Contact Us
Categories
- Medical Spas
- medical billing
- No Surprises Act
- Mandatory vaccination policies
- Workplace health
- Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act
- Code Enforcement
- Department of Labor ("DOL")
- Employment Law
- FFCRA
- CARES Act
- Nursing Home Reform Act
- COVID-19
- SB 150
- Acute Care Beds
- Clinical Support
- Coronavirus
- Emergency Medical Services
- Emergency Preparedness
- Families First Coronavirus Response Act
- Family and Medical Leave Act (“FMLA”)
- KBML
- medication assisted therapy
- Department of Health and Human Services
- Legislative Developments
- Corporate
- United States Department of Justice ("DOJ")
- Employee Contracts
- Non-Compete Agreement
- Opioid Epidemic
- Sexual Harassment
- Health Resource and Services Administration
- Litigation
- Medical Malpractice
- House Bill 333
- Senate Bill 79
- locum tenens
- Senate Bill 4
- Physician Prescribing Authority
- Chronic Pain Management
- HIPAA
- Prescription Drugs
- "Two Midnights Rule"
- 340B Program
- Hospice
- Kentucky minimum wage
- Minimum wage
- Skilled Nursing Facilities (“SNFs”)
- Uncategorized
- Drug Screening
- EHR Systems
- Electronic Health Records (“EHR")
- ICD-10
- Primary Care Physicians ("PCPs")
- Urinalysis
- Affordable Insurance Exchanges
- Compliance
- Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
- Fraud
- Health Care Fraud
- HIPAA Risk Assessment
- KASPER
- Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure
- Kentucky’s Department for Medicaid Services
- Mental Health Care
- Office for Civil Rights ("OCR")
- Office of Inspector General of the United States Department of Health and Human Services (OIG)
- Physician Assistants
- Qui Tam
- Stark Laws
- Accountable Care Organizations (“ACO”)
- Affordable Care Act
- Alternative Payment Models
- Anti-Kickback Statute
- Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”)
- Certificate of Need ("CON")
- Charitable Hospitals
- Data Breach
- Electronic Protected Health Information (ePHI)
- False Claims Act
- Federally Qualified Health Centers (“FQHCs”)
- Fee for Service
- Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH Act)
- Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA)
- Health Professional Shortage Area ("HPSA")
- Hospitals
- HPSA
- HRSA
- Limited Services Clinics
- Medicaid
- Medical Staff By-Laws
- Medically Underserved Area ("MUA")
- Medicare
- Mid-Level Practitioners
- Part D
- Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (“ACA”)
- Pharmacists
- Rural Health Centers (“RHCs”)
- Rural Health Clinic
- Telehealth
- American Telemedicine Association (“ATA”)
- Criminal Division of the Department of Justice (“DOJ”)
- Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team (“HEAT”)
- Hydrocodone
- Kentucky Board of Nursing
- Kentucky Pharmacists Association
- Qualified Health Care Centers (“FQHC”)
- Telemedicine
- APRNs
- Chain and Organization System (“PECOS”)
- Jimmo v. Sebelius
- Maintenance Standard
- Overpayments
- United States ex. Rel. Kane v. Continuum Health Partners
- Vitas Innovative Hospice Care
- Webinar
- Agreed Order
- All-Payer Claims Database ("APCD")
- Chiropractic services
- Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments of 1988 (“CLIA”)
- Compliance Officer
- Douglas v. Independent Living Center of Southern California
- Drug Enforcement Agency ("DEA")
- Emergency Rooms
- Enrollment
- Essential Health Benefits
- Hinchy v. Walgreen Co.
- ICD-9
- Kentucky Senate Bill 7
- Medicare Part D
- Minors
- Ophthalmological services
- Physician Compare website
- Re-validation
- Texting
- 2014 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (“PFS”)
- 501(c)(3)
- Affinity Health Plan
- Appeal
- Cadillac tax
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
- Chronic Care Management
- Community health needs assessment (“CHNA”)
- Compounding
- Condition of Participation ("CoP")
- CPR
- Denied Claims
- Department of Medicaid Services’ (“DMS”)
- Dispenser
- Drug Quality and Security Act (“DQSA”)
- Federation of State Medical Boards (“FSMB”)
- Food and Drug Administratio
- Form 4720
- Grace Period
- HealthCare.gov
- Home Health Prospective Payment System
- Home Medical Equipment Providers
- House Bill 3204
- Individual mandate
- Inpatient Care
- Kentucky Medical Practice Act
- Kindred v. Cherolis
- Kynect
- Licensure Requirements
- Long-term care communities
- Long-Term Care Providers ("LTC")
- Low-utilization payment adjustment ("LUPA")
- Medicare Shared Saving Program (MSSP)
- Mobile medical applications ("apps")
- Model Policy for the Appropriate Use of Social Media and Social Networking in Medical Practice (“Model Policy”)
- National Drug Code ("NDC")
- National Institutes of Health
- New England Compounding Center ("NECC")
- Nonprofit hospitals
- Nonroutine medical supplies conversion factor (“NRS”)
- Outsourcing facility
- Personal Service Entities
- Physician Payments
- Ping v. Beverly Enterprises
- Power of Attorney ("POA")
- Prescriber
- Qualified Health Plan ("QHP")
- Quality reporting
- Social Media
- Spousal coverage
- State Health Plan
- Sustainable Growth Rate (“SGR”)
- UPS
- “Superuser”
- "Plan of Correction"
- Advanced Practice Registered Nurses
- Arbitration
- Audit
- Business Associate Agreements
- Business Associates
- Call Coverage
- Daycare centers
- Decertification
- Division of Regulated Child Care
- Doe v. Guthrie Clinic
- EHR vendor
- Employer Group Health Plans
- Employer Mandate
- ERISA
- Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)
- False Billings
- Group Purchasing Organizations ("GPO")
- Health Professional Shortage Areas (“HPSA”)
- Health Reform
- Hospitalists
- House Bill 104
- Intermediate Sanctions Agreement
- Kentucky Health Benefit Exchange
- Kentucky House Bill 217
- Licensed practical nurses (LPN)
- List of Excluded Individuals and Entities
- LLC v. Sutter
- Meaningful use incentives
- Medicare Administrative Coordinators
- Medicare Benefit Policy Manual
- Network provider agreement
- Nurse practitioners (NP)
- Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (“ONC”)
- Part A
- Part B
- Patient Autonomy
- Patient Privacy
- Payors
- Personal Health Information
- Physician Recruitment
- Physician shortages
- Provider Self Disclosure Protocol
- Registered nurses (RN)
- Residency Programs
- Self-Disclosure Protocol
- Senate Bill 39
- Senate Finance Committee Report
- State Medicaid Expansion
- Statement of Deficiency ("SOD")
- Trade Association Group Coverage
- Upcoding
- Autism/ASD
- Center for Disease Control
- Compliance Programs
- Critical Access Hospitals (“CAHs”)
- Essential Health Benefits (“EHBs”)
- Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act ("GINA")
- Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS)
- Kentucky House Bill 159
- Kentucky Primary Care Centers (“PCCs”)
- Managed Care Organizations (“MCOs”)
- Medicare Audit Improvement Act of 2012
- Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”)
- Recovery Audit Contractors (“RAC”)
- Small Business Health Options Program (“SHOP”)
- Sunshine Act
- Abuse and Waste
- Consumer Operated and Oriented Plan programs (“CO-OPS”)
- Free Conference Committee Report
- Health Care Fraud and Abuse Control Program
- House Bill 1
- House Bill 4
- Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services
- Kentucky Health Care Co-Op
- Kentucky Health Cooperative (“KYHC”)
- Kentucky “Pill Mill Bill”
- Pain Management Facilities
- Employee Agreement
- Health Care Law
- Health Insurance
- Healthcare Regulation
McBrayer Blogs
How Kentucky Got Lucky: The Success of kynect.gov
It is no secret that the federal HealthCare.gov has received less than rave reviews since its October 1st roll-out. The states who have relied on the federal government to run their marketplaces have encountered numerous problems, from glitches to process delays to complete inaccessibility. Kentucky (the only southern state which opted to run its own health insurance marketplace and expand Medicaid), however, has shone like a beacon in the turbulent exchange introduction period. It is quite surprising that Kentucky, consistently near the bottom in health rankings and with approximately 625,000 uninsured citizens, would be the model for anything health care-related. Here is how Kentucky is leading the nation with its exchange site:
1) Repeated testing
Carrie Banahan, kynect’s executive director, said testing was a crucial part of the design process. According to her, from January 2013 – March, the system was developed; from April – June, it was built; from July – September, it was tested. In contrast, HealthCare.gov underwent testing just two weeks before the launch. The testing allowed state officials to identify and fix problems before it was open to the masses.
2) Simplicity
Kynect’s interface design is not impressive, nor was it meant to be. Sometimes, state officials recognized, simplicity is a good thing. The clean design of the site makes navigation easier. Information is provided at a sixth-grade reading level, so that those with a lower education level can understand their options. The pared-down site also makes loading faster for those without broadband Internet access – something that is often missing in Kentucky’s rural areas.
3) Putting aside politics
Governor Beshear is a Democrat and a loyal proponent of the Affordable Care Act. Kentuckians, many deeply conservative and Obama opponents, have been skeptical of health care reform for a long time. The government shutdown and endless finger-pointing from lawmakers made the exchange more about politics than health care. But, weeks after the launch, Beshear made efforts to depolarize Kentucky’s exchange: “My message to Kentuckians is simply this, you don’t have to like the president; you don’t have to like me. Because this isn’t about him, and it’s not about me. It’s about you, your family and your children. So do yourself a favor. Find what you can get for yourself. You’re going to like what you find.”
Kynect.gov continues to impress on a national level. President Obama has vowed to fix the problems plaguing the federal exchange portal, but the bad press has already put a damper on its possible eventual success. It seems the real winners are the uninsured Kentuckians who are now signed up for health care, perhaps for the first time in their lives – getting lucky in Kentucky, indeed.
Services may be performed by others.
This article does not constitute legal advice.