Interview of Kari Bruffett by Robert St. Peter, May 5, 2026

This interview of Kari Bruffett contains discussions about health policy changes that have occured during the last 25 years. Interviewer Robert St. Peter explores Bruffett's career, mostly in Kansas, mostly in health policy. Bruffett started her public policy career in Washington DC working for Nancy Kassebaum during the Kansas Senator's final two years in office. In this interview she describes subsequently working for Rep. Jerry Moran; at Koch Industries in Wichita; as the Executive Director of the Kansas Republican Party; at the University of Kansas Hospital Authority; and serving as the Secretary of the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services - KDADS. A printable copy of the transcript of this interview can be downloaded from https://ksoralhistory.org. At the time of this interview, Kari Bruffett was president and CEO of the Kansas Health Institute (KHI) in Topeka. Bruffett previously served as KHI's vice president for policy and led the organization's policy activities, business operations, and strategic planning. Prior to joining KHI, Bruffett served as Secretary of the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services and as director of the Division of Health Care Finance at the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. She followed Robert St. Peter leading the Kansas Health Institute after he retired. At the time of the interview, she was serving on the board of directors of the National Network of Public Health Institutes and the board of Midland Care in Topeka and was a member of the Strategic Advisory Board for the Healthcare Institute for Innovation in Quality. This interview was conducted by the Kansas Oral History Project, Inc. (KOHP), a non-profit organization (501(c)(3)) that records, transcribes, and makes available to the public, oral histories of various aspects of life in Kansas. KOHP is supported by grants and donations, including grants from Humanities Kansas, Evergy, and ITC Great Plains. KOHP does not charge for non-commercial use of the oral histories it collects. Suggested citation: Bruffett, Kari (May 5, 2026) interviewed by Robert St. Peter. Video file of an oral history interview conducted for the Kansas Oral History Project, Inc. Retrieved from    • Interview of Kari Bruffett by Robert St. P...  . ***** The appearance of any advertisement on this channel does not constitute an endorsement of any product or service nor does it reflect any official position taken by the Kansas Oral History Project, Inc. Except where otherwise noted, The Kansas Oral History Collection © 2021 by Kansas Oral History Project, Inc. is licensed under Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International. The recording, transcript, summary, and biographical sketch associated with this video may be used in accordance with this license. If you have questions about licensing the use of this material, contact us using our online form at https://ksoralhistory.org/contact/.