A new state health care office being created by Gov. Kathleen Sebelius is an interesting partnership between government and nonprofit foundations in the state.

The goal of the new office is to address rising medical costs and access to affordable health care in Kansas. The office will seek additional coordination and collaboration among state agencies, including the Department on Aging and the Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services.

These offices, of course, are major players in making sure Kansans, especially disadvantaged Kansans, have access to health care. But nonprofit agencies and foundations also are major players in this arena. In this case, three Kansas foundations with health care missions are financing the operation of the new state health office.

The financial figures help illustrate the role these foundations play in the Kansas health care scene. The Kansas Health Foundation, founded with the assets from the sale of Wesley Medical Center in Wichita, has assets of over $300 million and made more than $16 million in grants in its last fiscal year to benefit Kansans in the areas of public health, children’s health and leadership.

The United Methodist Health Ministry Fund, founded by the Kansas West Conference of the United Methodist in 1986, has assets of about $60 million and distributed about $2.2 million in grants in 2002. The Sunflower Foundation, founded using assets from a state settlement with Blue Cross and Blue Shield, has assets of about $84 million and awarded about $2.5 million in grants last year.

These foundations are providing major funding for health services in the state. A large portion of their funding goes to provide health services to people who fall through the cracks, those without health insurance or the means to pay for health care.

Because they are paying the bill for the new state health office, these foundations will be invited to sit on the office’s advisory council. That council also will involve state Cabinet secretaries, legislators and Insurance Commissioner Sandy Praeger.

This is an interesting and potentially beneficial partnership of public and private nonprofit resources. Not only will the office, thanks to funding from the private foundations, be created at no cost to taxpayers, it provides an information conduit that may allow valuable coordination between state policymakers and private funders.

Whether it’s the state allocating precious tax dollars or private foundations acting as wise stewards of their endowments, everyone wants to make sure their investments in the state’s health are well-targeted and efficiently used. The state entities and foundations that will be linked by the new state office have a common goal of improving health care and access to health care for Kansans. Providing a way for them to coordinate their efforts may pay off for the state by allowing the state’s health care dollars — both public and private — to be more efficiently and effectively spent.