Annual health policy forum set Sept. 28 in Bowling Green

This year's annual Howard L. Bost Health Policy Forum "will offer new insights and opportunities from a range of civic sectors for a shared vision, policies, and actions for community health," says its lead sponsor, the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky.

"Local, regional, and national speakers will share their knowledge and experiences in building healthy communities, with a focus on transportation and housing, education, food systems and policy, and employers and workplaces," the foundation says. "TED style" speakers will make presentations on each of the forum's four focus areas: education, food systems and policy, employer/workplace, and transportation/housing.

The forum will be held at the Sloan Convention Center in Bowling Green on Monday, Sept. 28. For the registration website, click here.

Johnson foundation, Appalachian commission, Foundation for a Healthy Ky. to examine bright and dark spots in Appalachia

The Appalachian Regional Commission, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky are working on a three-year health-research project to determine factors that can support a culture of health in Appalachia and whether that knowledge can be translated into actions that address the region's health disparities.

“Creating a Culture of Health in Appalachia: Disparities and Bright Spots,” will run through the end of 2017. The project will identify “bright spots” where health outcomes are better than indicated by unemployment, poverty rates and other community factors. Experts will try to figure out why, and will likewise examine why health outcomes in some communities are not as good as would be expected. 

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is providing $750,000 for the project, and ARC will contribute $250,000. The Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky will administer the project.

“This groundbreaking effort will provide a deeper understanding of factors that contribute to or undermine community health,” said Susan Zepeda, president and CEO of the foundation.

The project will produce a database with county-level health and economic data; hold discussions with local leaders to help explain the findings; develop policy-based user tools, including a Web site featuring data sets and a GIS-based tool to help visualize research outcomes and community profiles; and examine policy implications and make recommendations.

Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky lists 2014 grants

The Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky has provided more than $1.3 million in 2014 for community programs, polling and policy initiatives to not only advise policymakers but also advocate for better health and health care across the state.

"Our strategies to address the unmet health care needs of Kentuckians are built on investment at the local and state levels," Susan Zepeda, president and CEO of the foundation, said in a news release.

The foundation said it donated $125,000 to Kentucky Voices for Health, a coalition of lobbying groups that support health reform; $50,000 to Kentucky Youth Advocates, an organization dedicated to the improvement of public policies that influence the lives of children and families and $60,000 to the University of Cincinnati for the 2013 Kentucky Health Issues Poll.

As part of a 2012-17 strategic plan to help school-aged children grow up to be healthier than their parents, the foundation provided three grantees money to set in motion the business plans they developed. Recipients included: Clinton County School District ($158,361), Fitness for Life Around Grant County ($182,033) and Louisville Metro Department of Public Health and Wellness ($161,850). The foundation also funds a multi-year study of Kentucky's transition to managed-vcare Medicaid.

The foundation matched a $3 million federal investment to begin nurse-managed clinics, telemedicine, mobile health services, care navigation and and an activities center. These projects "have improved the quality of life for more than 20,000 Kentuckians and provided training for more than 250 providers," according to the release.

To support the improvement of health literacy in Kentucky, the foundation invested $100,000 in health programming on KET, and $25,000 with the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues at the University of Kentucky , mainly for the publication of Kentucky Health News.

Two-thirds of Kentuckians support a statewide ban on smoking in most public places; Stumbo says it's time for a House floor vote

Kentuckians have remained steady in their support for a comprehensive statewide smoking ban with two-thirds supporting it, according to the latest Kentucky Health Issues Poll. Hours after the poll was released, state House Speaker Greg Stumbo said it is time for a House floor vote on the proposal.

The poll, taken Oct. 8 through Nov. 6, found that 66 percent of adults favored a law that would prohibit smoking in most public places, while 29 percent opposed it. These are virtually the same results as last year when 65 percent supported the ban and 29 percent opposed it. The poll's error margin is plus or minus 2.5 percentage points.

The poll was conducted 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.

Majorities in each political party supported a statewide smoke-free law: 68 percent of Democrats, 67 percent of Republicans and 64 percent of independents. These results were also almost the same as last year. Support for a statewide smoke-free ban decreased among those with a high-school education or less, but increased among those who had been to college. For the detailed results, click here.

Not surprisingly,the poll found that 80 percent of Kentucky adults who have never smoked and 71 percent of former smokers support such a law, while only 40 percent of current smokers do; 53 percent said they oppose it and 7 percent said they didn't know or weren't sure.

Those who said they were in excellent or very good health were most likely to favor a ban, at 75 percent. Generally, the unhealthier the respondent, the less likely he or she was to favor it. Among those who said they were in fair or poor health, 55 percent favored a ban.

Lexington (75 percent) and Louisville (74 percent) showed the highest levels of support for the ban. While most of those in Appalachian area-development districts support it, support in Appalachian Kentucky declined to 54 percent in 2014 from 72 percent in 2013. That was offset by gains in other areas. The error margin for this smaller sample is plus or minus 5.4 percentage points.

Twenty-six states and the District of Columbia have comprehensive smoke-free laws. Kentucky has several reasons to pass one. It leads the nation in smoking as well as lung cancer and deaths from it. Second-hand smoke is estimated to kill 950 Kentuckians a year, and research indicates that it increases the risk of heart and lung disease by 20 to 30 percent.

The Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky noted in its news release that the 2006 U.S. Surgeon General Report recommends "eliminating all exposure to secondhand smoke" and last years report "offered evidence that smoke-free indoor air policies are effective in reducing exposure to secondhand smoke."

A smoking ban came closest to a floor vote in the full House last year, but has never gotten out of committee in the Senate. House Speaker Greg Stumbo said on KET's "Kentucky Tonight" Monday that it is time for a floor vote, the best sign yet that it will get one. But Senate President Robert Stivers maintained that smoking bans should be done locally, not statewide.

After four days this week devoted to organization and ethics training, the legislature will recess until early February. The session of 30 legislative days must end by March 31.

Kentucky gets a $7 million grant to improve survival rates for lung cancer, in which it leads the nation

The University of Kentucky, the University of Louisville and the Lung Cancer Alliance have joined in a unique project called Kentucky LEADS (Lung Cancer, Education, Awareness, Detection, Survivorship) Collaborative to assess new approaches for identifying lung cancer earlier to improve survival rates.

These efforts are supported through a $7 million grant from the Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation’s Bridging Cancer Care initiative.

Kentucky has more cases of lung cancer than any other state and its lung cancer mortality rate is nearly 50 percent higher than the national average. This year alone, 3,500 Kentuckians will die from lung cancer, a UK news release reports.

“As Kentucky leads the nation in lung cancer mortality rates, we must step up to be a leader in finding solutions toward preventing, curing and coping with this destructive disease,” Gov. Steve Beshear said. “I strongly support this collaborative, wide-ranging effort as it coincides with this administration’s KyHealthNow goals of reducing statewide cancer and smoking rates by 10 percent by 2019. By working together, we can and will find a way to diminish the burden of this crisis in Kentucky."

The project will also develop and evaluate interventions to improve quality of life and survivorship for individuals with lung cancer and their caregivers, the release says.

"Historically there's not been a lot of research or effort put into lung-cancer survivorship because, unfortunately, there hasn't been much survivorship," said Jamie Studts, associate professor of behavioral science at UK and director of the Kentucky LEADS Collaborative.

One in two patients diagnosed with lung cancer will die within a year. After five years, only 16 in 100 patients will be alive, UKNow writes.

"Those are sobering statistics,” said John Damonti, president of the Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation. “The timing of diagnosis is critical. Patients diagnosed at Stage 1 have a 57 percent chance of achieving five-year survival. That drops to 4 percent when patients have a late-stage diagnosis. Early detection and treatment of lung cancer, combined with education and patient support, is key to increased survival for patients living with lung cancer.”

The project will include several components: a review of how physicians treat and refer lung cancer patients across the state; the creation of a sustainable lung cancer-specific survivorship program; and a program that will promote evidence-based prevention and early detection of lung cancer in Kentucky.

Early detection has recently become more attainable because lung cancer screening guidelines have recently changed, allowing Kentucky to implement rigorous, statewide screening programs that can save lives, UKNow writes. And because symptoms of lung cancer usually show up after the disease has spread, early screening is critical to reduce deaths.

Saint Joseph Hospital Foundation and Verizon team up to help certain patients with chronic diseases monitor their health

Verizon and the Saint Joseph Hospital Foundation have teamed up to help select patients who have a chronic disease manage their condition from home, according to a press release from KentuckyOne Health, St. Joseph's parent organization.

The program will help patients age 50 and older monitor and manage their health with new technologies after being discharged from Saint Joseph Hospital and Saint Joseph East in Lexington, and Saint Joseph Mount Sterling.  It will also be available to some patients who have certain health issues by referral from their primary care provider or patients can enroll in the program if they have been treated for congestive heart failure, acute myocardial infarction, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), coronary artery bypass graft surgery, diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia as well as some other concerns.

The goal is to enroll 300 patients in the first year of the program, according to the release.

Funding to create this program came from a $125,000 grant from the Verizon Foundation and in-kind donations of technologies, which includes 4G LTE powered smartphones and tablets, from Verizon Wireless. Grant funds will purchase biometric devices to better self-manage the participants conditions and share that information with their team of health care providers. 

Patients will use the smartphones and tablets for six months to access pre-loaded health apps, such as Glucose Buddy and Fooducate, according to the release. The grant will also provide items such as digital weight scales, blood pressure monitors, FitBit activity trackers, CalorieKing Calorie, Fat and Carbohydrate Counter book and digital food scales/nutritional calculators.  Some will get glucose test strips. Individualized health-coaching will also be available.

"Verizon is also supplying all of the technology protective gear for the devices, the data plans to allow that technology to work, plus funding for a part-time dietitian and research assistant for the program," the release says.