Small and rural hospitals face growing compliance demands with limited staff, time and resources. Michelle Spanier, RHIT, CCS, CCEP, explains why trusted partners can help strengthen processes, support patient care and ease the burden without adding bigger internal teams.
Tammy Elliott, RN, reflects on her journey from 27 years in a critical access hospital to statewide quality improvement work with KFMC, carrying the lessons of rural health care into every project she supports.
This session highlighted how Community Health Workers (CHWs) are being leveraged across Kansas to address complex community needs through cross-sector collaboration.
Independent review plays a vital role in today’s complex health care system. Michelle Spanier, RHIT, CCS, CCEP, explains how objective review protects patients, supports providers and strengthens trust through fair, evidence-based decisions.
What does nursing have to do with quality review? For Tammy Elliott, RN, everything. In this heartfelt reflection, she shares how one young patient shaped her career and why clinical thinking still matters far beyond the bedside.
KFMC, the Kansas Health Opportunities Coalition, Healthy Blue, and Upside hosted a webinar exploring how stable housing supports better health outcomes. The session highlighted how partnerships across healthcare and housing systems are helping Medicaid members find and maintain safe, supportive housing in Kansas and beyond.
On November 19, 2025, in honor of US Antibiotic Awareness Week, KFMC Health Improvement Partners and KDHE’s HAI AR Section hosted the “Shorter is Better: Optimizing Antibiotic Prescribing to Improve Health Outcomes” webinar. If you missed the webinar, you can access the slides and recording here.
KFMC Health Improvement Partners is proud to announce that President and CEO, Sarah Irsik-Good, has been elected to the Civitas Networks for Health® 2026 Board of Directors. Civitas is a national collaborative that brings together more than 160 member organizations across the United States, all dedicated to advancing health improvement through data sharing, collaboration, and innovation.
KFMC is pleased to announce the presentation of the 2025 Health Equity Innovation Award at the Kansas Health Impact Conference held in Manhattan, Kansas, on October 23, 2025. The City of Lawrence Homeless Response Team (HRT) was honored for its groundbreaking, field-based approach to serving unsheltered individuals—one of the most marginalized populations in the region.