosair is paying for the pedometers, expected to cost about $15,000. A similar program was started in Louisville last year. (Read more)