Heath Rath
Executive Director, PACE KC
Heath Rath has spent his professional career working to build and expand evidence-based programs that improve the lives of older adults. Over the last six years, he has focused his efforts on the development of programs that aim to allow older adults to age gracefully in the communities they call home, specifically PACE Programs. PACE – Programs of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly – is a model of care that provides a full range of person-centered health and wellness services that empower individuals age 55+ to age in place rather than be institutionalized. PACE KC is a newly formed non-profit, championed by Swope Health, to bring the PACE model of care to the residents of Kansas City for the first time.
Heath worked with Swope Health to successfully lobby members of the Missouri Senate and House of Representatives as well as the Missouri Department of Social Services, MO Health Net Division, to support and appropriate PACE funding.
Prior to his work with Swope Health, Heath served as Director of Midland Care Connection’s Ann Street PACE Center in Kansas City, Kansas. During his time at Midland, he oversaw the development and successful launch of Midland’s third Center and the first PACE Program in the Kansas City metro area.
Heath earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Anthropology and secondary major in Gerontology from Kansas State University. He went on to complete a Master of Science in Gerontology with an emphasis in long-term care administration. While earning his M.S. at Kansas State he worked in the College of Health and Human Sciences Center on Aging as a project specialist for the PEAK 2.0 program. He also served as the advisor for the K-State Gerontology Ambassadors and the K-State Gerontology Club as well as instructed online undergraduate courses in Gerontology. Heath is a licensed long-term care administrator in the state of Kansas.