A report card on children's health care gives Kansas high marks.

The Commonwealth Fund ranks Kansas as having the tenth-best child health system in the country. Iowa came out on top, followed by Vermont and Maine.

The report looked at access to children's health care, quality, costs, potential to lead healthy lives and equity.

Kansas received its lowest marks for infant mortality, where it ranked 27th, and equity, where it came in 30th.

“We are pleased that Kansas has received a high ranking for our efforts to provide for the health of children,” Roderick L. Bremby, Secretary of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, said in a statement. “Nevertheless, much work remains and we will continue to strive for better outcomes, particularly with regard to infant mortality rates; income, insurance and health disparities; and the potential for Kansas children to enjoy a life full of health.”

Among findings in the report:
·Kansas ranks seventh in the average family premium per enrolled
employee for employer-based health insurance in 2005. In contrast, Kansas is ranked 28th in personal health care spending per capita, at $5,382 per person in 2004.

·The state is ranked 13th in the percentage of children ages 19-35
months receiving all recommended doses of five key vaccines. In 2005, 83.8 percent of Kansas children had received all recommended doses.

·Kansas ranks 21st in the percentage of children ages 0-17 with both a medical and dental preventive care visit in the past year in 2003, at 60.7
percent.

·Kansas ranks 27th in its state infant mortality rate, with 7.2 deaths
per 1,000 live births in 2002 used as the report’s indicator. This is the
same infant mortality rate reported by the state in 2006.

·For equity of child health care, Kansas receives a ranking of 30th.
This is based on rankings of 35th, 21st and 34th for the income equity,
insurance coverage equity and race/ethnic equity indicators, respectively.

The Commonwealth Fund is a private foundation that promotes better access, improved quality, and greater efficiency in health care.