Representative Sharice Davids visited AdventHealth Ottawa Health Park today, August 13, to tour its newly expanded facilities, which now include enhanced behavioral health and express care services. During her visit, she emphasized the challenges facing rural healthcare in Kansas and nationwide and announced her push for U.S. House leadership to bring a bipartisan package of bills to address these issues to the floor.

In Kansas, 38 percent of rural hospitals are at risk of closing, and 89 percent are operating at a financial loss, the highest rate in the country. This crisis has been growing for years, with 10 rural hospitals closing since 2005. As Rep. Davids pushes for Medicaid expansion, which has been shown to improve rural health outcomes, these alarming numbers highlight the critical need for legislative action.

Rep. Davids voiced support for a bipartisan package of bills targeting the urgent challenges in rural healthcare, including workforce shortages, patient access, and provider sustainability. In a letter to U.S. House leadership, she stressed the severe consequences of rural healthcare disparities and urged swift action on 13 bipartisan bills to tackle this escalating crisis.

Since joining Congress, Rep. Davids has focused on making healthcare more affordable and accessible for all Kansans. She helped pass legislation allowing Medicare to negotiate lower prescription drug prices for the first time. The law also caps insulin costs at $35 for Medicare beneficiaries. Following Davids’ push to extend this cap to all insulin users, the top three insulin producers, who control about 90 percent of the U.S. market, announced they would cut or cap insulin prices.

“We welcome the opportunity to show Rep. Davids AdventHealth Ottawa Health Park that has brought new and in-demand services to the community including Express Care and behavioral health,” said Sam Huenergardt, CEO of AdventHealth Mid-America Region. “Supporting rural hospitals is critical to health care access and we appreciate the discussion on extending important virtual care and Medicare programs that benefit patients in Kansas.”