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Read. Follow. Verify.Kentucky Senate Bill 12 Requires 24/7 Emergency Room Coverage at Level IV Trauma Centers
Last action · February 6, 2026: received in House to Committee on Committees (H)Sponsors: Steve Meredith and 2 others
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What This Bill Proposed
Kentucky Senate Bill 12 requires hospitals to maintain on-site emergency department coverage twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, using either a physician or a supervised . The measure also directs the Department for Public Health to promulgate administrative regulations to implement this coverage requirement.
s must maintain continuous around-the-clock emergency staffing utilizing either physicians or supervised advanced practice nurses and physician assistants.
Who It Would Have Affected
Groups the bill's text would have affected, as described in the record. Being affected is not a position for or against it.
Level IV trauma centers
Level IV trauma centers must maintain round-the-clock on-site emergency department coverage staffed by physicians or supervised advanced practice providers.
Advanced practice providers
Advanced practice registered nurses and physician assistants are explicitly authorized to provide 24/7 on-site emergency department coverage at Level IV trauma centers under physician supervision.
Department for Public Health
The department is required to promulgate administrative regulations to implement emergency department coverage provisions and coordinate the statewide trauma care system.
Key Facts
You don't have to trust us. Each fact below is taken straight from the official document - click any one to see the exact passage, highlighted in the original.
Frequently Asked Questions
What staffing is required for Level IV trauma centers under this bill?
Who qualifies as an advanced practice provider?
Are trauma registry records public in civil court?
What else do you want to know?
News Coverage
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Votes, people, money & the original sourceWhere This Stands
This bill did not become law - Died at adjournment · passed the Senate · in the House.
Procedural history
7 actions- Feb 6, 2026HouseIntroducedreceived in House to Committee on Committees (H)
- Feb 5, 2026SenateFloor3rd reading, passed 27-11
- Feb 4, 2026Senateposted for passage in the Regular Orders of the Day for Thursday, February 05 2026
- Jan 22, 2026SenateFloor2nd reading, to Rules
- Jan 21, 2026Senatereported favorably, 1st reading, to Calendar
- Jan 16, 2026SenateCommitteeto Health Services (S)
Show 1 earlier action
- Jan 6, 2026SenateIntroducedintroduced in Senate to Committee on Committees (S)
Version history
Only one version on file - nothing to compare yet. As later stages (committee substitute, engrossed, enrolled) are captured, the redline appears here.
View official text →Lobbying Activity
No state lobbying filings in our records match this bill. Federal lobbying reports (LDA) cover Congress, so they are not listed on state bills.
Full breakdown
Who this bill affects and the strongest case for and against it, written only from the bill’s own text.
Sponsors
Discoveries
Patterns POLISCOPE noticed across the record. These are observations to investigate, not conclusions.
Expansion of Trauma Staffing Flexibility
The bill shifts administrative rules to explicitly allow Level IV trauma center emergency departments to be staffed 24/7 by advanced practice providers under physician supervision.
Connected Entities
Sources
apps.legislature.ky.gov
Analysis Score
0–100- Significance20Lowered because this bill did not pass (its text scored 60)
- Controversy15Intensity of disagreement among stakeholders
- Entertainment5Compellingness for a non-policy-wonk reader
- Buzz25Current news / social attention level
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