Healthcare workers discuss how House Bill 31 will affect Kentucky’s Medicaid patients

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) - For Medicaid patients across the Commonwealth who are on blood thinners for various reasons, a weekly trip to the doctor’s office to test their blood is usually mandatory.

“A lot of patients on Medicaid live in very rural areas, so they would have to drive an hour or so to go to the hospital to have their blood drawn,” said Amanda Crabtree, a registered nurse at UK Hospital.

This will not be the case for much longer with the passing of House Bill 31, something Crabtree and UK Assistant Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Dr. Tessa London-bounds, have been advocating for since July of 2023.

“Our local politicians have been, essentially, very supportive and it was voted unanimously that it was appropriate and it was an unprecedented amount of time that it took for us to actually pass that bill. Nothing in politics seem to move that quickly,” Dr. London-Bounds said.

HB 31 will allow those Medicaid patients to have at-home machines that will test their blood.

“Here’s a machine that diabetics use to check their blood sugar, and that’s very similar to what these at-home INR machines look like,” Crabtree said. “Medicaid is state-to-state and, so, I hope that since Kentucky has done this, other states will follow suit and Kentucky will be the model for the rest of the country to give patients access to this great monitoring system.”

Dr. London-Bounds says it is a great feeling to be a voice for her patients in this way.

“It’s something that allows patients access and more equality for our patients of the Commonwealth, and I think that being a voice for those patients is extremely important and our duty,” Dr. London-Bounds said.

Crabtree says that now that Governor Andy Beshear has signed HB 31, those Medicaid patients could receive their at-home machines as soon as this summer.