Kansas Ranks Second in the Nation in the 2006 Trust for America's Health Public Health Preparedness Report

Kansas ranked second in the nation by meeting nine out of ten criteria for public health emergency preparedness in a report released today by Trust for America’s Health (TFAH), a national non-profit organization that studies and evaluates health readiness and response capabilities in all 50 states. The full report, “Ready or Not? Protecting the Public’s Health from Diseases, Disasters, and Bioterrorism,” can be found on the Web at healthyamericans.org.

“We are moving forward together with our partners in a comprehensive preparedness effort, and we are most pleased that some of our successes are reflected in this report,” said Roderick Bremby, Secretary of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. “ Kansas continuously seeks to improve our ability to protect the public health, and this includes doing so under emergency conditions.”

Governor Kathleen Sebelius said, “We’re continually looking for ways we can improve our readiness and response should emergencies strike. This is good news for all Kansans and our cooperative efforts on public safety and preparedness will remain a priority.”

The annual TFAH report uses ten indicators to rate preparedness, and most of the indicators change each year. The new set of indicators focus on a variety of areas tied to public health and hospital preparedness, including laboratory and surveillance capacity, flu vaccination, Strategic National Stockpile (SNS) readiness and other issues. The SNS is a federal stockpile of drugs and medical supplies that can be shipped rapidly to states in case of an emergency.

The single indicator that Kansas did not meet – Indicator #1, to achieve ‘green’ status for SNS delivery – was met by just 15 other states. Kansas currently holds ‘amber plus’ on the SNS status, which is just below ‘green,’ the highest rating a state can achieve.

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE), the Adjutant General’s Department, local health departments, hospitals, law enforcement agencies, school districts and other groups recently completed Kansas HEAT, a statewide SNS exercise. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) helped evaluate the exercise, and is likely to take it into consideration when CDC reassesses Kansas SNS readiness in early 2007.

“It is rewarding to know Kansas is among the leaders in the country in preparedness efforts , and we will continue to diligently take every action necessary to be ready for whatever disaster may strike and to empower every Kansan to do what is necessary as an individual to best protect themselves and their loved ones,” said Maj. Gen. Tod Bunting, Kansas Adjutant General.

“With the all-hazards approach to emergency planning and preparedness that Kansas has rightly embraced, our responsibilities in this area will only continue to expand,” said Dr. Howard Rodenberg, Director of Health. “Changing indicators such as those used in the Trust for America’s Health report help us to stay adaptable and flexible, which is important.”

Kansas met the following indicators in this year’s TFAH report:

Indicator #2: State has sufficient Biosafety Level 3 (BSL-3) laboratories to meet bioterrorism preparedness needs as outlined in the state plan. (This indicator was also used in 2005 and was met).

Indicator #3: State has enough lab scientists to test for anthrax or plague. (This indicator was also used in 2005 and was met).

Indicator #4: State has year-round lab-based influenza surveillance. Kansas has had year-round surveillance for the past four years. If lab surveillance detects influenza viruses outside of the regular flu season, health officials would be alerted.

Indicator #5: State has two weeks hospital bed surge capacity in moderate pandemic. TFAH concludes that 59 percent of Kansas hospital beds would be occupied within two weeks of the start of a moderate flu pandemic. A ‘moderate’ pandemic is defined in the report as a pandemic with a severity at the midpoint between the 1918 and 1968 flu pandemics.

Indicator #6: State increased or maintained seasonal flu vaccination rate for adults over 65. As is noted in the report, seasonal flu vaccine clinics help to prepare the health system to rapidly distribute and administer vaccines.

Indicator #7: State is at or above national median for number of adults over age 65 who have ever received a pneumonia vaccination. Seniors are particularly at risk for developing pneumonia as a complication. The Kansas Behavior Risk Factor Surveillance System tracks this in the state yearly.

Indicator #8: State has an electronic disease tracking system compatible with the CDC National Electronic Disease Surveillance System. Kansas met a similar criterion last year, which required that the state have ‘a disease tracking system to collect and monitor data electronically via the Internet.’ Kansas has had a compatible system in place since 1999.

Indicator #9: State does not have a nursing workforce shortage. Kansas met this indicator based upon a study by the National Center for Health Workforce Analysis, within the federal Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA).

Indicator #10: State increased or maintained level of funding for public health services from FY 2005 to FY 2006. Kansas increased funding for public health services by 14.2 percent over the past year.

“The productive partnerships we participate in with local health departments, hospitals and with agencies and organizations at many levels are continuing to pay dividends,” said Mindee Reece, Director of the KDHE Center for Public Health Preparedness. “A good share of the credit for the success in public health preparedness goes to our partners.”

The 2006 TFAH report is the fourth of its kind to be released in as many years. Kansas met five out of ten indicators in 2005, seven out of ten in 2004, and three out of ten in 2003. The indicators change from year to year.

The report also makes several recommendations for improving public health preparedness nationwide. KDHE is in the process of determining to what extent these recommendations apply to Kansas and whether any of them can be adopted.

This release replaces the release that was sent out by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment earlier today. The Trust for America’s Health changed their report updating Oklahoma as meeting 10 out of 10 indicators after it was initially released with both Kansas and Oklahoma meeting 9 out of 10 indicators. This release updates the new information from the updated report. Please contact the Trust for America’s Health at (202) 223-9870 ext. 278 if you would like more information about the changes to the report.

Back to KDHE News Release Index