Government Relations
The Department of Government Relations is the legislative advocate for children’s health at Children's Mercy Hospital. We formulate legislative policy on the local, state and national level to protect and promote the highest level of pediatric health care for the children and families we serve.
Public policy strategic goals
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Maintain, enhance and develop public reimbursement models that provide appropriate compensation for value delivered
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Facilitate innovative solutions for public policy challenges
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Communicate value to public officials, regional and national partners, and the local community
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Advocate for children’s health using the findings of Children’s Mercy’s Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) to drive our advocacy agenda
Contact Us
Dallas Polen
Vice President, Government Relations
dapolen@cmh.edu
Lisa K. Horn
Director, Government Relations
lkhorn@cmh.edu
Ridge Rose
Manager, Government Relations
rrose@cmh.edu
Medicaid
Medicaid is a joint program with costs shared by both the federal and state governments. It is the single largest insurer for children, serving millions of low-income children and children with special health care needs. As of May 1, 2022 (source: Medicaid.gov Enrollment Data):
- The United States had 33,691,407 children enrolled in Medicaid (6,934,294 enrolled separately in CHIP);
- Kansas had 257,029 children enrolled in Medicaid (324,499 children enrolled in Medicaid and CHIP combined);
- Missouri had 656,375 children enrolled in Medicaid (690,023 children enrolled in Medicaid and CHIP combined).
The Medicaid program is extremely important to Children’s Mercy as approximately 50% of our patient population is covered by Medicaid.
For more information on legislation and public policies impacting pediatric hospitals:
Federal
Missouri
Kansas
Discover Children's Mercy
Discover Children’s Mercy is an intimate look into the exceptional care, state-of-the-art technologies and new discoveries taking place at Children’s Mercy.