Healthcare and Insurance

Q&A with Polly Thomas

Q: Given what we’ve seen in 2020, especially with the big shift to remote working for so many employees, can you tell us a bit about the biggest challenges your clients have seen in the run-up to this enrollment period?… more

Top Doctors of 2020: Defining Exceptional Care

Let’s face it: As a region, with the medical resources available to us, we are truly blessed. How so? Just this spring, the Kaiser Family Foundation ranked states by the number of hospital beds available per 1,000 residents. Kansas tied… more

University of Missouri Health Care listed among ‘most wired’ health systems in U.S.

University of Missouri Health Care has once again made the list of health systems recognized for “Most Wired” in 2020. This the system’s tenth consecutive year making the list in a survey by the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives,… more

Coping with COVID: Missouri Hospital Association adds flu monitoring tool to COVID-19 dashboard

A new tab on the Missouri Hospital Association COVID-19 dashboard will track influenza-like illness and is intended to help hospitals and health care workers manage resources during the approaching flu season with COVID-19 still very much present in Missouri. “A… more

Coping with COVID: Change in case count method causes positivity rate to drop in Johnson County

A shift in the way the positivity rate is being calculated in Johnson County, Kan. has resulted in a notable dip in the positivity rate. This week, the COVID-19 positivity rate fell by nearly half, decreasing from 11.3 percent to… more

Children’s Mercy scores millions for pediatric research

Kansas City-based Children’s Mercy announced on Wednesday a donation worth celebrating for its Genomic Answers for Kids research initiative. Donations brought in $16 million for the program which serves as the flagship initiative for the highly anticipated Children’s Mercy Research… more

Department of Veterans Affairs considers making move to Cerner patient portal

A major change could soon occur at the Department of Veterans Affairs, the VA considering making an EHR portal change. Discussion is underway for the department regarding possibly retiring its current EHR patient portal and making a switch to Cerner’s… more

KU Cancer Center hopes to achieve National Cancer Institute ‘comprehensive’ status

In the hopes of renewing its National Cancer Institute (NCI) designation, The University of Kansas Cancer Center announced Oct. 1 that it plans to submit an application to NCI next year to attain "comprehensive" status. This status is the NCI’s highest… more

Q&A with Jenny Housley

Q: Blue KC has announced that it’s getting back into the ACA marketplace for the coming enrollment period. What has changed in the broader insurance market that makes this the right move? A: Over the past couple of years, we… more

Saint Luke’s Health system to close two metro community hospitals by end of year

Two more Saint Luke’s Health System hospitals will be closing this year, Saint Luke’s Community Hospitals at 75th Street and Metcalf Avenue and 159th Street and 69 Highway in Overland Park to shut their doors by Dec. 30. These upcoming Saint… more