Davids Visits AdventHealth in Ottawa, Announces Push for Bipartisan Action to Address Rural Health Care Crisis

OTTAWA, KS — Today, Representative Sharice Davids visited AdventHealth Ottawa Health Park to tour their newly expanded health park, which now offers enhanced services, including behavioral health and express care. During her visit, Rep. Davids highlighted the urgent challenges facing rural health care in Kansas and across the country, and announced her effort to urge U.S. House leadership to bring a comprehensive package of bipartisan bills to the floor to address these critical issues.

"Rural health care is in crisis, and we need to act now," said Davids. "Facilities like AdventHealth in Ottawa are doing incredible work to expand access to care, but they can't do it alone. It's time for Congress to step up and pass the legislation that will ensure every Kansan, no matter where they live, has access to the affordable health care they need."

Currently, 38 percent of rural hospitals in Kansas are at risk of closing, and 89 percent are operating at a financial loss — the highest percentage in the nation. This crisis has been building for years, with 10 rural hospitals shuttering since 2005. While Davids continues to push for Medicaid expansion, which has shown to improve health outcomes for rural communities, these alarming statistics highlight the urgent need for legislative action.

“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.”

Today, Davids announced her strong support for a package of bipartisan bills aimed at addressing the most urgent challenges in rural health care, including workforce shortages, patient access, and provider sustainability. In her letter to U.S. House leadership, Davids highlighted the severe consequences of rural health care disparities and called for swift action on 13 bipartisan bills to address this growing crisis.

Since coming to Congress, Davids has worked to make health care more affordable and accessible to all Kansans. She helped pass legislation that, for the first time ever, empowers Medicare to begin negotiating for lower prescription drug prices. The law also caps the cost of insulin at $35 for Medicare beneficiaries, and following Davids’ support for an extension of this cap to all insulin users, the top three insulin producers, who make up about 90 percent of the insulin market in the U.S., announced they'll cut or cap the price of insulin.