Communications

(April 12, 2024) – For the past two weeks, the Kansas Hospital Association has been traveling across Kansas and hosting our 2024 KHA Spring District Meetings. The meetings, which wrap up today, have been a great opportunity to meet with KHA members and discuss timely information about the pertinent issues facing Kansas hospitals. The chance to engage and network with peers serves many purposes, but most of all an opportunity to learn from each other and to share experiences. Thank you to all our members who attended.

Each KHA district meeting was kicked off with education about the Kansas Medical Society's Professionals' Health Program. The program, which has been available to Kansas health care providers for more than 30 years, provides resources and support to individuals needing assistance. Thank you to Mikel Thomas, MD, who joined us at all six meetings. If you have any follow-up questions or need to refer a health care provider to Kansas' professional wellness program, please contact Angela Grittman at (785) 231-1306.

The two most pressing topics for KHA members were also on the agenda: finance and workforce. We discussed managing payer denials, highlighted new data in the All Payers Scorecard and shared financial benchmarking and other best practices. In the area of workforce, we shared new turnover and vacancy rate data and surveyed members on current changes they are seeing.

Our current public perception campaign was also highlighted, and members were encouraged to launch local campaigns to complement our statewide efforts. This statewide campaign, "We Put Our Hearts Into It" has a goal to improve the public perception of health care in Kansas and Kansas hospitals. Key messages, photos, videos, storyboards, social posts and scripts are available in an online shared folder for KHA members.

Members also had the chance to learn the latest on KHA’s advocacy efforts on the state and federal level. On the federal side, members heard about the recent budget discussions and remaining policy issues, including those that deal with site-neutral payments and the 340B drug discount program. We also discussed the status of several state legislative priority issues that were considered during the regular portion of the 2024 Kansas legislative session. A few of the legislative highlights focused on the proposed Medicaid rate increases, behavioral health investments and workforce initiatives that were adopted by the legislature.

Planning for the future was an important focus of these meetings. KHA collected valuable feedback on the future and insight into KHA’s vision, mission, values and strategic priorities for the 2025-2027 KHA Strategic Plan. The feedback and results we collected will be shared with the KHA Board of Directors at their meeting in May as they draft the next three-year plan. We will bring this plan back to KHA members for review at the Fall District Meetings.

As you think of the future, please make sure and mark your calendar for the 2024 Kansas Hospital Association Annual Convention and Trade Show, Champions of Change, Sept. 5-6 in Overland Park. As always, we greatly appreciate our KHA sponsors: Diamond-Level Sponsors: APS, KAMMCO, and KHSC; Platinum-Level Sponsor: Qualivis. Thanks to all of you who attended our Spring District Meetings. Your participation and involvement were much appreciated! Don’t hesitate to let us know if you have any questions or need additional assistance1
--Chad Austin