Elana Gordon

The U.S. health system is undergoing a major technological shift right now. Some equate it to finally catching up to where the banking and airline industries have been for years.

It’s no small change, either.

Think about it, moving all those doctors’ notes into the digital realm, and then figuring out how use that data to make better health care decisions.

At the center of this shift is a company based in Kansas City called Cerner. Founded in 1979, Cerner has become one of the nation’s biggest players in health technology.

While the legislative session in Kansas has ended, many advocates for Kansans with intellectual and developmental disabilities are now worried about how the approved budget will affect services for some of the state’s most vulnerable residents.

Advocates like Tom Laing, with the service organization InterHab, fought against a proposed plan that would move non medical services, like adult day care, into a new Medicaid managed care program called KanCare.

In the final moments of the legislative session, lawmakers moved forward with that plan.

Kansas lawmakers must go back to the negotiating table to resolve tax issues. The Kansas City Council approved funding for new soccer fields in Swope Park. The Council also approved a contract for ‘Phase II’ of the city’s streetcar plan. George Brett is back at the Royals' as interim hitting coach.

A recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that only half of Americans identified as having had Hepatitis C ever follow-up with additional screening and treatment. But that’s only part of the problem, according to Bruce Burkett of the Missouri Hepatitis C Alliance. Nearly three in four people who have the disease don’t even know it.

Physicians Assistants, or PAs, may soon have more opportunities to practice in Missouri. A bill headed to the Governor’s desk would provide more flexibility in how and where they provide care.

The director of Missouri’s Medicaid program, Dr. Ian McCaslin, has left. 

More than 100 employees at Liberty Hospital will be out of a job by the end of next week. The hospital says the layoffs are a response to a perfect storm in health care right now. That includes reduced Medicare and Medicaid payments, changes in the way hospitals will be reimbursed for care under the federal health law and increasing demands for charity care as individual health insurance costs go up. 

You may have seen him on the Plaza. Or maybe it was near City Hall. Or perhaps at Arrowhead Stadium on game day.

Where ever that may be, Michael Wheeler is certainly hard to miss.

The longtime runner and Kansas City resident wakes up each day and suits up for his long jogs in a rather unusual and flashy outfit: a superman-style cape and t-shirt.

What does it mean to love somebody no matter who they are or who they become?

A common pledge couples make to each other is to be faithful “in sickness and in health until death do us part.” That pledge is put to a major test for couples where one partner changes his or her gender identity.

Una Nowling and Fiona Nowling share their story of getting married and working through the gender identity transition.

Missouri ranks among the bottom third of states when it comes to its overall well-being. Meanwhile, the Kansas City region has room for improvement. That’s according to the latest data from the polling group, Gallup.

A heated feud over the fate of North Kansas City Hospital may soon be coming to a close. Hospital and city leaders are meeting Friday in hopes of resolving their differences. Moreover, recently passed state legislation and newly elected local officials appear to have diffused the controversy.  

During any given week, local hip-hop artist Les Izmore may be found free-styling in the Crossroads, fronting an 18 piece afro-beat/funk dance band, or opening for big acts coming through, like Kendrick Lamar and next week, Talib Kweli.

Kansas Governor Sam Brownback has been on an all-out tour of state universities this week, calling on lawmakers to extend a sales tax and maintain funding for higher education in the coming budget.

After the passing of the Affordable Care Act, confusion about the future of health insurance in our country has become the norm. But as the legislation comes into play in the next year, everyone from private health insurance companies to employers providing health care to their employees need to be well versed on the upcoming changes.

This week, upwards of 1,000 medical professionals and thought leaders are converging on the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. for the third annual TEDMed summit. It’s a spin-off of TED - short for Technology, Entertainment, Design – which features talks and performances from the group’s biannual conferences centering around the general theme of “ideas worth spreading.”