Health Care of Greater Kansas City

Of all the households in the United States, 2.3 million, or 2.2 percent, live more than a mile from a supermarket and do not have access to a vehicle. An additional 3.4 million households, or 3.2 percent of all households, live between one-half to 1 mile and do not have access to a vehicle.

Rural residents have higher rates of age-adjusted mortality, disability, and chronic disease than their metropolitan counterparts.

In 2009, 81% of commuters drove alone in Kansas City, Missouri, and 3.4% used public transportation.

In Missouri, the unmet need for domestic violence shelters was at its highest rates in 30 years in 2009, increasing by 60 percent - 10,506 women, children and men received shelter, while 15,106 were turned away.

Kids are less active today, and 23% of children get no free time physical activity at all.

The estimated total cost from heart disease and stroke in the United States for 2007 (including health expenditures and lost productivity) was $286 billion.

In 2008, the United States spent over $93 billion in direct medical costs on cancer, creating a direct economic impact of nearly $230 billion due to these costs and lost productivity due to illness and premature death.

Obesity accounts for over 9% of all health spending in the United States, or $147 billion per year in 2008.

The main burden of mental illness is concentrated among a smaller proportion (about 6 percent, or 1 in 17) that suffers from a seriously debilitating mental illness.

The Food Desert Oasis Act of 2009 would officially designate Kansas City, Missouri – and 19 other cities as food deserts.

Abuse of alcohol and use of smokeless tobacco is a significant problem among rural youth.

In 2008, Kansas City ranked 34th out of the 40 largest U.S. cities in walkability.

The death rate from heart diseases declined 27.8 percent from 1997 to 2007, and the stroke death rate fell 44.8 percent. However, during the same period, the total number of inpatient cardiovascular operations and procedures increased 27 percent. This indicates that while people are living longer with heart disease due to advances and increases in treatment, the disease burden on the population is still very high.

Nearly 20 percent of the U.S. population, or 60 million people, live in rural areas, yet only 8% of all physicians work there.

Increasing Missouri’s cigarette tax from $0.17 per pack to $1.00 per pack would raise nearly $400 million per year in state revenue while saving thousands of lives. The long-term health care savings from the decline in smoking would be over $2 billion.

People in the highest income group can expect to live, on average, at least six and a half years longer than those in the lowest. Even those in the middle (families of four making $41,300 to $82,600 a year in 2007) will die, on average, two years sooner than those at the top.

Many more Americans are using Medicaid than in past years. Enrollments have accelerated since the recession, bringing the total number of Americans enrolled in Medicaid to nearly 49 million.

Children can stay on their parents’ health insurance plan until age 26.

This year, over 562,000 Americans are expected to die of cancer - that's more than 1,500 people a day. Cancer is the second most common cause of death in the United States, exceeded only by heart disease. Cancer accounts for nearly 1 out of every 4 deaths in the United States.

The Childhood obesity rate has more than tripled over the past three decades, and today nearly one in three children are obese.

Each year an estimated 46,000 non-smokers die from heart disease caused by secondhand smoke. Another 3,400 non-smokers die from lung cancer caused by second-hand smoke.

In Missouri, the costs of poor health literacy are estimated to be $3.3 billion to $7.5 billion each year.

Insurance companies will no longer be able to deny coverage due to pre-existing conditions, or place lifetime benefit limits on those covered.

Children exposed to traffic pollution are more likely to have asthma, permanent lung deficits, and a higher risk of heart and lung problems as adults.

Nearly 40% of Missourians and nearly 30% of Kansans did not visit a dentist in the past year.

A 2009 survey to key health information leaders and managers indicated that they believed health information technology could most impact improvements in quality outcomes.

The number of Americans who smoke has decreased over the past decade, but as of 2010, nearly 20% of all adults smoked.

Between 20 to 25% of the U.S. homeless population suffers from some form of severe mental illness.

The safety net population, those who are either uninsured or on Medicaid, totals nearly 450,000 people in Metropolitan Kansas City – almost 25 percent of the entire population. Over 245,000 of these people are uninsured, while nearly 204,000 are receiving Medicaid benefits.

Before the Polio vaccine arrived in 1955, Polio caused nearly 2,000 deaths and 16,000 cases of paralysis each year. Polio has since been virtually eliminated from the Western Hemisphere.

More than 1.1 million Americans are infected with HIV, yet it’s estimated that 21% of these individuals are unaware of their HIV positive status. Someone in the U.S. is infected with HIV every 9½ minutes.

Nearly 55 million people or almost 20 percent of the U.S. population speak a language other than English at home.

Mental disorders are common in the United States, and in a given year approximately one quarter of adults are diagnosable for one or more disorders. Only a fraction of those affected receive treatment.

While Kansas City, Missouri experienced a 125 percent increase in bicycle commuting from 2000-2009, bicyclists only make up 0.28% of commuters, placing Kansas City 63rd out of the 70 largest communities.

More than 1 in 4 Missourians age 65 or older have lost all of their teeth and more than 1 in 2 have lost six or more teeth. In Kansas, 1 in 5 seniors have lost all of their teeth, while nearly 43% have lost six or more teeth.

Cigarette taxes reduce the number of smokers, particularly among youth. These taxes can also raise needed public revenue to treat the negative health effects of smoking and second-hand smoke.

Research suggests that there is no one absolute best way in which to treat adult mental illness. There is no one program that will be effective for everyone. The most effective program depends on a number of variables including diagnosis, age of onset, social support, etc. Treatment can include individual or group therapy and counseling, medication, case management, social support, skills training, and more.

Employment of registered nurses is expected to grow by 22 percent from 2008 to 2018, much faster than the average for all occupations. National reports estimate a national nursing shortage of up to one million nurses in the next 10-15 years.

A total of 49,215 women, children and men received residential and non-residential domestic violence services in Missouri in 2009. The total unmet requests for those services was 18,821.

African-American women have lower rates of breast cancer than white women, but are more likely to die from the disease.

The obesity rate in the Kansas City region is just over 30 percent.

Before measles immunizations were available, nearly everyone in the U.S. contracted measles. If measles vaccinations were stopped, each year 2.7 million measles deaths could be expected worldwide.

Low and moderate income families will receive financial help to purchase insurance.

Since 2006, 82 of 213 grocery stores serving Kansas communities with populations of 2,500 or less have closed.

Chlamydia, Gonorrhea and Syphilis remain STD risks. Missouri ranked 16th in the U.S. for Chlamydia infections and 14th for Gonorrhea and Syphilis.

Number of low-income residents in the HCF service area living more than one mile from the nearest grocery store:

• Jackson County - 36,713
• Cass County -9,951
• Lafayette County - 4,757
• Wyandotte County - 12,914
• Johnson County - 9,853
• Allen County - 2,268

In 2008, homicide was the 10th leading cause of death for Kansas City residents, and 7th among males. Among non-Hispanic blacks it was the 3rd leading cause. Nationally, homicide was the 15th leading cause of death.

Registered nurses (RNs) constitute the largest healthcare occupation, with 2.6 million jobs, and about 60 percent of all RN jobs are in hospitals.

There are 297 domestic violence shelter beds in Metropolitan Kansas City.

Large metropolitan areas have 62 dentists per 100,000 people versus 29 per 100,000 people in the most rural counties.