State hospital funding freeze moves forward

Kansas won't be allocating any additional funds to its four hospitals that serve people with developmental disabilities and/or mental illness.

House Majority Leader Jene Vickrey.
Photo courtesy of KHI News

Budget committees in the House and the Senate have adopted Gov. Brownback's plan for keeping the hospitals at their current spending levels through 2017.

Committee members did not discuss recent reports that renovations in Osawatomie State Hospital's deficiency correction plan are expected to cost $3 million. This comes at the heels of federal surveyors citing the hospital for overcrowding and other concerns. If these deficiencies aren't corrected the hospital will lose millions of dollars in federal Medicaid payments.

House Majority Leader Jene Vickrey said Monday that under-staffing is a key issues for many of the facility's shortcomings. Vickrey said he and other area legislators asked KDADS Secretary Kari Bruffett to put together a plan to reduce direct-care worker turnover in Kansas.

Vickrey and Sen. Molly Baumgardner plan to organize a public forum where employees, family members, and community members can weigh in on the hospital's future. According to Baumgardner, KDADS officials will attend the forum tentatively set for the evening of March 2, or 3.

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