Investing in healthy communities
Efforts that support this commitment
WSU FutureReady Healthcare Center
The Kansas Department of Labor’s 2022 Occupational Outlook report indicates that by 2026, the state will need more than 28,000 nursing assistants, 18,000 registered nurses and 6,000 home health aides. The shortage of health care workers is even more evident in rural areas of Kansas. As the health plan with the largest presence in Kansas, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas (BCBSKS) wanted to help.
The FutureReady Healthcare Center Powered by BCBSKS is a state-of-the-art education space offering high school students from Wichita Public Schools the opportunity to take health care courses, equipping them with the necessary skills and knowledge to enter the workforce or pursue higher education in these fields.
The degrees and certifications offered include certified nurse aide, emergency medical technician, home health aide, medication aide and patient care technician. In its first year of serving students, 63 students earned a certificate or degree. Of those students, at least 31 reported that they are working in a health care-related field.
These students are working hard and applying what they’ve learned, even before they complete their program. In fact, one student was recently recognized for his heroic actions during a cardiac arrest emergency at a school concert. We are proud to support programs like the FutureReady Healthcare Center that empowers students to make a meaningful impact in the health care field and underscores our commitment to supporting solutions that address the growing health care needs in Kansas.
Healthy Habits for Life Grants
Children spend so much of their day at school. Including lessons about eating healthy, staying active and taking care of mental health can help children live better, healthier lives as adults.
The Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas Foundation’s Healthy Habits for Life grant program looks to support programs that help Kansas youth reduce their cardiovascular disease risk, increase physical activity, learn healthy eating habits or reinforce positive mental health.
While the mental health component was added in 2023, 2024 brought extreme growth in the number of schools seeking funding for those programs. In 2025, 57% of the 107 grants awarded will fund projects and activities that support students’ mental health.
Pathways to a Healthy Kansas
Pathways to a Healthy Kansas partners with local communities to improve active living, healthy eating and commercial tobacco prevention. The initiative provides community coalitions with the tools and resources needed to engage their local residents and make the healthy choice the easy choice.
In 2024, the second round of communities completed their work, and we recruited 19 new and returning communities to join the initiative for 2025-2026. For the newest round of Pathways communities, behavioral health has been added as one of the key focus areas.
Since the initiative launched in 2016, 748 grants have been distributed and 437 policies have been passed across the state to implement programs and policies that improve health and well-being.
NXTSTAGE Community Health and Vibrancy Competition
NXTUS, Inc.’s Community Health & Vibrancy Pilot Competition, presented by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas (BCBSKS), celebrated its fourth year of highlighting how new technology can improve health outcomes in Kansas.
Finalists pitched and program partners committed to piloting solutions that tackle key challenges such as women's and maternal health, veteran career opportunities, holistic individual care, early skin cancer detection, citizen engagement, and gamified addiction recovery.
The 2024 program attracted 136 competitors from 31 states and 11 countries. Of these diverse competitors, 72% had females or minorities on their founding teams, and 100% of the finalists had ethnic minorities or females as founders.
Fitness Courts
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas (BCBSKS), Kansas Recreation & Park Association (KRPA) and the National Fitness Campaign (NFC) launched a statewide partnership in 2021 to expand free access to high quality workouts by bringing outdoor Fitness Courts® to communities across Kansas. This partnership was formed to fight obesity, improve quality of life and create equitable access to exercise for communities around the state.
Over the past year, new courts launched in Wichita, Seneca, Parsons and Junction City. We were also able to work with HealthyBlue to launch a court in Spring Hill. The courts were used an estimated 105,750 times with 4,230 estimated new active users in 2024.
Other 2024 highlights
We put people first
As a not-for-profit, we focus on people over profit — supporting members, providers, partners, communities and employees alike.
We pursue affordability relentlessly
Keeping coverage affordable means finding ways to reduce costs while still delivering the experience our members count on.