While treating patients remains a cornerstone mission, Kansas hospitals increasingly are moving outside the walls of their facilities to engage in activities aimed at improving the health of their communities. This focus on population health is driven by several factors, such as an aging population, an increased emphasis on disease prevention and a move away from a volume-based payment model to a value-based payment system.
Earlier this year, the Kansas Hospital Association (KHA) and the Kansas Health Institute (KHI) surveyed CEOs of KHA member hospitals and found that 75.5 percent of survey respondents agreed or strongly agreed that their hospitals should be engaged in population health work. As a follow-up to the survey, KHA and KHI conducted in-depth interviews with eight hospital leaders and their staff or partners from across the state to learn more about population health activities Kansas hospitals are implementing. The results of these interviews are highlighted in the below video.