Regional Health Care Assessment

About the Report

Building on work done in the 2015 assessment, Mid-America Regional Council, on behalf of the REACH Healthcare Foundation, published an update in 2018. The 2015 report explored health data and trends in the 11-county REACH healthcare region. The latest update, published in 2018, shows changes and trends as follows:

• Vulnerable populations are increasing and while the highest numbers are still geographically concentrated, these populations are dispersing as they grow, creating issues in new places. With a growing older adult population, the region will experience an increase in age-related health issues.
• The number of people with access to health insurance is increasing, primarily due to the Affordable Care Act. Had the states opted to extend Medicaid eligibility to a larger percent of the adult population, the number of uninsured would have been reduced even more. Geographic and racial disparities remain.
• Health outcome trends are improving, except for obesity and diabetes. Geographic disparities in health status remain significant due to concentrations of vulnerable populations.
• There are significant shortages of medical professionals in some areas.
• Health data continues to be fragmented and often not available at small enough geographies to make tactical decisions. The region needs a more collaborative and comprehensive system of collecting, accessing and using health data.
  

The report focuses on two overlapping geographical areas: the REACH Healthcare Foundation's geographic service area, which includes Johnson, Wyandotte and Allen counties in Kansas and Jackson, Cass and Lafayette counties in Missouri, plus those portions of the city of Kansas City that are within Clay and Platte counties; and the MARC region, which includes Johnson, Leavenworth, Miami and Wyandotte counties in Kansas and Cass, Clay, Jackson, Platte and Ray counties in Missouri.

Throughout this website, “KC Metro region” refers to these 11 counties, unless otherwise specified. Some data refers to the Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), which covers 14 area counties. Counties with small populations, such as Allen County, are not included in some instances. Date ranges vary by source data. In all cases, the most current data available at the time of publication was used. For a list of data resources used for this website and report, visit our Resources page. For copies of previous reports, contact Marlene Nagel at marcinfo@marc.org.

11 counties • 2,013,004 People