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Welcome to the Pioneers in Health podcast. In this podcast, we share inspiring stories of pioneering leaders from our nation and from your backyard who are working to improve health.

In episode 23, we interview Brenda Sharpe, president and CEO, of REACH Healthcare Foundation. REACH is a charitable organization based in Overland Park, Kansas, that focuses on improving health coverage and access to quality, affordable care for uninsured and medically underserved communities. Brenda has overseen the organization since its inception more than 20 years ago.

In this episode, she discusses the evolution of her career and what led her to working for a mission-driven organization.

“I am not sure if my career chose me, or I chose my career,” she said. “I have always had a heart for service to other people, and I’ve only ever worked in the nonprofit sector.”

At REACH, her team focuses on a six-county service area in Kansas and Missouri. They provide grants to organizations and governmental agencies to advance REACH’s mission of health equity. She highlighted their efforts to help people enroll in publicly available health programs in order to reduce the number of uninsured residents.

She also discusses REACH’s commitment to racial equity. In 2019, they launched an initiative called Centering Black Voices to learn more about how they could better serve Black-and-Brown led and/or serving organizations. She shared lessons they’ve learned and changes they’ve made to their grantmaking processes as a result of this initiative.

She also discusses in depth the importance of Medicaid, which is a public health insurance program that provides the state’s lowest-income parents, children, seniors and people with disabilities health coverage. Congress is currently considering $880 billion in cuts to Medicaid in order to help fund more than $4 trillion in tax cuts sought by the presidential administration.

To better understand how such deep cuts could impact Kansas, she shared how REACH recently partnered with the Health Fund to commission a report that showed how four different legislative proposals could impact Kansas’ budget and enrollees.

The report and modeling, conducted by Manatt Health, showed the state would lose millions in the first year and billions over 10 years, as well as how thousands — including children — could lose their health insurance.

“I was so deeply alarmed when I heard about the proposed cuts that were starting to be discussed in Congress around Medicaid, as if it’s just some kind of a small, one-off program rife with abuse and fraud and doesn’t really have a lot of use in practical society, when absolutely the opposite is true,” Brenda said. “It’s such a critical program for Kansans.”

The report highlights how the cuts could hurt Kansas hospitals, which already are struggling financially and rely on Medicaid reimbursement dollars to help keep their doors open. Kansas already has more hospitals at immediate risk of closure than any other state in the nation.

She said it’s important for state and federal lawmakers to understand what damage could happen to Kansas should these cuts get approved.

“They are getting ready to vote on something that is potentially going to do tremendous harm to their constituents and to their state,” Brenda said, “and they’re going to have to decide if funding tax cuts to the extent that’s being proposed is worth it to do that on the backs of their own constituents and hospitals and the health care system and safety net that we have in the state of Kansas.”

She also discusses:

• The history and mission of REACH Healthcare Foundation
• The importance of access to health insurance
• The impact significant cuts to Medicaid could have on Kansas
• How Medicaid cuts could impact hospitals
• How budgets are impacted by Medicaid cuts and what may happen if cities decide to raise or use tax dollars to keep their local hospitals open
• Access to health care, including mental health care, especially in rural Kansas

 And much more! Listen now, and learn more about how Breanda is an innovative leader improving the health of Kansans.

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