Melissa Patrick
Staff ReporterMelissa Patrick, staff reporter for Kentucky Health News, is a registered nurse and holds degrees in journalism and community leadership and development from the University of Kentucky. She has received several competitive fellowships, including the 2016-17 Nursing and Health Care Workforce Media Fellow of the Center for Health, Media & Policy, which allowed her to focus on and write about nursing workforce issues in Kentucky, and the year-long Association of Health Care Journalists 2017-18 Regional Health Journalism Program fellowship.
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Kentucky’s Hospital Rate Improvement Program for hospital inpatient and outpatient services has not only helped to keep hospitals open, but has also improved patient outcomes, according to the leader of the Kentucky Hospital Association. -
Thirteen of Kentucky's 71 rural inpatient hospitals are at risk of closing, and six of those are at immediate risk of closing, according to the latest analysis of Hospital Cost Reports by the Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform. -
In the first two full calendar weeks of August — the latest period for which figures are available — Kentucky saw a 110% increase in daily COVID hospital admissions, with an average of 28 patients per day. -
With a $2.25 million grant, Kentucky will expand and restructure its Medical Reserve Corps to cover every county in the state. -
Now they have to decide how to use it
