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

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.

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...)

Power Up! Inspirational Award Winners

Power Up! The InterHab Annual Conference took place over a month ago and we're still thinking about and inspired by all the Annual Award Winners as well as the artists who created original artwork to give to award winners.  Below are just a couple of the award winners nominated by Rainbows United, Inc. (special thanks to Rainbows for putting their stories online!)

Update from KanCare Teleconference

Below is an update from KHI News Service regarding the teleconference hosted by the State yesterday afternoon:


Federal officials say they hope to act soon on KanCare waiver request
No support expressed for the proposed changes during a one-hour conference call

By Mike Shields
KHI News Service
Nov. 28, 2012

TOPEKA — The federal official in charge of reviewing 1115 Medicaid waiver requests sat in on an hour-long conference call today to hear Kansans' views on Gov. Sam Brownback's proposed Medicaid makeover plan.

Only about 20 people had time to comment but none of them expressed support for KanCare, which would move virtually all the state's 380,000 Medicaid beneficiaries into managed care plans run by three insurance companies.

Most people who called in questioned the need for KanCare and expressed concern that they or family members would lose services or their case managers. Others called for a delay, saying the program's planned Jan. 1 launch date would come too soon.

Vikki Wachino, director of the children and adults health programs group at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, in rare public comments about KanCare, said CMS had asked Kansas officials to organize today's call so she and other CMS officials could hear public response to the state's preparations in anticipation of an upcoming decision from CMS on Kansas' waiver request. She didn't say when the decision would come, but hinted it could be soon.

"We asked them to do that now at this time...so we can decide where we go from here, she said during the teleconference introductions. "We've spent a lot of intensive and thoughtful time with the state on their proposal and have heard from them loud and clear their desire to move on a Jan. 1 start date and we would like to make the decision soon whether that time frame is the right time frame for Kansas and whether the alternative of not moving forward on that timeframe would create transition implications of their own. So I really invite you on this call to share your thoughts and concerns."

'Listen-only mode'
Wachino said no more after her introductory remarks during which she noted that she and other CMS officials on the call were in "listen-only mode."

Kari Bruffett, director of the division of Health Care Finance at the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, said earlier in the day during a separate teleconference with Medicaid providers that she expected CMS to deliver a decision...read more

KanCare: Teleconference, CMS, Network Reports

Thank you to KHI News Service for these important updates...


KanCare Teleconference today @ 4pmThose interested in learning more about KanCare may call (855) 229-1643. The conference is limited to the first 500 callers. Questions and comments also may be sent to KanCare@kdheks.gov. Officials from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services also are expected to take part.


Approval of 1115 Waiver from CMSWith a little over a month left, the State has not yet received approval from the Centers for Medicaid on the State's 1115 Waiver request.  


Network AdequacyIn a related development, state officials posted on the KanCare website some "network adequacy" reports describing the managed care companies' provider networks. They said they would post additional reports as they are available.

http://www.kancare.ks.gov/download/KanCare_MCO_Network_Access.pdf

KanCare: November Educational Tour

Below is an update regarding November KanCare Educational Tour dates hosted by Kansas Department of Health and Environment.  Please see the KanCare website below for full details including address information for each location and special assistance/accommodations requests, contact information, etc.  These meetings are intended to help Medicaid beneficiaries understand the KanCare enrollment process.

http://www.kancare.ks.gov/events.htm


KanCare Educational Tour Schedule:

Monday, November 26th: 
1pm - 3pm & 6pm - 8pm

• Dodge City: Public Library
• Pittsburg: Homer Cole Center
• Topeka: Capitol Plaza Hotel

Tuesday, November 27th: 

1pm - 3pm & 6pm - 8pm

• Garden City: Garden City Senior Center *The afternoon meeting will start at 1:30pm
• Indepencence: ICC West, Woods Family Community Center
• Olathe: Holiday Inn

Wednesday, November 28th:
1pm - 3pm & 6pm - 8pm

• Hays: Robbins Center at FHSU
• Wichita: WSU Metroplex
• Kansas City: Hilton Garden Inn

Thursday, November 29th:

1pm - 3pm & 6pm - 8pm

• Salina: Bicentennial Center
• El Dorado: Civic Center
• Emporia: Senior Center

If Medicaid enrollees cannot attend the above dates, they may register in advance to participate in a KanCare Educational webinar to be held December 14th 10am - 12pm.