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PITTSBURG —
A national study examining health factors for all 50 states ranked Kansas at or near the middle in most of its categories.
But at the same time, the report, released by the non-profit United Health Foundation, revealed that the state still had a long way to go in areas such as low per capita public health funding, limited access to primary care and a high occupational fatalities rate.
Overall, the study ranks Kansas 24th nationally in health, compared with 23rd place in the same survey last year. Vermont was the country’s best state for health, while Mississippi ranked worst.
“Even though Kansas declined slightly this year in the rankings, there are a number of strengths with the health of Kansans,” said Roderick L. Bremby, Secretary of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. “Kansas’ strengths include few poor mental health and physical health days, a low incidence of infectious disease and a low prevalence of binge drinking. And, while some areas, such as smoking prevalence, are not where we would like them to be, the decreases are encouraging.”
Kansans are working tough — ranking sixth nationally in poor mental health days and eighth nationally in poor physical health days. Kansas also ranked 10th in incidence of infectious disease.
But the state also faces significant challenges, including public health funding set at just $41 per person, ranking 45th in the country. The top state saw public funding at almost five times that level, or $220 per person. The figure was up from 46th place last year, when funding was at $38 per person.
The state also struggles with limited availability of primary care physicians, with 101.2 physicians per 100,000 population. That rate was good for 38th in the country. Krista Postai, Community Health Center of Southeast Kansas CEO, said that figure was largely related to Kansas’s status as a rural state.
“Kansas historically has had a short supply of all medical providers,” Postai said. “The issue there is that with most of the state being rural, you have multiple counties where there isn’t a medical provider. When you get out to western Kansas, it’s difficult to lure doctors. They’ve had a shortage of providers for decades.”
Postai said urban areas didn’t face the same challenges.
The state also struggles with some supplemental measures, including ranking 39th in cholesterol check and 45th in keeping up with daily fruits and vegetables.
Locally, Mt. Carmel Regional Medical Center has made outreach efforts to attempt to curb some of those health problems, offering health fairs and screening events to test for cholesterol, blood pressure, body mass index and weight. According to Chris Kelly, Mt. Carmel director of community relations, the hospital has conducted more than 30 such events this year.
Mt. Carmel also offers other outreach efforts, such as the Mobile Mammography van and smoking cessation classes to aid in health education.
Kansas’s other main issue is that it ranks 39th in occupational fatalities rate at 6.7 deaths per 100,000 workers.
Some trends showed improvement, while others were cause for concern. Poor mental health days increased from 2.6 percent to 2.9 percent in the past year. In the past five years, state obesity has risen from 22.6 percent to 28 percent. At the same time, since 1990, smoking has dropped from 30.2 percent to 17.8 percent, while children aged 19-35 months have fared better recently with regard to complete immunization coverage (78.2 percent) than they did a few years ago (35.7).
“While the state has made some improvements, there is still much work to be done in Kansas,” Bremby said. “Over the past year the prevalence of obesity has seen an increase and the amount of public health funding in Kansas remains troubling.”
Kansas’s overall ranking was the highest of the four-state area, followed by Missouri (38), Arkansas (40) and Oklahoma (49), but trailed neighboring Colorado (8) and Nebraska (16).
A copy of the full report can be located at www.unitedhealthfoundation.org/ahr.html
A national study examining health factors for all 50 states ranked Kansas at or near the middle in most of its categories.
But at the same time, the report, released by the non-profit United Health Foundation, revealed that the state still had a long way to go in areas such as low per capita public health funding, limited access to primary care and a high occupational fatalities rate.
Overall, the study ranks Kansas 24th nationally in health, compared with 23rd place in the same survey last year. Vermont was the country’s best state for health, while Mississippi ranked worst.
“Even though Kansas declined slightly this year in the rankings, there are a number of strengths with the health of Kansans,” said Roderick L. Bremby, Secretary of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. “Kansas’ strengths include few poor mental health and physical health days, a low incidence of infectious disease and a low prevalence of binge drinking. And, while some areas, such as smoking prevalence, are not where we would like them to be, the decreases are encouraging.”
Kansans are working tough — ranking sixth nationally in poor mental health days and eighth nationally in poor physical health days. Kansas also ranked 10th in incidence of infectious disease.
But the state also faces significant challenges, including public health funding set at just $41 per person, ranking 45th in the country. The top state saw public funding at almost five times that level, or $220 per person. The figure was up from 46th place last year, when funding was at $38 per person.
The state also struggles with limited availability of primary care physicians, with 101.2 physicians per 100,000 population. That rate was good for 38th in the country. Krista Postai, Community Health Center of Southeast Kansas CEO, said that figure was largely related to Kansas’s status as a rural state.
“Kansas historically has had a short supply of all medical providers,” Postai said. “The issue there is that with most of the state being rural, you have multiple counties where there isn’t a medical provider. When you get out to western Kansas, it’s difficult to lure doctors. They’ve had a shortage of providers for decades.”
Postai said urban areas didn’t face the same challenges.
The state also struggles with some supplemental measures, including ranking 39th in cholesterol check and 45th in keeping up with daily fruits and vegetables.
Locally, Mt. Carmel Regional Medical Center has made outreach efforts to attempt to curb some of those health problems, offering health fairs and screening events to test for cholesterol, blood pressure, body mass index and weight. According to Chris Kelly, Mt. Carmel director of community relations, the hospital has conducted more than 30 such events this year.
Mt. Carmel also offers other outreach efforts, such as the Mobile Mammography van and smoking cessation classes to aid in health education.
Kansas’s other main issue is that it ranks 39th in occupational fatalities rate at 6.7 deaths per 100,000 workers.
Some trends showed improvement, while others were cause for concern. Poor mental health days increased from 2.6 percent to 2.9 percent in the past year. In the past five years, state obesity has risen from 22.6 percent to 28 percent. At the same time, since 1990, smoking has dropped from 30.2 percent to 17.8 percent, while children aged 19-35 months have fared better recently with regard to complete immunization coverage (78.2 percent) than they did a few years ago (35.7).
“While the state has made some improvements, there is still much work to be done in Kansas,” Bremby said. “Over the past year the prevalence of obesity has seen an increase and the amount of public health funding in Kansas remains troubling.”
Kansas’s overall ranking was the highest of the four-state area, followed by Missouri (38), Arkansas (40) and Oklahoma (49), but trailed neighboring Colorado (8) and Nebraska (16).
A copy of the full report can be located at www.unitedhealthfoundation.org/ahr.html
