Health

Gov. Sam Brownback and others in his administration are challenging a recent national report that ranked Kansas low for public health preparedness.

The critical report was issued by the non-profit Trust for America's Health. In it, Kansas and Montana tied for last place in rankings of public health preparedness. That means the state isn't as prepared as others to respond to public health threats, such as infectious diseases, food-borne illnesses, bio-terrorism, even extreme weather events.

Kansas is being rewarded by the federal government for improving access to children's health coverage, and enrolling kids in low-cost insurance from the federal and state government.

The reward comes in the form of a $12 million performance bonus from CMS - the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The bonus is meant to help offset the added state costs associated with the Children’s Health Insurance Program, known in Kansas as HealthWave.

A new report on the nation's public health preparedness finds Kansas tied with Montana for last place.

The report from the non-profit Trust For America’s Health is based on 10 measures of readiness for a public health emergency, such as bioterror, extreme weather, and disease outbreaks. Kansas met only three of the ten standards.

This comes on the heels of another report about a month ago from the charitable group, Save The Children. It found that Kansas failed to meet all four of their measures of preparedness for disasters affecting children.

A Lawrence man has been appointed to the newly-created position of KanCare Ombudsman. 

James Bart is a former corporate attorney. More importantly, perhaps, he’s the father of a 19-year-old son with developmental disabilities. As such, the young man will be a KanCare consumer.

As ombudsman, Bart’s job is to help consumers with any problems they may have with benefits, services, and access under the privatized Medicaid system called KanCare.

“I’m going to be the person that says what’s your needs, and how can I fulfill that?" he says.