We are locking arms with health care providers throughout the Commonwealth to improve the health of Kentuckians. Here are just a few of the ways:

• Through our statewide affiliate networks, we are broadening access to advanced care options for patients in their home communities. This allows people to get the care they need close to home. Our networks include the Markey Cancer Center Affiliate Network, the Gill Heart & Vascular Institute Affiliate Network and the UK/Norton Health Stroke Care Network. 
• The Markey Cancer Center at Lexington Clinic -- an agreement between UK HealthCare and Lexington Clinic --  is enhancing and expanding outpatient cancer care throughout Central Kentucky.
• In collaboration with partners across Kentucky, we have been awarded the prestigious Paul Coverdell National Acute Stroke Program Grant by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This $1.8 million grant aims to optimize both stroke prevention among those at high risk as well as improve the care and outcomes for stroke patients throughout Kentucky.
• The UK Organ Failure & Transplant Network (OFTN) optimizes care for patients in organ failure across Kentucky by giving them access to state-of-the-art care, including organ transplantation.

In 2021, a significant partnership between UK HealthCare and King’s Daughters Health System in Ashland, Ky., began, creating new opportunities for both organizations to better serve patients throughout Kentucky, southern Ohio and West Virginia by expanding the delivery of specialty health care services throughout the region.

By facilitating wider access to advanced subspecialty care, we ensure that no Kentuckian has to leave the state to get the care they need.

• The UK HealthCare Physician Liaison team offers support to providers across the region who refer patients to UK HealthCare physicians, hospitals and clinics. Through these strong relationships, we ensure that patients across Kentucky get the best possible care.
• The Kentucky Regional Extension Center (Kentucky REC) serves as a trusted strategic partner to healthcare organizations across the state, helping them to manage the complex and changing world of health care. Part of our outreach mission, the Kentucky REC provides expert guidance and support on technology innovation, performance improvement and health care transformation.

We are committed to helping the communities we serve grow and improve. Developed in 2006, the UK HealthCare Community Engagement & Sponsorship Program is advancing this goal through partnerships with local, state and national groups. Through these collaborations, we aim to improve the health and well-being of Kentuckians, extending our outreach to all corners of the state and beyond. 

We’re also helping our communities in hands-on ways through community engagement efforts. From providing health information and education to offering screening events and risk assessments, we are working to help Kentuckians lead their healthiest lives. Through our efforts, we are focused on supporting populations facing health disparities to provide access to needed care and resources.

Through relationships with many organizations across the state and region, UK HealthCare and Kentucky Children's Hospital are working to give Kentucky children the healthiest start. Strong collaborations — with Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Shriners Children’s Lexington, the Child Development Center of the Bluegrass, the Office for Children with Special Health Care Needs and many others — help us ensure that children receive the specialized care they need.

• As a Level 4 Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, our NICU is equipped to care for Kentucky’s tiniest and most critically ill babies. We hold affiliation agreements with other Kentucky hospitals – including providing on-site attending physician support at Baptist Health Corbin and Frankfort Regional Medical Center – allowing us to offer the highest-quality care while keeping little ones closer to home. Through our Neonatal Outreach Program, we make resources and education available to community hospitals.
• Child Advocacy Today is a medical-legal partnership that brings pediatricians and lawyers together to ensure that families can meet the basic needs of their children for health care, housing, education, nutrition and family stability, all crucial to a child’s health and development and all impacted by poverty. CAT Legal Clinic provides free direct legal representation for patients, systemic advocacy, and interprofessional education to improve patient health outcomes. 
• The UK Maternal Fetal Medicine telemedicine program uses telehealth technology to bring high-level specialty care to women with high-risk pregnancies. A UK-trained technician performs an ultrasound at a collaborating rural healthcare facility in the patient’s home community. A UK HealthCare specialist can see the ultrasound as it is being performed and talk with the patient. The program helps to uncover high-risk pregnancies much earlier, reduce the number of low birthweight babies and positively impact infant mortality.