Feds sending Kansas rural hospitals $23.5M to fight COVID. Only Texas is getting more
Kansas’ small rural hospitals will get $23.5 million from the federal government to fight COVID-19 — the second most of any state as health officials brace for a delta-driven case surge.
The funds from the Department of Health and Human Services amount to reinforcements as Missouri, which will receive $8.3 million, struggles with a growing number of outbreaks that Kansas officials fear will creep across the state line.
The White House, which announced the funding on Monday, said the dollars will boost mitigation efforts and testing at the facilities, a critical element in controlling the virus’s spread.
Kansas, with a significant network of small hospitals to serve vast rural areas, is second only to Texas’s $29.7 million in the amount it will receive. In total, HHS is sending 46 states nearly $400 million.
“The Biden Administration recognizes the important role that small rural hospitals have in closing the equity gap and ensuring that rural Americans can protect themselves and their communities from COVID-19,” HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a statement. “Today’s funding will help small rural hospitals continue to serve their communities in this critical role by expanding their COVID-19 testing capacity and mitigation efforts.”
The funding will go toward the smallest rural facilities, known as critical access hospitals, which have fewer than 50 beds. Ninety-one hospitals in Kansas and 32 hospitals in Missouri will receive funding.
The announcement comes as cases spiral upwards across portions of Missouri. The average for confirmed daily cases has risen from 355 a month ago to 833 on Monday. The average number of hospitalizations has risen from 692 to 968 over the same period.
Major hospitals in Springfield are stretched to the limit and now treating more COVID patients than during the state’s previous peak this winter. Hospital officials are begging residents to get vaccinated while expecting patient counts will continue to climb for weeks.
Cases have also begun to rise in Kansas, though not as aggressively. The state reported 372 cases on July 7, the most since early March. Hospitalizations have been relatively stable over the past month, fluctuating between 140 and 160 patients.
After delta spread across Missouri nearly unchecked, officials in Kansas and elsewhere are scrambling to shore up their defenses to avoid a similar outcome. Since April, the number of COVID-19 tests being performed in Kansas had been trending down but bottomed out in June and is now slowly going up again. Kansas reported 4,701 tests on July 7, the most since May 19.
Local officials in rural areas have been working to increase testing and vaccination as cases rise.
Vaccination rates across Kansas are higher than Missouri. About 25% of the population in Doniphan County, the least vaccinated county in Kansas, has initiated vaccination. In several Missouri counties, fewer than 20% of the population has initiated vaccination.
Speaking to reporters last week, Gov. Laura Kelly said she did not believe the state needed to follow Missouri’s lead and request surge assistance from the federal government yet.
“We know we’ve had little spikes here and there. If we need help we won’t hesitate to ask,” Kelly said.
Sen. Roger Marshall said in a statement the funding “ensures health care workers have the resources necessary to serve their communities.”
Rep. Jake LaTurner said it is imperative that his constituents, especially those in the southeast corner of the state where the variant is spreading at higher rates, get vaccinated.
However, he said he would not accept federal, state or local mandates for vaccines.
“We can see the light at the end of the tunnel as it relates to COVID and we don’t need to allow this Delta variant to throw us off track. We need to stay the course, make sure people are getting vaccinated,” LaTurner said.
Cindy Samuelson, a Kansas Hospital Association spokeswoman, said the dollars will likely be split between rural hospitals and that participating hospitals will be encouraged to coordinate with their communities to determine the best use.
Kansas hospitals, she said, need to be prepared for the arrival of the spikes occurring in Missouri.
“Each community is probably going to be a little different in how they look at their needs … that fall into those buckets of testing and mitigation,” Samuelson said. “It will continue to be important as COVID changes from what we’ve been working under with potential differences and variants.
It’s unclear, Samuelson said, when the federal funding will become available but hospitals can begin planning now.
The federal grants will help the rural hospitals “tailor mitigation efforts to reflect the needs of local communities,” the Biden administration said, a topic Missouri Gov. Mike Parson clashed with the White House over last week.
After Biden said his administration’s recently announced vaccination outreach campaign could include door-to-door efforts, Parson wrote on social media that doing so would be unwelcome in Missouri.
Both administrations then emphasized the need to find outreach methods specific to each local community.
The Star’s Jeanne Kuang contributed reporting
This story was originally published July 12, 2021 at 2:14 PM with the headline "Feds sending Kansas rural hospitals $23.5M to fight COVID. Only Texas is getting more."
