Editor’s Note: The McKnight’s Senior Living Daily Briefing and McKnight’s Long-Term Care News Daily Update e-newsletters are profiling each of the McKnight’s 2019 Women of Distinction in July. For more coverage, visit the McKnight’s Senior Living and McKnight’s Long-Term Care News websites and read the August print edition of McKnight’s Senior Living and July print edition of McKnight’s Long-Term Care News.
Rachel Monger has made her career by fighting to better the lives of seniors. After receiving her J.D. from the University of Kansas Law School, she started her own practice focused on elder law, senior care and nursing home litigation.
She practiced at her law firm for six years until coming to LeadingAge Kansas in 2012 as the director of government affairs. After three years, she was promoted to vice president of government affairs.
of McKnight’s Senior Living at a May 16 ceremony.
Photo: Social Snacks.
At LeadingAge, Monger has been able to make strives in helping seniors’ lives. She lobbied Kansas legislators to reinstate a cut and rebase Medicaid funding for nursing homes to $44 million for the 2019 state fiscal year. She sounded the alarm in ending Kansas’ Medicaid eligibility backlog despite state agencies reporting that it was under control. She helped create a pilot to aid in fixing it and continues to pressure the state to fix the system. She also sits on the state Adult Protective Services Committee, which recently passed legislation that increased penalties for financial abuse of older adults.
In her spare time, Monger has partnered with a group of seniors to educate their peers on how to plan for long-term care and the steps to choose appropriately. She also coordinated the first Gubernatorial Forum during the most recent election focused entirely on aging issues. Additionally, she volunteers her time as a reader for the Kansas Audio Reader Network.
McKnight’s Women of Distinction is a joint program of McKnight’s Senior Living and McKnight’s Long-Term Care News.
The McKnight’s Women of Distinction program’s exclusive Platinum sponsor is PointClickCare.
