New opioid initiative enrolling one-on-one consultations
Kansas Partners in Opioid Safety (KPOS) is a unique opioid safety initiative from the KU Medical Center Area Health Education Centers and the Kansas Overdose Data to Action Program. KPOS offers tools and resources for opioid safety and seeks to understand both the challenges and successes that organizations and communities face with opioid safety. KPOS is arranging one-on-one 15-minute sessions with providers to discuss the most recent research data and evidence-based approaches for safe opioid practices.
Topics include:
- Chronic Pain Management and CDC Guidelines
- Maximizing K-TRACS
- Tapering
- Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT)
- Co-prescribing Naloxone
To discuss participating, e-mail KPOS at
RFP: Kansas Overdose Data to Action Program
KHC—in partnership with Kansas Department of Health and Environment—is soliciting applications from hospitals and health systems interested in participating in a project to identify provider needs related to opioid use and pain management and in implementing evidence-based interventions, including opioid overdose protocols, policies, and procedures. The interventions will engage hospitals, health systems, and community partners to promote referrals to evidence-based treatment and community resources. This is the third year of this three-year project and applications from new partners are welcome. For more information, visit: www.khconline.org/OD2A.
Healthcare-Associated Infection Mini-Summit on Dec. 16
The Sepsis Alliance Institute is holding its second Healthcare-Associated Infection (HAI) Mini-Summit on Thursday, Dec. 16, from 11:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. This free, virtual 3.5-hour clinical program will cover a range of topics, including: Peripheral intravenous line-associated bloodstream infections, non-ventilator hospital-acquired pneumonia, CAUTIs and CLABSIs, and antimicrobial stewardship and HAIs. This event offers 4.20 CE contact hours for nurses. More information, including the agenda and registration here.
HQIN announces Health Quality Innovators of the Year awards
KHC’s partner, the Health Quality Innovation Network (HQIN), has announced its 2021 awards — including two Kansas organizations that received recognition:
Population Health — Runner Up
Community Health Center of Southeast Kansas focused on innovating and enhancing their hypertension and diabetes program to better serve their underserved populations. As a result, they improved blood pressure control from 79.9% to 81.1% and A1C poor control from 35% to 27.6%. Southeast Kansas has been one of the hardest hit areas in their state and even the United States, in terms of COVID-19 infection rates in 2020 and with the Delta variant in 2021. Despite additional challenges caused by the pandemic, they were one of only two practices in the state of Kansas that achieved Gold Plus Recognition for the Target Blood Pressure Program in 2021.
Population Health — Runner Up
Neosho Memorial Regional Medical Center in Kansas focused on addressing COVID-19 vaccination hesitancy and increasing vaccination in the community. They established a “Community of Immunity” team to coordinate outreach and education efforts. They held weekly planning meetings and identified barriers, resources and vaccination event needs such as staffing and advertising. They also created interest by offering prizes for vaccinations with a grand prize to be drawn after the second COVID-19 vaccination. By mid-September, 47% of their residents were fully vaccinated and 52% had received their first dose.
Other award nominees from Kansas were:
- Kiowa District Healthcare Rural Health Clinic
- NMC Health
- University of Kansas-Internal Medicine
- The Cedars Retirement Community
Funding opportunity for Community Health Worker clinic teams
KHC, in partnership with the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, is soliciting applications from clinics interested in embedding teams of Community Health Workers (CHWs) at clinics in Brown, Crawford, Johnson, Finney, Wyandotte, Sedgwick, Thomas, and Mitchell Counties. CHW teams will work to provide greater access to COVID-19 prevention and response while addressing chronic diseases and access to social determinants of health that exacerbate COVID-19. For more information, visit: www.khconline.org/CHW.
KHC webinar: Office Hours
Registration is now open for our 2022 webinar series, KHC Office Hours. These one-hour sessions are at 10:00 a.m. on the fourth Wednesday of each month, starting January 26. Your one-time registration will provide you with an email confirmation and link to save the recurring appointments to your calendar. (Note: we have cancelled this month’s office hours, previously scheduled for Dec. 22.)
KMS position opening: Clinical Case Manager
The Kansas Medical Society's Professionals’ Health Program (PHP) is hiring a full-time Clinical Case Manager. Under the direct supervision of the KMS PHP Program Director, this position provides appropriate activities/talks for intakes, intervention, support, treatment facility referral, monitoring of program participants with health-related issues such as substance use disorders, mental and emotional health issues, and other issues resulting in PHP involvement. Applicant will meet with participants for monitoring with appropriate interaction to meet criteria set forth in KSBHA Professional Development Plans and Consent Orders. More information, including how to apply, is available here.
Webinar recording: Learn how to deploy eCR to reduce reporting burden on health care staff
KHC and KDHE—in collaboration with the CDC—have teamed up to help providers learn more about eCR, learn how to easily implement it, and ultimately improve public health reporting in our state. A webinar with CDC and KDHE officials was held recently, a recording of which can be accessed at no cost here. If you are interested in equipping your organization’s EHR with eCR capability, please let KHC know by emailing Treva Borcher at
Flu and COVID-19 vaccines in same visit
You can get a COVID-19 vaccine and other vaccines, including a flu vaccine, at the same visit. Experience with other vaccines has shown that the way our bodies develop protection, known as an immune response, and possible side effects after getting vaccinated are generally the same when given alone or with other vaccines. More information on the timing of vaccines is available from the CDC here.
For Kansas-specific information on the 2021-2022 flu season, see the Immunize Kansas Coalition’s #KansasFightsFlu website.
Addressing COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy
Individuals may be reluctant to get the COVID-19 vaccine for many reasons. One way that hospitals and health systems can increase vaccination rates for their patients, employees and communities is to focus on why people are hesitant. Understanding the roots of vaccine hesitancy allows health care organizations to tailor their vaccine communication strategies to their specific communities. To that end, the AHA recently held a webinar to discuss finding in a new report by Kaiser Permanente and the California Testing Task Force, which examined what drives attitudes toward vaccines and describes archetypes of vaccine-hesitant individuals. Watch the recording here: https://youtu.be/kR1HtSlSuqs and download the report here.
Here are additional resources for addressing vaccine hesitancy:
- Guide for talking to family and friends about getting vaccinated for COVID-19 (Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health)
- Increasing Access to Vaccination Opportunities: COVID-19 Vaccination upon Discharge from Hospitals, Emergency Departments, and Urgent Care Facilities (PDF)
- A Guide for Talking to Your Congregation: Supporting Empathetic Congregational Conversations on COVID-19 Vaccination
- CDC Vaccine Education
- CDC Vaccine Training Modules
No-cost HPV and flu vaccine training available for CME and CNE
The Immunize Kansas Coalition is offering no-cost training to help improve vaccination among young people: one module for HPV vaccination (approx. 30 min.) and one module for influenza vaccination (approx. 15 min.). The training modules are intended for medical and nursing staff members and teams addressing vaccine hesitancy and providing a strong recommendation for vaccination. There is no cost, and CME and CNE are available.