hospitals

Rural Kansans could see longer drives to access healthcare or fewer health services because of hospital closures. A report found that Kansas has 28 rural hospitals at immediate risk of closure.

After months of planning, Kansas City health leaders said the city’s hospitals are prepared, and bracing for international patients who won’t be able to pay.

Research Medical Center closed its labor and delivery and neonatal intensive care departments last year. Emergency room nurses say pregnant patients still come, and staff don’t have the tools to safely treat them.

The EF5 tornado that hit Joplin, Missouri, on May 22, 2011, became the deadliest in modern history — killing 158 people. Although little damage is now visible to the naked eye, to the survivors, volunteers and healthcare workers, the scars remain.

Missouri lawmakers have repeatedly introduced bills to try to significantly reduce the number of hospital boarding days each year and eventually end the practice altogether.

Doctors at Missouri and Kansas birthing hospitals have noticed an uptick in families turning down an inexpensive vitamin K shot, driven by unfounded fears of vaccines. But babies who don't get the shot are significantly more likely to die or suffer severe brain damage.

The expansion at the hospital’s downtown campus would increase capacity by 25-30%, Children’s Mercy leaders say. The investment will help make more room for pediatric and neonatal intensive care units, increasingly complex surgical procedures and more.

Despite steadily declining birthrates in Missouri, Kansas and across the country, in the last year Children’s Mercy has announced major expansions in Overland Park, Wichita and Springfield. Its expanded downtown campus could include four new buildings.

The legislation is aimed at hospitals that don't stock emergency contraception on religious grounds.

Missouri officials have proposed cutting tens of millions of dollars in services for people with disabilities. And Montana halted a plan to pay for birthing doulas amid a budget shortfall and fears over coming federal Medicaid cuts.

Sedalia's newest effort to help its most vulnerable residents appears to be a win: a building with the area’s most crucial social service providers all under one roof, available throughout the week on a walk-in basis. It's part of a Missouri pilot program to better serve rural communities.

The Kauffman Foundation recently gave its first “Uncommon Leader” award, along with a $150,000 prize, to a nurse practitioner from Swope Health Services who has been delivering heath care to homeless individuals for more than a decade. The committee cited the way Dr. Rachel Melson focuses on restoring dignity to the treatment of unhoused residents.