health care

Medicare Advantage, a private alternative to traditional Medicare, offers extra benefits and low monthly premiums. However, prior authorizations and claim denials complicate this increasingly popular — and profitable — program for Medicare beneficiaries and their health care providers.

Medical providers started using Ambient Assist by NextGen Healthcare this year at Samuel U. Rodgers Health Center. The tool, which transcribes and summarizes an appointment’s conversation, lets providers see more patients and be more present without being overwhelmed with post-appointment paperwork.

In rural Medicine Lodge, Kansas, Sarrah and Kyle Miller were sued last month by their local medical clinic for $230 in unpaid medical expenses. Their story is part of a new pattern. Kansas hospitals have filed thousands of lawsuits against their rural patients in recent years, including many for less than $500.

Enhanced credits for health insurance purchased from the Affordable Care Act marketplace expire at the end of this year. If they aren’t renewed, premiums will skyrocket for many people in Kansas and nationwide.

There have been thousands of lawsuits by Kansas hospitals in recent years, including many lawsuits for less than $500. One lawsuit was for just $104.

An average benchmark plan on the Affordable Care Act marketplace will cost Missouri customers almost 24% more than the year before as costs for food and energy are increasing.

Kansas tiene más hospitales rurales con riesgo de cerrar que cualquier otro estado, y los cambios federales podrían reducir aún más los ingresos. Sin embargo, un cambio en los impuestos estatales dariá a los hospitales un respiro de unos años para implementar estrategias a largo plazo.

Kansas has more rural hospitals at risk of closure than any other state. Changes at the federal level are further complicating the situation, leaving hospital officials planning for the future.

Kansas has more rural hospitals at risk of closure than any other state, and federal changes could further reduce revenue. However, a change to a state tax will give a few years' cushion for hospitals to implement long-term strategies.

As health insurance costs soar, lowering prescription prices could help. But that will require reforms in Jefferson City and Topeka.

Ukrainian physician Dr. Lev Prystupiuk and Kansas resident Roxanne Jones are central to efforts by Lenexa-based Global Care Force to fill the health care gaps caused by Russia's war. The nonprofit's volunteers are sometimes the only providers reaching Ukraine's communities.

Missouri's health department found that the vast majority of maternal deaths were preventable, and resulted from a lack of care in the months after birth. Cardiologist Dr. Anna Grodzinsky navigated her own high-risk pregnancies, and she explains what our medical system is missing.