What Happened to Health in Kansas?
Priorities for Reversing a Long-Term Decline in Health Ranking
Study participants identified 52 concerns. The top four were:
Closure of rural hospitals and health care services
Lack of Medicaid expansion
Limited availability of mental health services
Low public health funding
Other high priority issues included chronic disease, obesity, income and wealth inequality, rural workforce shortages, housing access, lack of a culture of health, and system fragmentation.
Participants emphasized structural and system-level drivers of Kansas’ health ranking decline, rather than individual behaviors. The findings underscore that policy decisions, underinvestment and infrastructure gaps are key contributors to the state’s health outcomes.