President's Perspective – KHA Recognizes Sen. Carolyn McGinn
(Aug. 16, 2024) – The Kansas Hospital Association Distinguished Health Care Advocate Award honors those individuals, organizations or groups who provide an exemplary contribution to the health and well-being of the people of Kansas through their leadership in public, political or policy areas. This award provides KHA members the opportunity to recognize those who work on our behalf from outside our ranks. At any level of the public spectrum, these award recipients are unique, and their outstanding commitment to the health of Kansas is extraordinary, including this year's honoree Senator Carolyn McGinn.
Carolyn McGinn served in the Kansas Senate from 2004-2024 and championed work across various health care issues. Sen. McGinn's work in behavioral health and her passion for justice for persons with behavioral health needs cannot be overestimated. Her unwavering advocacy for access to high-quality care for persons marginalized by behavioral health issues shone. She was instrumental in establishing a behavioral health hospital in South Central Kansas to supplement the work of Larned and Osawatomie State Hospitals. The new hospital, under construction in southwest Wichita, will provide 100 psychiatric beds for Kansans who are in desperate need of access to humane, dignified care and caring closer to home.
During her 20-year Senate tenure, she consistently supported Kansas hospitals. She is steadfast in her support of Medicaid expansion. In March 2024, she chaired a Senate committee informational hearing on the matter. She also supported limiting administrative burdens under the KanCare program, leveraging technology through telehealth and supporting a bill to protect health care workers against on-the-job violence. Kansas health care workers appreciated her support of this legislation, which was signed into law in 2023, helping to provide harsher penalties for those who assault health care staff.
Sen. McGinn also was key to getting more transparency in the billing practices of nurse staffing agencies. Her work in the Social Determinants of Healthcare space has made a difference, as well as her passion for meeting the needs of people in or close to the community where they live. She has fought hard to procure funding for hospitals and other organizations that provide medical and behavioral health care to persons who are too sick to work, too sick to become economically independent and who need to be transported to state facilities. She helped provide a path toward a sensibly funded safety net, especially for behavioral health disorders that have been a long time coming in Kansas.
On behalf of the KHA membership, I congratulate Senator Carolyn McGinn as the 2024 KHA Distinguished Health Care Advocate! We hope you can join us in recognizing her at the KHA Awards Luncheon on Sept. 5, during the KHA Convention and Trade Show in Overland Park.
--Chad Austin