This resolution confirms the appointment of Monica Kennison to Kentucky's Board of Nursing, a body that helps set standards and regulations for the nursing profession. The Senate voted to approve her selection by Governor Andy Beshear, recognizing her qualifications as a graduate-level nurse educator. Once confirmed, Kennison will serve a term ending on June 30, 2028, replacing the previous member, Jacob Higgins. This procedural action formalizes her role without changing any existing laws or policies.
This resolution confirms the reappointment of Hope Jones to the Kentucky Board of Nursing for a term ending on June 30, 2029. The measure validates an executive action taken by Governor Andy Beshear, noting that Jones represents registered nurse educators and meets the state's qualification requirements. Upon passage, the Senate will officially notify both Jones and the Governor of the confirmation. This procedural bill does not alter nursing regulations or policy but serves to finalize the appointment process.
Establish the Health Care Workforce Task Force to identify strategies to increase the number of health care providers while maintaining high quality standards of care; establish task force membership; require the task force to submit a report with recommendations to the Legislative Research Commission for referral to the Interim Joint Committees on Health Services and Education by December 1, 2026.
This bill is a concurrent resolution that formally recognizes the importance of having a physician present in every emergency department and highlights the critical need for improving rural health care in Kentucky. It does not create new laws or change existing regulations, but rather serves as an official statement of legislative intent to support physician staffing in emergency rooms and to prioritize efforts for recruiting and educating physicians for rural areas. The resolution emphasizes the unique clinical training physicians receive compared to advanced practice providers and calls for expanded health education programs and increased medical education slots to address rural health shortages.
Amend KRS 164.936 to establish maximum loan repayment awards under the Healthcare Worker Loan Relief Program for dentists and dentists in counties that do not have an actively practicing dentist; provide rural dental practice grant awards and criteria; establish distribution requirements for funds appropriated to the Center of Excellence in Rural Health for loan repayment awards for dentists and rural dental practice grants; amend KRS 164.937 to require information on the Healthcare Worker Loan Relief Program to be reported to the Council on Postsecondary Education and the Legislative Research Commission; amend KRS 313.035 to require the Kentucky Board of Dentistry to create a Rural Dental Fellows Network; require the Kentucky Department for Medicaid Services to increase Medicaid reimbursement rates by 25% for dental services in federally designated health professional shortage areas; appropriate $4,400,000 in each fiscal year of the 2026-2028 fiscal biennium to the Center of Excellence in Rural Health budget unit; appropriate $600,000 in each fiscal year of the 2026-2028 fiscal biennium to the Kentucky Board of Dentistry; appropriate $1,000,000 in each fiscal year of the 2026-2028 fiscal biennium to the Department for Medicaid Services; provide that the Act may be cited as the Rural Dental Incentive and Access Program Act; specify that the expanded award eligibility, required reporting on the Healthcare Worker Loan Relief Program, and the Rural Dental Fellows Network shall expire on July 1, 2036; APPROPRIATION; EMERGENCY.
Amend KRS 314.121 to require practitioner members of the Board of Nursing to maintain licensure throughout their board terms; make the active clinical practice of registered nurse members consist of direct bedside patient care on a daily basis; change the entities that submit board candidate names for active clinical registered nurses and nurse educators.
Create a new section of Subtitle 17A of KRS Chapter 304 to define terms; require health plans to provide coverage for an annual mental health wellness examination provided by a mental health professional; require the coverage to be no less extensive than coverage for medical and surgical benefits, comply with the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008, and not be subject to any cost-sharing requirements; amend KRS 304.17C-125, 164.2871, and 18A.225 to require limited health service benefit plans, self-insured employer group health plans provided by the governing board of a state postsecondary education institution, and the state employee health plan to comply with the mental health wellness examination coverage requirement; state purpose of the Act; direct that provisions apply to health plans issued or renewed on or after the effective date of the Act; provide that Section 1 of the Act may be cited as the Kentucky Mental Health Wellness Act; EFFECTIVE, January 1, 2027.
Create a new section of KRS Chapter 160 to require school districts that elect to provide health care services through a school nurse to bill the school-based Medicaid program for medically necessary services provided to a student enrolled in Medicaid; establish requirements for third-party Medicaid billing vendors contracted by school districts; permit school nurses to receive preventative dental services training from the Department for Public Health; permit the school district to bill the school-based Medicaid program for preventative dental services that are within a school nurse's scope of practice.
Create a new section of KRS Chapter 314A to allow an advanced practice respiratory therapist employed by a health facility to declare a patient death and sign the provisional report of death; repeal and reenact KRS 314A.010, 314A.110, and 314A.220 to define terms; create a new license category for advanced practice respiratory therapists; deem the practice credential a license instead of a mandatory certificate; replace the term "respiratory care practitioner" with "respiratory therapist" or "advanced practice respiratory therapist"; establish education and training requirements; set procedures for license reinstatement and reactivation; amend KRS 314A.100 to authorize a respiratory therapist to perform services with the prescription of a physician, physician assistant, advanced practice registered nurse, or advanced practice respiratory therapist; describe services an advanced practice respiratory therapist may provide under prospective medical direction, including prescribing legend drugs; amend KRS 314A.112 to establish requirements for a limited student respiratory therapist license; amend KRS 314A.200 to make the Kentucky Board of Respiratory Care's meetings subject to Kentucky Open Meetings and Open Records laws; amend KRS 314A.215 to raise board members' daily pay from $50 to $100; amend KRS 314A.225 to expand avenues for board discipline of licensees; amend KRS 314A.990 to authorize the board to impose a civil penalty of up to $5,000 per violation; amend KRS 164.0401, 216.2920, 216.380, 217.015, 311.646, 314A.105, 314A.115, 314A.205, 314A.230, 353.510, and 405.024 to conform.
Amend KRS 304.17A-660 to define "health professional"; amend KRS 304.17A-661 to require that annual mental health parity reports be submitted to the Legislative Research Commission on or before June 1 of each year for referral to certain committees and be published by the insurance commissioner on the Department of Insurance's website; require insurers to have an independent audit conducted to evaluate mental health parity compliance upon request of the commissioner or Attorney General; require the commissioner to establish and operate a hotline that allows health professionals and insureds to submit complaints regarding mental health parity compliance; prohibit insurers from retaliating against a health professional for submitting a complaint; authorize the Attorney General to enforce the mental health parity law; establish duties, remedies, and penalties for enforcement by the Attorney General; authorize a private cause of action by any person directly injured by a violation or likely violation of the mental health parity law; establish duties, remedies, and penalties for a private right of action under the mental health parity law; establish construction clauses; authorize the Attorney General to promulgate administrative regulations for proper enforcement of mental health parity law; create a new section of KRS 304.17A-660 to 304.17A-669 to establish requirements for review criteria used by insurers to determine the medical necessity and appropriateness of a claim submitted for the diagnosis or treatment of a mental health condition; require that the review criteria be publicly available on the insurer's website; require insurers to comply with KRS 304.17A-600 to 304.17A-633 with respect to claims submitted by health professionals for the diagnosis of treatment of mental health conditions except as provided in the section; amend KRS 304.17A-617 and 304.17A-623 to conform; amend KRS 205.522 to require the Department for Medicaid Services, Medicaid managed care organizations, and the state' medical assistance program to comply with mental health parity law; require the Department for Medicaid Services or the Cabinet for Health and Family Services to obtain federal approval, if necessary, and comply with notice requirements; provide authorization from the General Assembly to make changes as required under KRS 205.5372(1); EFFECTIVE, in part, January 1, 2027; EMERGENCY.
