Healthcare

Create a new section of Subtitle 17A of KRS Chapter 304 to require coverage for emergency ground ambulance services; establish minimum allowable reimbursement for out-of-network emergency ground ambulance services; establish requirements for reimbursement of out-of-network ground ambulance providers; prohibit balance billing by out-of-network ground ambulance providers; establish construction clause in the event of conflicts; amend KRS 18A.225 to require the state employee health plan to comply with emergency ground ambulance coverage and payment requirements; provide that Act applies to health benefit plans issued or renewed on or after January 1, 2027; EFFECTIVE January 1, 2027.

HB 444 clarifies the scope of audiology practice in Kentucky by redefining "practice of audiology" to explicitly include evaluating hearing/vestibular conditions, fitting hearing aids, and externally fitting sound processors for hearing implants (like cochlear implants or bone-anchored devices). It defines "sound processor" as the external device attached to these implants and specifies that audiologists cannot perform surgeries, diagnose serious ear cancers (which must be referred to physicians), or remove impacted ear wax requiring anesthesia. This directly affects licensed audiologists by defining their permitted services and ensures patients understand the boundaries of audiology care. The bill focuses solely on regulatory definitions, with no changes to licensing requirements or fees.

Create a new section of KRS Chapter 158 to define "feminine hygiene product"; require each public school and public charter school that includes any of grades 4 through 12 to provide free feminine hygiene products to female students; require each local board of education and public charter school board of directors to adopt policies relating to the distribution of free feminine hygiene products.

Create a new section of Subtitle 12 of KRS Chapter 304 to define terms; consolidate and modify existing credentialing requirements; require insurers and providers to use the Council for Affordable Quality Healthcare (CAQH) credentialing form; prohibit insurers from requiring or otherwise requesting a provider to disclose any information that is not requested on the CAQH form or that relates to a provider's former or current health condition under certain circumstances; prohibit insurers from requiring a provider to be board certified; amend KRS 18A.225 to require the state employee health plan to comply with the credentialing requirements; amend KRS 205.560 to conform; amend KRS 216B.155 to conform and to prohibit health care facilities licensed under KRS Chapter 216B from requiring or otherwise requesting a provider to disclose a former or current health condition under certain circumstances; amend KRS 304.17A-545 and 311.6207 to conform; repeal KRS 304.17A-525 and 304.17A-576, relating to credentialing to consolidate provisions; direct that certain provisions apply to contracts issued or renewed on or after the effective date of the Act; require administrative bodies to amend any administrative regulations that conflict with the Act.

Create a new section of KRS Chapter 205 to require Medicaid coverage for palliative care services; establish eligibility criteria and service requirements; require the Department for Medicaid Services to promulgate administrative regulations; require the Cabinet for Health and Family Services or the Department for Medicaid Services 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 Subtitle 17A of KRS Chapter 304 to define terms; require health plans to provide coverage for the diagnosis and treatment of feeding or eating disorders; prohibit insurers from using certain standards, including body mass index, to deny, limit, or restrict coverage; authorize insurers to consider certain factors when determining medical necessity or the appropriate level of care for an individual diagnosed with a feeding or eating disorder; amend KRS 304.17C-125, 304.38A-115, 205.522, 205.6485, 164.2871, and 18A.225 to require limited health services benefit plans, limited health service organizations, Medicaid, KCHIP, self-insured employer group plans provided by the governing board of a state postsecondary education institution, and the state employee health plan to comply with the coverage requirements for feeding or eating disorders; provide that various sections apply to health plans issued or renewed on or after January 1, 2027; require the Cabinet for Health and Family Services or the Department for Medicaid Services to seek federal approval if it is determined that such approval is necessary; provide authorization from the General Assembly to make changes in the Medicaid program as required under KRS 205.5372(1); EFFECTIVE, in part, January 1, 2027.

Create a new section of KRS Chapter 205 to require the Department for Medicaid Services and any managed care organization with whom the department contracts for the delivery of Medicaid services to provide coverage for doula services; create a new section of KRS Chapter 194A to establish the Doula Advisory Council, council membership, and council duties; require the Cabinet for Health and Family Services or the Department for Medicaid Services to seek federal approval if they determine 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 311 to define terms; establish a qualified terminally ill patient's right to voluntarily request medication to self-administer to cause death; establish conditions required to make request; permit patient to rescind request at any time; permit an attending provider to provide medication; establish requirements for attending providers to inform patients and document request; require disposal of unused medications; require report by the Cabinet for Health and Family Services; establish provisions for contracts, insurance policies, and beneficiaries; prohibit applicability of provisions to ending a patient's life by lethal injection, mercy killing, or active euthanasia; establish that a health care provider is not required to provide medication to a qualified patient; permit health care providers to prohibit persons or entities from participating in a qualified patient's request during or on the premises of employment; prohibit reporting a health care provider to a licensing board for participating in a qualified patient's request; state that actions under this Act do not authorize lethal injection, mercy killing, or active euthanasia; establish that actions under this Act do not constitute suicide or homicide; create the offenses of forging or altering a request for end-of-life medications, concealing or destroying a rescession of a request for end-of-life medication, and coercing or exerting undue influence on a terminally ill patient to request or utilize end-of-life medications; create a form for a qualified patient to make a request; create a form for an interpreter for a qualified patient making a request; create a new section of Subtitle 12 of KRS Chapter 304 to establish provisions for insurance policies and beneficiaries of qualified patients; amend KRS 507.020 and 507.030 to create an affirmative defense to a charge of murder and manslaughter in the first degree; provide that the Act may be cited Rena's Law.

Create new sections of KRS Chapter 311 to establish reproductive rights and define terms; amend KRS 18A.225 to remove the prohibition of insurance coverage for abortion; amend KRS 39A.180 to allow the Governor to suspend statutes related to abortion during a declared emergency; amend KRS 156.496 to allow a school district to operate a family resource center that provides abortion counseling; amend KRS 205.010 to permit financial aid for an abortion; amend KRS 205.510 to include abortions or induced miscarriages as medical care; amend KRS 205.560 to allow medical aid payments for abortion; amend KRS 211.603 to allow money in the rape crisis center trust fund to be used for abortion services or education; amend KRS 212.275 to allow health departments to dispense medication for an abortion; amend KRS 213.101 to remove various reporting requirements; amend various sections to remove penalties associated with performing abortions; amend various sections to conform; repeal, reenact, and amend or repeal and reenact KRS 311.783, 311.7710, 311.820, 311.780, 311.810, to conform; repeal KRS 15.241, 213.098, 213.172, 213.174, 213.176, 216B.0435, 216B.200, 216B.202, 216B.204, 216B.206, 216B.208, 216B.210, 304.5-160, 311.710, 311.715, 311.720, 311.723, 311.724, 311.725, 311.727, 311.728, 311.731, 311.732, 311.733, 311.735, 311.750, 311.760, 311.765, 311.770, 311.7701, 311.7702, 311.7703, 311.7704, 311.7705, 311.7706, 311.7707, 311.7708, 311.7709, 311.7711, 311.772, 311.7731, 311.7733, 311.7734, 311.7735, 311.7736, 311.7737, 311.7739, 311.774, 311.7741, 311.7743, 311.781, 311.7811, 311.782, 311.784, 311.7841, 311.785, 311.786, 311.787, 311.790, 311.800, 311.821, 311.822, 311.823, 311.824, 311.825, 311.826, 311.827, 311.830, 311.992, and 315.315; EFFECTIVE, in part, January 1, 2027.

Propose to create a new section of the Constitution of Kentucky to exempt from state and local excise, sales, and use taxes food, food ingredients, prescription drugs, residential utilities, and on-farm utilities; provide ballot language; submit to voters for ratification or rejection.