United Methodist Health Ministry Fund

10/30/2026

🎙 Our next episode of Pioneers in Health is now out!🎙

In this episode, we chat with Emily P***k, senior vice president of partnerships and organizing at Vot-ER.

Vot-ER is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization working to integrate civic engagement into healthcare. They develop tools and programs for every corner of the healthcare system — from private practitioners to medical schools to hospitals.

At Vot-ER, Emily works to help ensure health centers, associations, hospitals, health systems and academic partners have the resources and support they need to weave nonpartisan civic engagement materials into their healthcare spaces. Prior to her time at Vot-ER, Emily spent over a decade at Community Catalyst advancing health advocacy work at the local, state and national levels.

In this episode, she shares how throughout her career, she's always held a strong belief that people need access to high-quality, affordable, accessible and equitable healthcare.

"One of the most important ways to do that is by exercising different civic engagement and democratic opportunities, such as voting," Emily said.

Listen now, and learn more about the connection between health and voting.

🔊LISTEN NOW:
https://healthfund.org/a/pih-emily-polak/🔊

10/29/2026

New research from the First Five Years Fund and The Partnership for Early Success shows Kansas families say finding and affording child care is a serious problem, and they support lawmakers taking action to make it more affordable and accessible.

“This research highlights that Kansas families are feeling the financial stress from the high cost of living, including the sky high cost of child care. It’s clear Kansans are looking for financial relief," said David Jordan, president and CEO of the Health Fund. "Funding child care programs and tax credits that bring down the cost of care is a tangible way that policymakers can make life more affordable for Kansas families.”

LEARN MORE:
https://healthfund.org/a/new-kansas-poll-2026/

10/27/2026

The right care. At the right time. At the right place.

That’s mobile integrated healthcare-community paramedicine. This valuable healthcare model reduces strain on emergency departments, saves costs and helps provide improved patient care.

We were honored to travel with a group of about 40 healthcare and policy professionals to explore successful MIH-CP models throughout Missouri last week. We visited five different sites, including some of the first rural communities in the nation to integrate this model of care. The sites included Mid-America Regional Council, Carroll County Memorial Hospital, Osage Ambulance District, Washington County Ambulance District, and Citizens Memorial Hospital.

We were able to learn from these programs and hear what has worked well for them, toured their facilities and MIH-CP vehicles and even joined for a ride along to see care provided first hand.

We appreciate everyone who worked hard to make this learning trip possible and for all of those who carved out time in their busy schedules to join us.

10/26/2026

Thank you to the Washington County Ambulance District for hosting us on our learning trip last week.

We took about 40 professionals from a variety of different backgrounds to see how sites in Missouri are conducting their mobile integrated healthcare-community paramedicine programs.

At our stop in Potosi, Missouri, the Washington County Ambulance District shared more about their program, as well as let us ride along to see the program up close in action as they visited patients.

Thank you to everyone who helped make this visit happen and who joined us to learn more about this innovative model of healthcare.

10/15/2026

Check out our recent Pioneers in Health podcast episode with Dr. Jamila Michener. We dive into inequality and Medicaid, among other topics! Listen now on your favorite podcast platform.

10/13/2026

🗳 Today is the final day to register in order to vote in the November general election! Check out the link below to get started.

Tell a friend. 🥰 Get registered at KSVotes.org!

10/08/2026

🎙Our latest episode of Pioneers in Health is now out!🎙

In this episode, we chat with Dr. Jamila Michener. She is a professor of government and public policy at Cornell University. She studies poverty, racism and public policy, with a particular focus on health and housing.

She is also the author of “Fragmented Democracy: Medicaid, Federalism, and Unequal Politics” and “Uncivil Democracy: How Access to Justice Shapes Political Power." She is co-editor of Politics in the American States: A Comparative Analysis. She is the inaugural director of the Center for Racial Justice and Equitable Futures and senior associate dean for public engagement at the Brooks School of Public Policy. She also co-hosts and co-edits a podcast/multimodal online platform called Futures Forum.

She works closely with community-based organizations around the country to apply research insights to address urgent problems facing racially and economically marginalized communities.

In this episode, she shares how her childhood helped shape her future work in poverty, racism and public policy. She grew up in low-income Black and Brown communities in New York City. Her parents were immigrants who had low-wage, working-class jobs who worked hard to take care of their family. She grew up really attentive to the dynamics of inequality.

“In a city like New York City, which is where I grew up, you don’t have to look far to see people who live really differently than you do and to recognize that there are differences that seem somewhat arbitrary,” Jamila said. “You know, my parents worked really hard, but it didn’t seem like we had access to the same things that other people did. So I was always asking questions. I was always wondering why things were the way they were.”

🔊LISTEN NOW:
https://healthfund.org/a/pih-jamila-michener/

09/30/2026

The Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnostic, and Treatment (EPSDT) benefit—known in Kansas as KanBeHealthy (KBH)—is a cornerstone of primary and preventive care for children enrolled in Medicaid. EPSDT provides comprehensive preventive, diagnostic, and treatment services and guarantees coverage of medically necessary services needed to correct or ameliorate physical, developmental, behavioral, and mental health conditions. Effective delivery of EPSDT is critical to ensure that children receive timely identification of health concerns and access to services necessary to support healthy development.

Despite the importance of EPSDT, relatively little statewide information has been available regarding how consistently the benefit is delivered across Kansas or where challenges occur across the continuum of care. Existing administrative performance measures primarily assess receipt of preventive screenings but provide limited insight into provider knowledge and practices, referral processes, care coordination, or barriers encountered as children move from screening to medically necessary follow-up services.

To address these gaps, the University of Kansas School of Social Welfare, in partnership with the Health Fund, conducted a statewide assessment of EPSDT implementation. The assessment included a survey of 118 healthcare providers and organizations serving Medicaid-enrolled children across Kansas and interviews with representatives from all three Kansas Medicaid Managed Care Organizations (MCOs).

Together, these data provide insight into provider-reported implementation across the EPSDT continuum—from preventive screening through diagnostic assessment, referral, treatment, and ongoing care coordination—and the factors that may facilitate or hinder delivery.

➡ LEARN MORE:
https://healthfund.org/a/epsdt-statewide-assessment-released/

09/24/2026

🎙Our latest episode of Pioneers in Health is now available!🎙

In this episode, we welcome back our first-ever return guest, Clay Wirestone. He is the opinion editor at the Kansas Reflector and recently released a new book titled "Opinionated."

His book provides an eye-opening tour through the golden age of Kansas journalism and proves why local newspapers and incisive commentary are indispensable for an informed public. His book covers the 1920s through the 1970s.

Clay currently serves as one of just two-full time opinion writers in Kansas.

"While I think you cannot overstate the importance of reporters — you cannot overstate the importance of news coverage — there is something really special about a local opinion voice," he said. "And that is what I really emphasize in the book."

LISTEN NOW:
https://healthfund.org/a/pih-clay-wirestone2/

09/22/2026

🟢YEAR IN REVIEW: 2025🟢

As part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, Congress initially established the Rural Health Transformation Fund to help offset significant funding cuts to rural hospitals, clinics and other providers. It is now being used as part of a broader effort to improve health care in rural communities in the long term. States then submitted applications to the federal government to request funds through this effort.

The Health Fund was selected to serve on the Kansas Rural Health Innovation Alliance as a representative of Kansas Grantmakers in Health to help Kansas with its application. The alliance provided recommendations and guidance on how the funds could bolster rural health systems, communities and patients in a holistic manner by improving access and outcomes through workforce development, education, systems change and technology.

In early 2026, it was announced Kansas was awarded $221 million — the sixth-highest amount awarded among all states.

LEARN MORE about our 2025 efforts in our Year in Review here⬇:
https://healthfund.org/a/2025-year-in-review/