hospitals

Children’s Mercy recently announced it will no longer be in-network for Kansas City-area health insurance plans purchased through the Affordable Care Act marketplace at the start of the year, leaving many families without options.

The Glore Psychiatric Museum in St. Joseph, Missouri, attracts lovers of the macabre, odd and supernatural for its eerie exhibits. But its founder, longtime state hospital employee George Glore, wanted to document how far the field of mental health care had advanced in the hopes of combating negative stereotypes.

NKC Health, the North Kansas City hospital that sued, said it has a responsibility to protect its bottom line in an increasingly difficult healthcare landscape. The patient ended up taking out a bank loan to pay off the debt.

The closure comes as maternity care continues to disappear across rural Missouri. More than half of Missouri’s counties have no local labor and delivery services.

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.