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Kansas tries to transform and save its rural hospitals

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Rural hospitals in Kansas will use federal money to help them transform and expand access to healthcare. Some are creating new services like mobile maternal health clinics, but looming Medicaid cuts still mean many hospitals are at risk of closing.

The money comes from the federal Rural Health Transformation Program. The funding is partially intended to offset cuts to Medicaid, and the first group of grantees were recently announced. Bek Shackelford-Nwanganga of the Kansas News Service spoke with editor Stephen Koranda on how rural hospitals intend to use the money.

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Kansas City Today is hosted by Nomin Ujiyediin. It is produced by Seth Jahraus and KCUR Studios, and edited by Gabe Rosenberg, Madeline Fox and Emily Younker.

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As a newscaster and a host of a daily news podcast, I want to deliver the most important and interesting news of the day in an engaging and easily understandable way. No matter where you live in the metro or what you’re interested in, I want you to learn something from each newscast or podcast – and maybe even give you something to talk about at the dinner table.
Seth Jahraus is the 2026 summer intern for KCUR Studios. Email him at seth.jahraus@kcur.org.
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