Thursday, December 13, 2012

KanCare & Legislative Updates

A few interesting articles courtesy of KHI News Service...

Crum, Weber to lead House health, social-service committees
In the coming months, State Reps. David Crum and Brian Weber will be spending a lot of time together.

Weber, a Republican from Dodge City, today was named chair of the House Social Services Budget Committee. Crum, a Republican from Augusta, will be the committee’s vice chair.
Crum, in turn, was appointed chair of the House Health and Human Services Committee. Weber will serve as vice chair.

“I think this will make for a smooth transition,” Crum said. “Brian is a very capable person, but he’s not been on the Social Services Budget Committee before so he’ll have a lot to learn.”
Crum, first elected in 2006, has spent the past six years on both committees. He chaired the Social Services Budget Committee in 2011 and 2012.

Weber, 30, served on the Health and Human Services Committee this year, where he said he played an active role. He was first appointed to the Legislature to...read more



KanCare ombudsman hired
A Lawrence man who serves on the Kansas Council on Developmental Disabilities has been hired by the state to be the ombudsman for KanCare enrollees.

James Bart, 50, started the job today. He will office at the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services headquarters at 503 S. Kansas Ave. in Topeka.

Bart said he has a law degree from Creighton University but had not practiced law since leaving Nebraska for Kansas about 17 years ago. He is married and the father of a 19-year-old son with developmental disabilities and three younger children.

"I'll make a serious commitment to consumers of Kansas Medicaid...read more



KanCare workforce shift hampering local agencies
Workforce shortages prompted by the overhaul of the Kansas Medicaid program are hampering operations at some social service agencies in Johnson County and elsewhere in the state, according to executives at the organizations.

Human Services Director Debbie Collins said since September, her Johnson County agency had lost three of its nine case managers that assist frail elderly Medicaid clients through the Area Agency on Aging...read more

Friday, December 7, 2012

Kansas Receives Approval from CMS for 1115 Waiver

This afternoon, the Governor announced that Kansas has received the go-ahead from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to proceed with implementation of KanCare on January 1, 2013.  Kansas officials will continue to work with CMS to finalize the "special terms and conditions" of the waiver.


Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Early Intervention for Children with Developmental Issues

From the KU Med Center:

A pediatrics clinic at Fort Leavenworth is providing early intervention for children with developmental issues
November 28, 2012

By Cori Ast

The Carlton family, clockwise from left: Ilyra, 10; Lt. Col. Charlie Carlton; Natalia, 13; Josephine, 12; Sawyer, 6; Mary; Charlie, 8
This was news that couldn't wait.

Mary Carlton had just taken her 3-year-old son, Sawyer, to the Fort Leavenworth pediatrics diagnostic clinic operated by the University of Kansas Medical Center. She needed to share Sawyer's diagnosis with her husband, Lt. Col. Charlie Carlton, but he was more than 6,500 miles away, on a tour of duty in Iraq.

"I had to tell him on Skype that his son had autism," Mary said.

The diagnostic clinic at Fort Leavenworth began in 2009 to address a problem very unique to military families like the Carltons. Most families at Fort Leavenworth are on post to attend the Army Command and General Staff College, which only lasts 11 months. For a family with a child who needs evaluated, "that's a very short time," says Jennifer Burford, MS, the exceptional family member program (EFMP) manager at Fort Leavenworth.

When Charles was deployed in 2009, Mary was left to marshal their troop of five children at their Fort Leavenworth home. But 3-year-old Sawyer wasn't the child Mary was most worried about.

Josephine, the couple's second oldest, took Charles' deployment pretty hard.

"Josie had a really tough time when Charlie deployed," Mary says of their then 9-year-old daughter. "She completely fell apart and I was really struggling to help her."

Burford suggested Mary bring both kids to the pediatrics diagnostic clinic, which visits the post several times a year to provide diagnoses and treatment plans for military children.

"Josie was my big fire at the time. Sawyer was my little fire, but he was contained," Mary said.

Early intervention is important for treating children with developmental challenges, particularly children with autism, explains KU Medical Center pediatrician Chet Johnson, M.D.  "Especially in the first five years of life, there's tremendous changes going on in the brain and you can influence that development based on the experiences a child is provided. If you can offer the right kind of intervention early, you can help children better reach their potential."

But without a timely appointment, there is no early intervention.

"At the time the Carltons participated in the outreach clinic, the wait to get a consultation at KU Medical Center or Children's Mercy Hospital was six to nine months. That was way too long-by the time our families got in, it would be time for them to leave," explained Burford. "Then they would have to reinvent the wheel at their next installation and the one after that."

"I felt relief"

At the same time Mary was struggling with Josie, she was worried(read more...)