Alex Smith
Health Reporter
Alex Smith is a health reporter with Heartland Health Monitor, a reporting collaboration among KCUR Public Radio, KCPT Public Television, KHI News Service and Kansas Public Radio. He is based at KCUR.
Stories by Alex Smith
Facing layoffs and closures, rural hospitals push for medicaid expansion
If you’re in the market for fluorescent light bulbs, you might talk to Chris Smiley. In the past few weeks, she’s been trying to sell off what’s left of Sac-Osage Hospital. “Casework, lighting, plumping, sinks, toilets. Anything you want,” Smiley says. That’s not in her job description. She’s actually the CEO of Sac-Osage, a hospital…
When is genomic sequencing worth the cost?
In a Children’s Mercy Hospital lab, what look like hotel minibars with keyboards attached line the walls. These are the latest generation of genome sequencing machines, light years ahead of the first sequencing technology. In 2003, after 13 years, scientists finished mapping the first human genome – that’s more than 3 billion pairs of DNA...
Pace is slow, but enrollment is up for ACA in Kansas and Missouri
Thousands of Kansans and Missourians signed up for insurance on the federal exchange last week, though the pace has slowed since the first several robust weeks of the second Affordable Care Act open enrollment period.
Why Missouri Medicaid expansion for veterans gets mixed reviews
The Veteran’s Family Healthcare Act, which would provide Medicaid coverage for veterans, their spouses and dependent children with incomes between 19 percent and 138 percent of the federal poverty level.
Missouri health advocates say they’re happy with ACA enrollment numbers
At roughly the midpoint of the second Affordable Care Act open-enrollment period, health advocates say they’re happy with the number of people signing up in Missouri. Ryan Barker, vice president of health policy at the Missouri Foundation for Health, said that more than 102,000 people enrolled in health plans in the first month alone. In...
KC flu ‘epidemic’? It’s not as scary as it sounds
The phrase “flu epidemic” might raise alarm bells for some, but don’t let headlines about this season’s outbreak scare you too much. “The ‘epidemic’ designation is basically just a way we characterizes whether flu season has started or not,” says Erin Burns, a health communications specialist with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s influenza...
In Missouri legislature, stage may be set for more abortion restrictions
Missouri’s abortion regulations, among the strictest in the nation, may get even stricter. Several lawmakers have already pre-filed abortion-related legislation in both the state House of Representatives and Senate.
How prepared are Kansas and Missouri for disease outbreaks?
Kansas and Missouri rank in the bottom half of states in preparedness for potential outbreaks of infectious diseases like Ebola, Enterovirus and ‘superbugs,’ according to a report released Thursday.
Why are minorities diagnosed with autism at lower rates than whites?
For many Hispanic parents, getting help for their autistic children is a challenge. And that often starts with the failure to identify the disorder in the first place, says Jason Travers, an assistant professor in the special education department at the University of Kansas.
KC Checkup: seven questions for Carrie O’Toole
Like many people in rural, medically underserved areas, many of Kansas’ Native American groups struggle with health problems. The four largest groups – the Iowa, Kickapoo, Prairie Band Potawatomi, and Sac and Fox – live in isolated reservations in northeastern parts of the state. In August, the tribes held a Kansas Tribal Health Summit, the…