- 21 -
accessHealthNews.net
March 2025
Volume 11 | Issue No. 94
Mary Beth Taranow, a retired operating room nurse
Think about a seemingly simple question:
What are the health outcomes of a Black
woman versus a white woman in Kansas
City?
Seems simple, say members of a Kansas
City Health Equity Learning and Action
Network working group. But it's not.
That's because right now, health care
organizations in Kansas City are not
aligned in how they collect data around
race, ethnicity, preferred language, sexual
orientation and gender identity.
The working group is aiming to change
those discrepancies. Members include
Blue KC, KC Health Center, Health Forward
Foundation, BioNexus KC, KC Health
Collaborative, Vibrant Health, KU Medical
Center, Sam Rodgers and others.
Wil Franklin, president and CEO of
KC CARE Health Center, said some
organizations might be doing great work
at tracking race, ethnicity and language
data that could be a model to others.
Others might be using estimates or
anecdotal data.
"We can't quantitatively say, here's
exactly where these types of care gaps
lie … specifically connected to race,"
he said. "I think it's important that we
track this information regionally and hold
ourselves accountable."
KC CARE serves more than 20,000
patients, many of whom need financial
assistance. The center's goal is to provide
unconditional care to all, and he'd like for
that to be the norm in Kansas City, versus
the exception.
READ MORE
"I think that we're just kidding ourselves if we
don't acknowledge that racism and historical white
supremacy ideology is at the core of our community
health disparities."
- Wil Franklin, president and CEO of
KC CARE Health Center
