By Dan Margolies

Seven of 20 Kansas City area hospitals got A’s in patient safety, according to a new report, while nine got B’s and four got C’s.

The grades were assigned by The Leapfrog Group, a nonprofit that twice a year rates 2,600 general acute-care hospitals across the country on patient safety measures.

The 28 performance measures include handwashing practices, blood infections and patient falls. Leapfrog uses the measures to come up with a single letter grade ranging from A to F, meant to show how effective a hospital is in keeping patients safe from preventable harm and medical errors.

“Over 33,000 lives could be saved if all hospitals performed at the level of A-graded hospitals,” Leapfrog says.

Some health experts say 4 percent of patients acquire infections in hospitals. Leapfrog says that an analysis it commissioned from the Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality at Johns Hopkins Medicine estimates 206,021 avoidable deaths occur in U.S. hospitals each year – and Leapfrog says that’s probably an underestimate.

The analysis also found that hospitals receiving Ds and Fs carry a nearly 50 percent greater risk of mortality than A-graded hospitals.

Listed below are the Kansas City-area hospitals and the grades they received:

A grades: 

• The University of Kansas Hospital
• Saint Luke’s Hospital of Kansas City
• Shawnee Mission Medical Center
• Providence Medical Center
• Centerpoint Medical Center
• St. Mary’s Medical Center
• Lee’s Summit Medical Center

B grades:

• Research Medical Center (main campus)
• Saint Luke’s North Hospital
• St. Joseph Medical Center
• Overland Park Regional Medical Center
• Saint Luke’s South Medical Hospital
• Liberty Hospital
• Saint Luke’s East Hospital
• Belton Regional Medical Center
• Lawrence Memorial Hospital

C grades:

• Truman Medical Center Hospital Hill
• North Kansas City Hospital
• Menorah Medical Center
• Olathe Medical Center

Dave Dillon, a spokesman for the Missouri Hospital Association, noted that there are a lot of different hospital rating measures and they don’t always look at the same data.

The Missouri Hospital Association, for example, does its own survey, FocusOnHospitals.com, that includes all Missouri hospitals. (Leapfrog’s report card excludes specialty hospitals such as children’s hospitals, as well as critical access hospitals located in rural areas.)

“Additionally, not all of the data used is current,” Dillon said in an email. “So, a hospital might be performing better or worse, depending on the dataset and what practices the hospital has put in place to address specific issues.”

Dillon said hospitals have spent “significant amounts of time and energy to improve quality and patient safety.”

“As all hospitals get better, the competition to keep up gets fierce,” he said.

Leapfrog cautions that patients should never refuse emergency care because of a hospital’s safety grade but rather use the grades as a guide for planned hospitalizations and potential emergencies.

Its report card draws on data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Agency for Healthcare Research Quality, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, American Hospital Association’s Annual Survey Health Information Technology Supplement and Leapfrog’s own hospital survey.

Leapfrog also ranks states, based on their number of “A” hospitals compared to the total number of hospitals graded. Kansas ranked #24, with nearly a third of its hospitals receiving an A grade, while Missouri ranked #34, with about 23 percent of its hospitals receiving an A grade.

Kansas moved up three notches from Leapfrog’s last survey in spring 2018; Missouri dropped 21 notches.

The top five jurisdictions were New Jersey, Oregon, Virginia, Massachusetts and Texas. The bottom five were Connecticut, Nebraska, Washington, D.C., Delaware and North Dakota.

Dan Margolies is a senior reporter and editor in conjunction with the Kansas News Service. You can reach him on Twitter @DanMargolies.

JOHNSON COUNTY— Investigators are working to determine the cause of a fatal Sunday night house fire in Johnson County.

Just after 9p.m. responded to a house fire in the 7500 Block of Kessler Lane, according to a media release. First units on the scene found smoke and fire coming from the split-level single family residence. Crews attacked the blaze on the upper level while other crews searched for occupants.

A woman later identified as 67-year-old Leanora Marks was pulled from the basement of the home. She was unresponsive at the scene and transported to a local hospital in critical condition where she died.

It appears the fire started in the basement where the victim was found but the majority of the damage was to the home’s upper level. The blaze was brought under control in about 30 minutes. The home suffered significant smoke damage.

POINT LOOKOUT, Mo. (AP) – A convicted felon has been charged with abducting two Christian college students and forcing them to perform sex acts on each other at gunpoint after they violated curfew and were locked out of their southwest Missouri campus.

49-year-old Robert Hyslop is jailed without bond on charges of kidnapping, sexual abuse and sodomy. No attorney is listed for him in online court record.

Charging documents say the College of the Ozarks students fell asleep in a commuter parking lot last month because the campus’ front gate was locked when they returned after curfew. The documents say Hyslop made the man and woman drive to a highway lookout where he forced them to perform sex acts. Hyslop also is accused of making the woman touch him sexually.

OLATHE — Police in Olathe reported Monday morning they had located 57-year-old Ralph Terrell, Jr.and he is safe.  Police released no additional details.

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OLATHE — Authorities are asking the public for help to locate a missing northeast Kansas man. Ralph Terrell, Jr., 57, was last seen at 5p.m. Sunday in the 500 Block of South Rogers Road, according to a media release from police.

He is described at 5-foot-8, approximately 134 pounds with brown hair and eyes. He was wearing a grey hoodie and dark sweat pants.
He was on foot and does not have access to a vehicle. He has a medical condition which requires medication which he does not have, according to police.

WILLARD, Mo. (AP) – Officials say a southwest Missouri high school coach has died in a hunting accident.

24-year-old Justin Atchison was killed Saturday on the first day of the deer firearm season. Willard Fire Protection District battalion chief Kevin Samsel says the Greene County Sheriff’s Office is handling the investigation.

Willard High School’s head football coach, Brock Roweton, says coaches, parents and players are “completely heartbroken” by the death of the assistant football and baseball coach.

Roweton says Atchison was the quarterback and a standout pitcher at Willard before playing two years of collegiate baseball at Evangel University. After a shoulder injury, Atchison turned to coaching.

Head baseball coach Scott McGee says Atchison was studying to become a science teacher and also spent time working on a farm.

MANHATTAN — Kansas State University is saving energy costs and becoming greener by using one of Kansas’ most abundant resources: wind.

According to a media release, the new university agreement with Westar Energy will provide approximately 50 percent of the energy needs for the university’s main Manhattan campus from a wind farm in Nemaha County and save the university nearly $200,000 annually.

The agreement is part of Westar Energy’s new Renewables Direct program, which provides large customers access to renewable energy at set long-term prices. The program involves the 300-megawatt Soldier Creek Wind Energy Center, which is a wind farm that will be built in Nemaha County and is estimated to be on line in 2020. Kansas State University is one of 14 Kansas organizations that will receive electricity from the wind farm.

“We are excited about this innovative approach to use renewable energy to help Kansas State University become more sustainable and save energy costs,” said Cindy Bontrager, the university’s vice president for administration and finance. “Sustainability planning is one of the key components of our K-State 2025 plan to become a top 50 public research university by 2025. As a public land-grant university, K-State has a role to address the sustainability challenges of our time and this agreement is a step in the right direction. Our facilities power plant utilities staff actively seeks ways for the university to save costs and I appreciate their initiative and hard work in getting that done.”

As part of a 20-year agreement, the wind farm will provide Kansas State University with 14 megawatts of power, which is approximately 50 percent of the current load of the university’s Manhattan campus, said Gary Weishaar, university manager of energy and controls. The anticipated savings for the university will be approximately $180,000 to $200,000 annually.

The savings will come from a reduction in the retail energy cost adjustment, also known as fuel factor costs, Weishaar said. Under the Renewables Direct program, the price of electricity provided from Soldier Creek Wind Energy Center will be fixed for 20 years at 1.8 cents per kilowatt-hour and replaces the fuel factor cost, which is currently 2.3 cents per kilowatt-hour. The university’s average annual consumption for the Manhattan campus for the last five years has been 113 million kilowatt-hours per year. The university also will receive renewable energy credits associated with the agreement.

“We are constantly evaluating the potential of providing renewable energy for the university,” Weishaar said. “We feel this program is a good way to not only positively affect K-State financially, but to also take advantage of one of our most abundant natural resources.”

Westar Energy’s Renewables Direct program is designed to provide large customers a path toward their sustainability goals with Kansas’ abundant, affordable renewable energy. Participating customers are able to claim a portion of the energy generated by the wind farm as their own, retain all of the renewable attributes and lock in a portion of their electricity prices for 20 years. The program is structured to add projects in the future to keep up with the demand for renewable sources.

“We applaud K-State’s commitment to sustainable energy solutions,” said Chuck Caisley, senior vice president, public affairs and marketing and chief customer officer, Westar Energy. “Renewables Direct provides cost-effective access to Kansas’ excellent wind energy resources. We appreciate K-State’s role in making the introduction of Westar’s new program a success.”

By DAVID A. LIEB and GEOFF MULVIHILL

From New York to New Mexico, residents in a number of states can expect a leftward push for expanded health care coverage, gun control, education funding and legalized recreational marijuana as Democrats who gained new or stronger powers in the midterm elections seek to put their stamp on public policy.

While Republicans remain in charge in more states, Democrats nearly doubled the number of places where they will wield a trifecta of power over the governor’s office and both chambers of the state legislature. Democrats also broke up several Republican strongholds, forcing GOP lawmakers who have been cutting taxes and curbing union powers to deal with a new reality of a Democratic governor.

All told, Democrats gained seats in 62 of the 99 partisan state legislative chambers, according to data provided by the National Conference of State Legislatures (Nebraska is the lone state with a single, nonpartisan chamber). Democrats also added seven new governorships.

In Kansas, Democrat Laura Kelly’s election as governor immediately recasts the debate over several big fiscal issues.

She supports expanding the state’s Medicaid health coverage as encouraged by the Affordable Care Act. While bipartisan backing for that has grown, supporters had not achieved the legislative supermajorities that would have been needed to overcome the opposition of Republican Govs. Sam Brownback and Jeff Colyer.

Kelly also is pledging to reinstate an executive order barring anti-LGBT bias in state hiring and employment decisions, something Brownback rescinded in 2015.

In New York, where a new Democratic-run Senate will provide the missing link in liberals’ political power, the expansive agenda could go beyond guns, pot and health care to also include more protections for abortions rights and higher taxes on millionaires.

“We will finally give New Yorkers the progressive leadership they have been demanding,” said Sen. Andrea Stewart-Cousins, who stands to lead the Senate when the new session begins in January.

The U.S. is a deeply divided nation politically, a fact reflected in a midterm vote that gave Democrats the U.S. House while adding to the Republican majority in the U.S. Senate. But within states, the overall outcome of the 2018 elections was a continued trend of one-party control — Democrats in some places, Republicans in others.

For the first time since 1914, there will be only one state — Minnesota — with its two legislative chambers led by different parties.

If Republican gubernatorial candidates maintain their slim leads in Florida and Georgia, Republicans will hold full control over the governor’s office and legislative chambers in 22 states compared with 14 for Democrats. Just 13 states will have a split partisan control between the governor’s office and legislature, nearly matching the 60-year low point set in 2012.

There also has been a decrease in ticket-splitting between governors and state attorneys general, with the number of such divisions expected to decline from 12 to 10 as a result of Tuesday’s elections.

“This is the most hyper-polarized, hyper-partisan time we’ve see in generations, and nobody can deny that,” said Illinois state Sen. Toi Hutchinson, a Democrat who is president of the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Illinois is one of a half-dozen states where Tuesday’s election put Democrats in control of the governor’s office and legislature.

Democrat J.B. Pritzker, who ousted Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner, wants to legalize and tax recreational marijuana. He also has promised to push for a constitutional amendment to replace Illinois’ flat income tax system with a progressive one that requires the wealthy to pay a greater share.

Democrats also are planning aggressive agendas in other states where they expanded their political power:

— Nevada is expected to pass a ban on bump stocks on guns as the state Legislature meets for the first time since the October 2017 mass shooting on the Las Vegas Strip. Democrats also will be pushing to spend more on education, expand Medicaid coverage, raise the minimum wage and require employers to provide paid sick leave.

— In New Mexico, Democratic Senate Majority Leader Peter Wirth said minimum wage and teacher pay increases will be at the top of the agenda. Democrats also could overhaul the state’s approach to climate change, gun control and marijuana.

— In Colorado, Democrats are planning a renewed push to expand health coverage, adopt gun controls, boost public education funding and enhance environmental protections.

— In Maine, new Democratic Gov.-elect and Attorney General Janet Mills has vowed to finally expand Medicaid as voters demanded in a 2017 referendum but which has been slowed by her Republican predecessor.

The states shifting to Democratic dominance can look to New Jersey, which held its governor’s election in 2017 and replaced a Republican with a Democrat. With the Legislature already controlled by Democrats, the state promptly tightened gun regulations, passed a paid sick-leave requirement and restored funding to Planned Parenthood.

But it hasn’t been like Christmas every day for liberals. It took a last-day deal before the budget expired over the summer to avoid a state government shutdown as Democrats disagreed over which taxes to raise. Lawmakers have missed their own deadlines on legalizing marijuana for adults, and some advocates are upset the state has not moved faster to boost the minimum wage.

New Jersey state Sen. Loretta Weinberg, a Democrat who’s been in the legislature since 1992, said there’s a big difference in legislative debates when there’s one-party control.

“It is more about details than the broader principles,” she said.

Some states that became accustomed to Republican control over the past decade also will be making adjustments.

In Wisconsin, Republican lawmakers have been privately discussing ways they could limit the rule-making powers of Democratic Gov.-elect Tony Evers, who narrowly defeated Republican Gov. Scott Walker. Republican Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald said they are looking at reconstituting boards to make sure they have equal representation.

North Carolina’s Republican-led Legislature did something similar after Democrat Roy Cooper won the governor’s race in 2016. But Cooper successfully sued over a law weakening his influence over the state elections board.

In Michigan, Democratic Gov.-elect Gretchen Whitmer broke a Republican trifecta while campaigning to “fix the damn roads” and replace aging water pipes with a multibillion-dollar infrastructure plan. But tax increases or increased borrowing could be a tough sell in the Legislature, which remains under Republican control.

The next Senate majority leader, Republican Sen. Mike Shirkey, signaled that he would oppose raising Michigan’s corporate income tax and said he would fight any attempt to repeal Michigan’s right-to-work laws “with every ounce of my body.”

Republicans who control the Minnesota state Senate said they will fight Democratic Gov.-elect Tim Walz if he follows through with a proposal to raise the gas tax to pay for infrastructure improvements. A number of states have taken that step in recent years to fund road repairs. That includes states where Republicans control the legislature and governor’s office, including Indiana, Oklahoma and Tennessee.

Split power at the Minnesota Legislature also could lead to gridlock on the top issue from the election — health care. Walz campaigned on expanding one of the state’s low-income health care programs to offer a public option, but Senate Republicans have shot that down as an unworkable government takeover of health care.

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