President's Perspective – We All Are Advocacy All-Stars by Getting Out the Vote
(Oct. 30, 2026) – Advocacy is at the heart of every service the Kansas Hospital Association provides for our members. Whether we are educating, advocating or building relationships, we look for ways to help policymakers at the federal, state and local levels understand the issues essential to hospitals. As part of our advocacy efforts, we encourage our members to participate in the democratic process and vote. We hope each of you has voted or plans to vote, and you have been reminding your hospital team members to vote.
We CARE We VOTE is our statewide initiative to empower and educate health care workers about how to get out and vote during the 2026 elections. We appreciate your efforts to encourage hospital employees to participate in the 2026 elections and show elected officials and candidates that we care – for our patients, our communities, and our local and state economies. Voting is an important step in the advocacy process … but we also hope you are inspired to do more … like being an advocacy all-star.
Last week, we were pleased to host our 2026-2027 KHA Advocacy All-Star class in Topeka. This program offers KHA members a great opportunity to get more involved in advocacy and provides individuals with a better understanding of the legislative process and how to best advocate for their hospital and health care in Kansas.
This year's class was highly experienced, focused on rural health and strongly motivated to strengthen health care advocacy across Kansas. Their top advocacy priorities are rural health care sustainability, workforce recruitment and retention, access and affordability, prior authorization reform, 340B Program protections and behavioral health access.
All were committed to developing the skills needed to effectively influence health care policy at the state and federal levels. It was refreshing to work with these members, who shared a passion for a stronger Kansas. Our KHA Advocacy All-Stars expressed a desire to become stronger advocates for their organizations, patients and communities. During the three days, we focused on the legislative process, building relationships with policymakers, advocacy skills, health care policy, storytelling for impact and leadership development.
This class is already making strides in our advocacy efforts across Kansas, and each and every KHA member can move the needle by also being an all-star and voting in the 2026 election.
--Chad Austin