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The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

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Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

New Law Helps KY Nurse Practitioners Heal More

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Monday, March 3, 2014   

FRANKFORT, Ky. - Nurse-practitioners and midwives in Kentucky will now be able to prescribe non-narcotic medications without having a written agreement with a doctor. According to health-care advocate Sheila Schuster, the changes in the law, signed by the governor last week, will address what she calls the "unmet needs" of thousands of Kentuckians.

That means "particularly in rural and in under-served areas of Kentucky," she said.

Schuster said nurse-practitioners have been able to prescribe non-narcotic medications since 1996, but only if they had an agreement with a physician. For about five years, she says, they tried to convince state lawmakers to end the requirement. She explained such an agreement did not require supervision or oversight by doctors, but they often charged a hefty fee for it.

AARP Kentucky volunteer Brenda McClanahan said it will now be easier for many seniors to get the medications they need to treat chronic conditions, "such as antibiotics, insulin and other diabetes medicines; anti-hypertension, cholesterol, heart and asthma medications."

McClanahan said using a nurse-practitioner also could lead to more cost-effective care.

Similar laws are already in place in 17 other states. Sheila Schuster said the new law opens the door for more Kentucky nurse-practitioners to establish their own practices.

"In some of these areas, the nurse-practitioner is the only provider of health care in that community," she said.

The state's nearly 3000 nurse-practitioners provide care in all 120 Kentucky counties, including all 87 of the state's Health Provider Shortage Areas.

Link to Senate Bill 7 at lrc.ky.gov.

The requirement being removed is the "Collaborative Agreement for Prescriptive Authority for Non-Scheduled Drugs" (CAPA-NS).




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