Kentucky SJR116: A JOINT RESOLUTION directing the University of Kentucky, the University of Louisville, and Eastern Kentucky University to coordinate a search for actionable solutions to physician shortages and to explore and expand health care opportunities in medically underserved areas in collaboration with community, state agency, professional associations, and other stakeholders.

What the bill says

A joint resolution directing the University of Kentucky, the University of Louisville, and Eastern Kentucky University to coordinate a search for actionable solutions to physician shortages and to explore and expand health care opportunities in medically underserved areas in collaboration with community, state agency, professional associations, and other stakeholders, making an appropriation therefor, and declaring an emergency.

From the engrossed text:

A JOINT RESOLUTION directing the University of Kentucky, the University of Louisville, and Eastern Kentucky University to coordinate a search for actionable solutions to physician shortages and to explore and expand health care opportunities in medically underserved areas in collaboration with community, state agency, professional associations, and other stakeholders, making an appropriation therefor, and declaring an emergency. WHEREAS, over 75 percent of physicians practice in urban areas in Kentucky, leaving many counties with a shortage of physicians; and WHEREAS, the United States Department of Health and Human Services has designated 40 counties as health professional shortage areas for primary care providers; and WHEREAS, without local access to physicians, individuals in medically underserved areas are often compelled to travel long distances to other counties for health care, which may involve transportation and financial barriers and result in individuals going without care; and WHEREAS, regular primary care physician visits serve as the first line in diagnosing illness and have been associated with a reduced number of hospitalizations and emergency room department visits; and WHEREAS, the Association of American Medical Colleges reports that 57 percent of medical residents continued practicing medicine in their training state; and WHEREAS, percent of physicians practice medicine in the same state where they completed undergraduate medical education, and the rate is higher for public undergraduate medical school graduates, …