Anti-smoking expert: Cigarettes kill 8,900 Kentuckians a year, so it's time to raise cigarette tax and pass statewide smoking ban

By Melissa Patrick Kentucky Health News "Smoking is the single most preventable cause of death that we know of," Ellen Hahn, direc...

Foundation plans to be more active against tobacco, since it is the cause of many of Kentucky's health problems

As more Kentuckians favor a statewide smoking ban but the state legislature won't even ban smoking at schools, the Foundation for a Heal...

Support for statewide smoking ban rises to 71%

Seventy-one percent of Kentucky adults favor a statewide smoking ban, up 17 percentage points since the Kentucky Health Issues Poll began as...

Big drug bill heads to governor's desk; has harsher penalties and limits most prescriptions for acute pain to 3 days

By Melissa Patrick Kentucky Health News A bill that would limit most painkiller prescriptions to a three-day supply for acute pain, and chan...

Without dissent, General Assembly overrides governor's veto of bill allowing courts to require outpatient mental-health treatment

Mental-health advocates lobbied for "Tim's Law" outside the state Senate chamber on March 29.  (Photo by Melissa Patrick) By M...

Nurse practitioners ease doctor shortage, but will have to wait to get more authority to prescribe narcotics; opioid epidemic cited

Nurse practitioner Robin Szczapinski talks with her patient,  Harold Brashear Sr., at the Louisville Veterans Affairs Medical Center.  (Co...

House sends Senate bill to limit most potent painkiller prescriptions to three days, target traffickers of fentanyl

The state House has sent to the Senate a bill to put a three-day limit on prescriptions of high-potency painkillers, and increase penalties ...

Immunizations are a hot topic in Frankfort; comment on updated regulation ends Tuesday; shots-for-college bill looks dead

By Melissa Patrick Kentucky Health News A bill to require all college freshmen in Kentucky to be immunized before starting classes is likely...

Helping parents understand kids' body mass index can thwart obesity, but Kentucky doesn't require BMI to be reported

By Melissa Patrick Kentucky Health News Parents are more likely to change their child's lifestyle when schools provide educational mater...

State Senate panel OKs bill to deny most taxpayer dollars to Planned Parenthood; Ky. affiliate gave up funding in 2015

Feb. 22 Update : SB 8 passed out of the full Senate with a 31-6 vote and now heads to the House for consideration.  By Melissa Patrick Kentu...

Legislature moving bills targeting fentanyl sales, shortening length of most opioid prescriptions to three days

The General Assembly is moving bills to increase penalties for the sale of fentanyl and put a three-day limit on prescriptions of other high...