Event

Access, cost, and care: The Kansas City workforce impact

Watch this Kansas City roundtable to explore how healthcare access gaps are reshaping workforce health, employer costs, and what leaders can do differently.
Watch the recording
Stacie Prosser, Shelly Summar, Doug Sumner, Stephanie Price, and Dennis Kadel take part in a panel discussion at the Kansas City healthcare barriers roundtable.

Healthcare coverage and healthcare access are not the same thing, and Kansas City employers are feeling that gap. Rising costs and shrinking primary care availability make it harder for employees to get the care they need. Watch this panel discussion to hear how local leaders are shifting from providing insurance to delivering real care.

INSIDE THE ROUNDTABLE

What leaders are doing when the system falls short

As healthcare costs rise and primary care access shrinks, many employees skip care until a manageable issue becomes a costly crisis. For Kansas City employers, these challenges show up daily in claims data, engagement scores, and human resources conversations. 

Hosted in partnership with the Kansas City Business Journal, this roundtable at Kauffman Stadium brings together HR leaders, benefits consultants, and workforce health experts. Panelists will examine what drives the disconnect between health coverage and actual care, and how employers and Taft-Hartley plans are taking action.

Topics explored in this roundtable

  • Local market challenges, including hospital consolidation and primary care shortages

  • Why leaders must address affordability, access, and patient experience together

  • How employers deliver direct care through onsite and nearsite health centers

  • The impact of mental health access on workforce stability

  • How organizations measure financial and non-financial healthcare returns

  • How smaller employers leverage shared models to access advanced primary care

What you'll take away

You will learn why health insurance does not guarantee healthcare access, and how onsite and nearsite care models improve workforce health outcomes and employee satisfaction. Panelists will share practical ways to offer mental and behavioral healthcare in industries with high stigma and scheduling barriers. Finally, you will gain new perspectives on measuring value on investment (VOI) beyond traditional financial metrics.

Kansas City healthcare barriers roundtable speakers Shelly Summar, Doug Sumner, Stacie Prosser, Dennis Kadel, and Stephanie Price pose together at Kauffman Stadium.
WHY WATCH

Practical solutions for a market under pressure

The conversation Kansas City employers are having

Panelists representing a children's hospital and an engineering consulting firm shared their direct experiences with the access, cost, and care challenges facing Kansas City's workforce.

What makes this recording worth your time

Kansas City leaders discuss how employers design better benefits, improve access to mental healthcare, and lower costs. Gain regional context and peer perspectives that standard industry reports cannot match.

WATCH ON DEMAND

Watch the roundtable shaping Kansas City's workforce health

This recording is for HR leaders, benefits professionals, and executives navigating rising healthcare costs and access gaps in Kansas City. Hear from employers and advisors rethinking what it means to provide care, not just coverage, and how that shift is changing workforce outcomes.