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The approach to maternal care at Samuel U. Rodgers Health Center is to “literally put our arms around the mom and make sure they have everything they need,” said Chief Executive Officer Bob Theis.
“That is all part of our strategic plan” he added, “and it doesn't stop after delivery.”
A safety-net clinic serving residents in Kansas City, Missouri, and surrounding counties, Sam Rodgers prioritizes dental visits and post-partum services for pregnant women and new moms.
What you measure matters, Theis said, and a nearly decade-long relationship with iBossWell (IBW) has helped Sam Rodgers develop metrics to gauge its progress in maternal care and many other fronts. IBW updated Sam Rodgers’ three-year strategic plan in 2024.
In one measure of its success, the federal Health Resources & Services Administration recently recognized Sam Rodgers as one of 36 federally qualified health centers nationally providing excellent maternal care. The award included a $2 million grant to address maternal mortality among women of color.
The new strategic plan calls for Sam Rodgers to build on its previous success by increasing utilization of services through the federal Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program, which serves low-income women and their children.
“When you increase the health of the mom, you increase the health of the family,” Theis said, “and that's what we do.”
Sam Rodgers is also focused on continuing the marketing and communications outreach that has helped the center get the word out about its services to the broader medical community. One focus is maternal care.
“We’re letting the community know that Sam Rodgers is the place to go for prenatal care,” Theis said. “If you don't tell your story, people won't know you exist.”
Data is a big part of communicating the health center’s impact, and in writing the current strategic plan, IBW mined nine different sources to develop a statistical picture of Sam Rodgers and the populations it serves.
IBW also used extensive engagement with a variety of stakeholders, including patients, staff, and community partners, to outline dozens of specific tactics aimed at meeting the four strategic initiatives in the plan.
The plan also includes detailed summaries of feedback and recommendations provided in the focus groups and interviews.
“Longevity is the key to all good relationships,” Theis said of working with IBW. “And with longevity comes higher quality, better fiscal outcomes. They know us inside and out now, and the strategic plans have gotten better and better each and every time we've done them.”
Karen Dolt is another healthcare chief executive officer who appreciates the work of IBW. She leads Northland Health Care Access (NHCA), a nonprofit that operates several programs serving uninsured and underinsured patients. Sam Rodgers is one of its partners.
Dolt said that strategic planning with IBW has identified care gaps in the community that have led NHCA to add four programs.
Through its work with NHCA, Sam Rodgers, and several other organizations in the two counties comprising Kansas City’s Northland, Dolt said IBW has become an invaluable part of the healthcare system.
“They have truly gotten to know the community in the Northland,” she said. IBW’s work amongst the different providers, Dolt said, “helps all of us tie together those strategic plans so they make a much stronger impact than if we were doing it in a silo."