RURAL HEALTH WORKS

THe organization and delivery of health care services have undergone rapid evolution in recent years. For many Americans, the cost of services and access to care are important issues. This certainly is true in many rural areas where communities have struggled to maintain affordable, quality health care systems. As economic forces and technical advances continue to change health care, it is more important than ever for rural community leaders and health care providers to work together to ensure affordable, sustainable health care systems. In an effort to provide useful information resources to rural community and health care leaders, the Kansas Rural Health Options Project (KRHOP) has teamed with the Office of Local Government, a unit of the Department of Agricultural Economics and K-State Resarch and Extension.

In 2004, the Kansas Rural Health Works program generated an economic analysis of the local health care system for every rural county in the state. Those reports are found on the County Impact Reports page of this website. In 2004, the program began to offer direct technical assistance to communities interested in strengthening the local health care system. Through a community engagement process, the Rural Health Works program generates several information resources designed to help identify high-priority issues for community action. To learn more about the community engagement process, the local information resources, and how your community can request assistance, visit the Community Engagement page of this website.

Kansas Rural Health Works is funded by the Medicare Rural Hospital Flexibility (FLEX) Grant to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment Office of Local and Rural Health (Grant No. 5 H54 RH 00009 03) from the Office of Rural Health Policy, Health Resources and Services Administration.

For more information about the Kansas Rural Health Works program, contact
Dr. Aaron Lusby, Department of Agricultural Economics, K-State Research and Extension, at 785-532-2643, alusby@agecon.ksu.edu.

Office of Local Government
Department of Agricultural Economics
Kansas State University
10E Umberger Hall
Manhattan, KS 66506-3415
Phone: (785) 532-2643
Fax: (785) 532-3093
olg@agecon.ksu.edu
http://www.oznet.ksu.edu/olg