KRHA - Kentucky Rural Health Association

KRHA Legislative Strategy

The following issues have been identified by members of the Kentucky Rural Health Association as critical to the ability to access quality health care in rural Kentucky. These issues will be highlighted by KRHA’s membership to Kentucky legislators during the 2009 session of the Kentucky General Assembly as well as to Kentucky’s Congressional delegation.

• Support measures that promote the equitable distribution of future health care professionals and the maintenance and support of existing providers, which include the following – loan repayment or tax incentive programs, health professional shortage area (HPSA) and medically underserved area (MUA) designation reform and the development of a Governor’s Certified Shortage Area designation.

• Support reform of malpractice insurance coverage for medical practitioners to include a state-level review panel of experts to determine the merits of a case before plaintiffs can go to trial.

• Oppose efforts by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to de-certify rural health clinics.

• Support the development of community-oriented primary care – including oral and mental health services – in rural areas with unmet need, particularly for the uninsured and underinsured.

• Support measures to increase the tobacco excise tax with funds collected being dedicated to Medicaid.

• Support measures to fund development of a statewide trauma system.

• Support the continued modernization of Medicaid and development of e-health standards on a statewide basis to assure that the health care needs of rural residents and the technology issues facing rural practitioners are met.

• Support measures designed to accelerate the credentialing process for commercial insurance for newly licensed physicians. Encourage legislation to reimburse approved medical providers from the time of their initial application.

• Support measures designed to improve rural residents’ overall health, specifically – expansion of smoking and tobacco-usage prevention and cessation programs; efforts to decrease drug and alcohol abuse through prevention and treatment programs; and efforts to address the health problems associated with obesity.

• Support the establishment of a statutory definition of “safety net provider” in support of an indigent care trust fund.

• Support measures to require that funds collected within the Kentucky Provider Tax stay within the health care delivery system.