Access to Health Care

Access to health care is fundamental to the mission of the Health Care Foundation of Greater Kansas City. As our mission states, we aim to provide leadership, advocacy and resources that eliminate barriers to health for the uninsured and underserved in our service area.

In the health care industry, safety net health care represents the diverse group of providers that serve these vulnerable populations. It’s where people go for health care when they have nowhere else to go. Perhaps they lack traditional employer-based health care because of lost a job, or they may be individuals with mental or physical disabilities. These individuals do not have the option to choose from a large list of private health care providers. They often visit the nearest public health department, community clinic or public hospital - providers that accept Medicaid or provide sliding-scale services. These organizations have organizational and legal missions to be providers of last resort.

Safety net providers offer important community services with limited resources, and are continually stretched beyond capacity. Our difficult economic times only exacerbate their needs through increased demand for their services.

At the Health Care Foundation of Greater Kansas City, we take seriously our dedication to our local safety net providers by providing support through our foundation defined grants, while being an advocate for vulnerable populations.

Resources

National

  • Netsmart

  • Families USA, May 30, 2014

  • Kaiser Family Foundation, Oct. 23, 2013

  • Kaiser Family Foundation, November 2013

  • Kaiser Family Foundation, infographic courtesy of the Journal of American Medical Association, May 15, 2013

  • Kaiser Family Foundation, infographic courtesy of the Journal of American Medical Association, Aug. 28, 2013

  • Health Affairs/Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Aug. 15, 2013

  • Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

  • Policy brief, Kaiser Family Foundation, March 22, 2012

  • The Kaiser Family Foundation, Oct. 12, 2011

  • The Commonwealth Fund

  • Kaiser Family Foundation, September 1, 2011

  • The Commonwealth Fund, July 15, 2011.

  • Kaiser Foundation, May 2011.

  • Baseline data and tools to help monitor the status of local safety nets in providing health care to low-income and other vulnerable populations; U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality

  • The Commonwealth Fund, May 2010

  • The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, December 2010.

  • U.S. Census Bureau, September 2010.

Regional

News

Regional

  • St. Louis Public Radio, Aug. 7, 2015
    2015-08-07 08:21
  • By Mike Sherry for Flatland, July 30, 2015
    2015-08-07 07:40
  • KHI News Service, Aug. 4, 2015
    2015-08-05 14:36
  • KHI News Service, Aug. 3, 2015
    2015-08-05 14:30
  • Stanford Medicine News Center, Aug. 3, 2015
    2015-08-05 14:22
  • Modern Healthcare, July 21, 2015
    2015-07-22 11:29