Topic: Rural Health Transformation program

Interview of Robert Moser, March 10, 2026

Interviewed by Robert St. Peter

Dr. Moser had an unusual background because he went to pharmacy school before deciding to go to medical school. This interview really highlights the difficulties of practicing medicine in a rural area, and shows Moser's innovations in responding to those challenges. He did his residency in his hometown of Tribune, Kansas. He also credits the business training in Pharmacy school as being helpful in responding to challenges which included workforce issues. To meet that challenge, Dr. Moser used a multijurisdictional approach to expand staffing in both Greely and Wallace counties. Delivering babies was a Show Morerecurring problem - no backup, no personal time. Moser left Tribune in 2010 to work as Governor Brownback's Secretary of Health and Environment but left 3 years later because of opposition to medicaid expansion. In 2014 he joined the Kansas Heart-Stroke Collaborative - a CMS innovation - and also taught population health and family medicine at KU Medical Center. After surveying emergency room data regarding patients who came in with heart attacks and strokes, they were able to develop evidence-based guidelines for rural health care staff that improved patient outcomes. Show Less

Interview of Kari Bruffett, May 5, 2026

Interviewed by Robert St. Peter

This interview contains substantive discussions about health policy changes that have been occurring the last 25 years. Interviewer Bob St. Peter explores Bruffett's interesting career, mostly in Kansas, mostly in health policy, although she started in Washington DC working for Senator Nancy Kassebaum during her final two years in the Senate. Bruffett then joined the staff of newly elected Rep. Jerry Moran, but after 4 years was ready to return to Kansas. She worked with Koch Industries before becoming the Executive Director of the Kansas Republican Party for 4 years. She went to the University Show Moreof Kansas Hospital Authority which was in the middle of a huge transition and navigating its relationship with the medical school. After those years she turned to state government. working on numerous issues such as Medicaid expansion estimates and KanCare. She was asked to be Secretary of the Department for Aging and Disability Services - KDADS. She ended up at the Kansas Health Institute, following St. Peter after he retired. Show Less

Interview of Ed O'Malley and David Jordan, June 1, 2026

Interviewed by Robert St. Peter

This joint interview of two foundation leaders should be of great interest to those interested in improving the Health of Kansans. Both their respective foundations believe strongly in "working upstream", a concept that is focused on preventing health problems before they occur. They state, "to improve Health, we need to change policies and systems" through advocacy, research, collaboration. That means changing the way we think about Health as well as "convening Kansans to build a shared vision for how we'd get there." They discussed "Health vs. healthcare" and Medicaid Expansion and why it hasn't happened in Show MoreKansas. One opinion (O'Malley) was changes in social structural supports and policies are changing the system dynamics. Jordan pointed out that his foundation (UMHMF) was focusing on thriving children, by putting food on the table, providing childcare. Kansas's fall in the national state-by-state health rankings prompted a lively discussion of Why? One possible solution was to reinstate the county health rankings to encourage more participation by local governments. Another deficit--the declining numbers of behavioral healthcare professionals--was attributed in part to the loss of Menninger with no state effort to counterbalance it. The interview concluded with a stimulating discussion of ideas and strategies that might help reverse the decline in Kansas' health ranking. Show Less