Healthcare
Mental Health Crisis Center Set to Open Ahead Of Schedule
A new 16-bed mental health crisis center on Kansas City’s East Side could open as much as two months ahead of early projections. The target date is now July 1. Details approved this month by the City Council call for a $1 million contribution from Missouri-side hospitals toward annual operating costs of the Kansas City…
Take 5 For Your Health
Missouri Law Restricting Insurance Navigators Is Pre-Empted By ACA, Judge Rules A federal judge says that Obamacare navigators may dispense advice to those looking for insurance under the federal health reform law. U.S. District Judge Ortrie Smith on Wednesday struck down provisions of a Missouri law that bars insurance navigators from giving advice about health…
Kansas City Health-Funding Battle Headed to City Council
A simmering dispute over spending from a multimillion dollar health fund is scheduled to come to a head next Thursday as the Kansas City Council considers the city budget for the upcoming fiscal year. The budget would reallocate the $31 million in health levy funding that supports indigent care at six hospitals and clinics, including…
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Missouri, Kansas Health Centers Get Grants To Combat Opioid Abuse With overdose deaths from painkillers, or opioids, on the rise, the federal government is giving $3.8 million to health centers in Missouri and Kansas to combat the epidemic. The grants are among $94 million the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is awarding to…
Combating Cancer with a Vaccine
Human papillomavirus (HPV) is the most common of all sexually transmitted infections, with more than 100 different types. It causes almost all cases of cervical cancer, and to a lesser extent is to blame for several other cancers, including mouth and throat. A three-dose vaccine significantly reduces the chances of contracting an HPV-related cancer, especially…
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Kansas Nursing Homes Struggle To Cope With Medicaid Processing Backlogs Judy Kregar is not a member of the Rotary Club in nearby Greensburg, but she decided to go when she heard Gov. Sam Brownback would be at the club’s recent meeting. Kregar, the administrator of a small nursing home in nearby Bucklin, wanted to tell…
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Doctors Warn Of (Another) Early, Intense Spring Allergy Season In Kansas City The early spring weather Kansas City is expected to enjoy this weekend can be a mixed blessing for allergy sufferers. Doctors at Children Mercy Hospital in Kansas City report surges in pollen and mold have accompanied the blips of early warm weather the…
Does Zapping The Brain With Electricity Boost Creativity?
Would you wire your head to a battery if you thought it might help boost your brain function? A quick Internet search turns up lots of videos of at-home tinkerers with electrodes strapped to their heads and nervous looks on their faces. Inspired by anecdotes and a handful of studies showing it can temporarily improve…
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Analysis: Why The Kansas Senate Has A New Health Committee Leader Sen. Mary Pilcher-Cook offered an amendment to expand Medicaid earlier this month because she believed it would fail. A few days later, Senate President Susan Wagle removed Pilcher-Cook as chairwoman of the Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee because Pilcher-Cook pushed the amendment even…
KCK Social Service Organization Cuts Jobs
Hit by recent cuts in state mental health programs, Wyandot Inc., an umbrella organization for four nonprofit agencies in Kansas City, Kansas, has eliminated 26 positions. Six of the positions were vacant and won’t be filled and six other employees accepted transfers to other positions in the organization, leaving a total of 14 who lost…