Kentucky Healthcare Strategy Forum
January 2006 Newsletter
_______________________________________
President’s
Greeting
I
am looking forward to an eventful 2006 with the Kentucky Healthcare Strategy
Forum. The KHSF Board met in
November and began planning educational and networking events for the coming
year. Unfortunately, we had to
cancel our fall program, “Healthcare Business and Technology Forecast by
Sg2”, due to lack of pre-registration. From
the feedback we received, this is a program many of you were interested in
attending but the scheduled date was too close to the holidays.
Many of you have requested we reschedule the Sg2 program for a less
busy time of year. In May 2006,
KHSF will sponsor our annual spring program at the Kentucky Hospital
Association’s Annual Convention in
President, KHSF
2006
Board
Members
Officers
President:
Elizabeth G. Cobb, Kentucky Hospital Association, ecobb@kyha.com
President-elect:
Secretary:
Treasurer:
Immediate
Past President:
Directors
Patty
Mason,
Roseanne
Nields, St. Elizabeth Medical Center, rnields@stelizabeth.com
Hollie Phillips, Appalachian Regional Healthcare, hharris@arh.org
Healthcare
Business and Technology Forecast
Follow-up
The
industry continues to develop new technologies faster than the market can
adopt and interpret the results. Sg2 is an innovative research company
based in
While
we were unable to obtain sufficient registrants for the fall conference,
due to numerous conflicts, there appears to be a high level of interest in
the community. In response to the interest, we will be rescheduling
this event in late winter or early spring. The program will be a
half-day session and will include an opportunity to network with your
peers in a casual setting. Information relative to the new date and
time will be distributed soon for your reference.
State
Health Plan Review
The
Kentucky State Health Plan is being reviewed and modified by the Office of
Certificate of Need (CON) and the Cabinet for Health and Family Services.
The purpose of this document is to set forth the review criteria to be used
when reviewing applications for certificates of need for consistency with
plans pursuant to KRS 216B.040; and for determining whether a substantial
change to a health service has occurred.
In
late November, the Office of CON presented a draft of the 2005 update to the
2004-2006 State Health Plan and requested comments from the public.
The Office of CON has been meeting with concerned parties to discuss
criteria within the State Health Plan which contains several significant
changes, including criteria for building new hospitals.
The moratorium which expired on
You
can access the current criteria, draft criteria and the presentation made by
the Office of CON in November by going to http://chfs.ky.gov/ohp/con/default.htm.
KHSF
Spring Program
The
KHSF will have our annual spring program at the KHA Annual Convention.
The KHA Convention will be held in
2006
The
2006 Kentucky General Assembly officially begins January 3.
The 60 day session will end on April 11.
Many issues facing the Legislature include the passing a budget with
Medicaid facing a $424 million shortfall this fiscal year, the state
employee health plan, medical malpractice, education, and several other
issues. Much attention will
focus on rising health care costs and how this affects the state and its
citizens. Health care providers
and their lobbyists will be busy staying on top of the issues to make
certain that any legislation affecting providers is thoroughly reviewed and
that legislators are educated on the issues.