The South Central Kansas Coalition for Public Health is an organization of seven counties to assist in the services for public health. Those counties include Barber, Comanche, Edwards, Harper, Kingman, Kiowa and Pratt. Below is a brief description of this organization.
- Seven rural counties have individual public health departments that are agencies within each county's government. They collaborate to share services through a quasigovernmental entity called South Central Kansas Coalition for Public Health (SKCPH).
- The SKCPH's executive board governs and approves services for sharing. Members are appointed by county commissioners and consist of four people from each county.
- Challenges of sharing services between seven autonomous agencies include distributing funds in a fair and equitable manner and driving time between locations.
- Benefits to sharing services include efficient administration for the programs that are shared, increased comradery and moral support, efficient staff training, shared knowledge and increased collaboration between the counties.
Recently, the Kansas Health Institute published a case study recognizing this organization as a model for regionalization for public health services in Kansas. Read the entire case study (PDF).