Kentucky lawmakers are looking for ways to better improve the health of the commonwealth’s citizens. Members of the Kentucky Health and Human Services Delivery System Taskforce heard from healthcare officials on Tuesday.
Republican State Senator Stephen Meredith of Leitchfield is co-chair of the task force. He said the state legislature should not be running point on the plan to improve Kentucky’s healthcare.
“This shouldn’t be a starting point, I’m looking for someone to craft a vision for Kentucky, what should it look like? Again, we’re struggling with improving our healthy population, we need some bold vision for healthcare in Kentucky and who is going to drive that train?”
One of the speakers was State Public Health Commissioner Dr. Stephen Stack. He asked legislators to make Kentucky’s state lab a priority when it comes to funding in the next session.
“Our public health lab is a dump, and it is an invaluable asset and Representative Mosier had the chance along with a few other members of the legislature to come visit it. I would just implore you, we really need that capitol project in the next budget because it will be a 40 year old lab by the time a new one is occupiable, and we already don’t have the space to things we’re required to do.”
Dr. Stack and other health officials also talked about the need for more communication and collaboration between the state and local health departments.
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