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Friday, August 09, 2013

Rising costs, Medicaid changes result in the loss of school nurses in Eastern Kentucky

Students in some Eastern Kentucky schools won't be able to run to the nurse's office every time they need medical attention, because rising costs are forcing many schools to cut the number of nurses available to students. Last year the Kentucky River District Health Department provided 33 nurses at a cost of $5,000 each to Perry, Knott, Leslie, Letcher, Wolfe, Owsley, and Lee counties, but this year there will only be eight nurses, Cris Ritchie reports for the Hazard Herald. One of the main reasons is that the cost of each nurse has risen to $15,000. 

Jonathan Jet, superintendent of Perry County Schools, told Ritchie that last year the district had nurses at each of its 10 schools, but this year will only have nurses at three schools. Jett said  "a recent agreement signed with Primary Care Centers of Eastern Kentucky and Mountain Comprehensive Health Care will ensure that providers such as physician’s assistants will be at some schools for a period of time during each week. These agreements coupled with the three nurses the district will employ should be able to fill the void that a reduction in nurses will leave."

But not all Kentucky schools will be covered. Karen Cooper, director of the district health department in Hazard, said "67 percent of the districts in Kentucky which provided school nurses last year have either discontinued or scaled back their programs," Ritchie writes. She said "after the state’s move to Medicaid managed care in November 2011, reimbursements have not been made like they were before managed care was instituted. As a result, Cooper said the health department lost money in providing school nurses last year, and simply couldn’t afford to take another loss." Cooper told Ritchie, “They’re in the same issue we are. It’s a Medicaid issue.” (Read more)

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