Healthcare

Amend KRS 205.522 and 205.6485 to require Medicaid and KCHIP to comply with pharmacy reimbursement requirements established in KRS 304.12-237; require the Cabinet for Health and Family Services or the Department for Medicaid to seek federal approval if it is determined that such approval is necessary; provide authorization from the General Assembly to make changes to the Medicaid program as required under KRS 205.5372(1).

Create new sections of KRS Chapter 217 to define terms; permit health care practitioners to prescribe and dispense undesignated glucagon in the name of a school; permit authorized entities to receive, possess, and administer undesignated glucagon to a student during diabetic medical emergencies; permit schools to stock undesignated glucagon; provide for immunity from civil liability for any personal injury resulting from good-faith actions to use undesignated glucagon to treat diabetic medical emergencies; require the Cabinet for Health and Family Services to consult the American Diabetes Association when promulgating administrative regulations related to the administration of undesignated glucagon in schools.

Create a new section of KRS Chapter 216 to define terms; establish fundamental rights relating to fertility treatment; prohibit the Commonwealth and its political subdivisions from denying, burdening, or infringing on those rights unless justified by a compelling state interest achieved by the least restrictive means; prohibit the Commonwealth and its political subdivisions from discriminating in the protection or enforcement of those rights; create a civil cause of action against a state or local official who violates those rights.

Amend KRS 210.040 to replace the term "institutions" with "facilities"; establish that the Cabinet for Health and Family Services is responsible to provide care that includes emergency and other medical care provided outside of a state facility for patients in state-operated mental health facilities.

Create new sections of KRS Chapter 309 to define terms; establish a licensing board for professional music therapists; require 3 members of the board to have engaged in the practice or teaching of music therapy for at least 3 years; prohibit any persons not licensed by the board from holding himself or herself out as a licensed professional music therapist; authorize the board to promulgate administrative regulations; authorize the board to issue a license to practice music therapy; establish the process for license renewal, suspension, and revocation; establish fees for licensure; establish fee limitations; authorize the board to implement disciplinary actions; require a licensed professional music therapist to collaborate with a client's physician or other professional involved in the treatment of the client; require a licensed professional music therapist to collaborate with a client's mental health or substance use disorder professional involved in the treatment of the client; prohibit a licensed professional music therapist from replacing services provided by an audiologist or a speech-language pathologist; create the Kentucky Board of Licensure for Professional Music Therapists fund; establish a fine for violations; provide for initial board appointments.

Amend KRS 194A.601 to require the dementia services coordinator to prepare an annual report on the operations of the Office of Dementia Services and the Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders Advisory Council and a progress report on the Kentucky Alzheimer's and Related Dementias State Plan to submit to the Legislative Research Commission; amend KRS 194A.603 to increase the membership of the Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders Advisory Council from 15 to 16 by increasing the individual unpaid caregiver members by 1; change the council's annual reporting date to December 1 from July 1; require the council to develop and implement annual year-long initiative advancing a key area of the state plan; direct the council to create a provider toolkit on early detection and diagnosis as its first year-long initiative beginning December 1, 2026 to be distributed to stakeholders.

Amend KRS 218B.010 to add additional qualifying medical conditions for the use of medicinal cannabis; amend KRS 218B.025 to exempt medicinal cannabis resulting from at-home cultivation activities from possession limits and from the requirement that medicinal cannabis be kept in the original container received from a dispensary; amend KRS 218B.030 to conform; amend KRS 218B.035 to permit the use or consumption of medicinal cannabis by smoking while located on private property owned by the cardholder; amend KRS 218B.140 to remove the requirement that raw plant material packaged or sold in the state be marked or labeled as "not intended for consumption by smoking"; create a new section of KRS Chapter 218B to permit registered qualified patients who are at least 18 years of age and designated caregivers to possess, cultivate, and harvest up to 3 mature medicinal cannabis plants and 3 seedlings on private property owned by the cardholder.

Create a new section of KRS 311.710 to 311.820 to define terms; establish privacy protections for a woman seeking reproductive health care outside of the Commonwealth; establish protections for any person or entity assisting a woman seeking reproductive health care outside of the Commonwealth; establish a civil cause of action for violations; waive sovereign immunity protections of the Commonwealth.

Amend KRS 304.17A-164 to define terms; prohibit insurers and administrators from requiring insureds to pay cost sharing for a prescription drug that is greater than the cash price; require insurers and administrators to count the amount paid for a covered prescription drug towards the insured's cost-sharing if certain requirements are met; establish requirements for insurers, administrators, and pharmacies for submission of cash price paid by an insured; exempt a state employee health plan from counting third-party payments unless a cash price was paid that is less than the plan's negotiated price; provide for construction of cost-sharing requirements; amend KRS 304.17C-125, 304.38A-115, 164.2871, and 18A.225 to apply cost-sharing requirements to limited health plans, self-insured state postsecondary education institution employer group health plans, and the state employee health plan; create a new section of KRS Chapter 315 to require pharmacies to comply with cost-sharing requirements; provide that cost-sharing requirements apply to health plans issued or renewed on or after effective date; EFFECTIVE, January 1, 2027.

Create a new section of KRS Chapter 360 to define "medical debt"; establish a maximum interest rate of 3% on medical debt; amend KRS 360.020 to expand the civil penalty for excessive interest on medical debt; amend KRS 360.040 to establish a maximum interest rate of 3% on judgments rendered in an action to collect medical debt; make technical amendments; amend KRS 216B.250 to conform.