hospitals

Although The University of Kansas Health System and NKC Health provide free care and write off millions in charges, they have sued more than 400 people in Missouri and Kansas so far this year. Other area hospitals also don't garnish patients' wages to recoup payment.

Nonprofit hospitals are required to help those who can’t pay, but as medical costs rise and health insurance coverage shrinks, some patient advocates say hospitals need to do more. Recent reporting about Kansas Sen. Roger Marshall has raised broader questions about the ethics and methods of collecting debt.

In some rural Missouri counties, patients travel more than an hour to reach a delivery hospital. Doulas, mobile health programs and telehealth are trying to fill some of the gaps.

The end of enhanced subsidies for Affordable Care Act plans is adding to the tally of uninsured patients. New Medicaid requirements coming in January could be a multiplier.

A recent analysis by ValuePenguin found the estimated number of pickleball-related injuries treated in U.S. emergency rooms nearly quadrupled between 2018 and 2025, with falls, slips and trips accounting for nearly 65,000 ER visits nationwide.

The program is meant to soften the coming cuts to Medicaid. The state health department recently announced the first round of Kansas grantees. Hospitals are using the money to increase healthcare access to rural patients.

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.