Kansas Health Institute | Information For Policy Makers. Health for Kansans.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Three Kansas programs have been awarded federal grants for their rural health work.

The grants are part of a $32 million package announced this week by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

“These funds reflect the priorities spelled out by President Obama in providing the best health care possible to rural Americans,” said HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, in a prepared statement. “The ultimate goal is to build healthier rural populations and communities.”

The Kansas grants:

• $727,738 to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment from the Medicare Rural Hospital Flexibility Program. The program allows small hospitals in rural areas to be relicensed as Critical Access Hospitals, and to receive cost-based reimbursement for Medicare acute inpatient and outpatient services, according to KDHE. The program also encourages rural hospitals to develop collaborative health care delivery systems and to improve the hospitals’ financial and operating performance.

A total of $22 million in grants were made to entities in 45 states for this program. It is a renewal grant and will continue to fund the state’s existing program, said Kristi Pankratz, a KDHE spokesperson.

• $200,000 for Hays Medical Center from the Rural Health Workforce Development Grant. The hospital will use the funds for its Northwest Kansas Health Alliances RN Residency Program, said spokeswoman Tammy Jacob, which involves the Hays hospital, twenty-three Critical Access Hospitals, and the North Central Kansas Technical College. The proposed twelve-week RN residency program focuses on the recruitment and retention of registered nurses in the rural Critical Access Hospitals.

More than $3 million in one-time grants were awarded for the health workforce development program.

• $325,000 for the University of Kansas Medical Center Research Institute, Inc. in Kansas City from the Telehealth Network Grant Program.

The medical center will use the grant to start the Heartland Telehealth Resource Center, which will serve Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma, said CJ Janovy, a medical center spokesperson.

Almost $1.3 million was made available for the telehealth program, which will “help communities build capacity to develop sustainable telehealth programs and networks,” according to HHS.