Members of a Senate subcommittee finalize their recommendations
on proposed cuts in spending for the Kansas Department on Aging.
Left to right are Sens. Jean Schodorf, R-Wichita; Kelly Kultala,
D-Kansas City; Vicki Schmidt, R-Topeka; and Terrie Huntington,
R-Fairway. (Photo by Dave Ranney, KHI News Service)
TOPEKA — A Senate subcommittee charged with overseeing the Kansas Department on Aging’s budget agreed Thursday to endorse agency spending cuts proposed by Gov. Sam Brownback.
The cuts are expected to eliminate or significantly reduce in-home services for about 1,100 frail elders.
Several small-town meal programs also are likely to close.
"I want to be clear about one thing," said Sen. Vicki Schmidt, R-Topeka. "There are no good decisions for us to make. They’re all bad. This makes my stomach hurt."
The five-member subcommittee plans to forward its recommendations to the full Senate Ways and Means Committee on Monday.
Subcommittee members made it clear they want the services restored as soon as the agency can find money to do it.
They didn't add money for the programs, but expressed support for Medicaid-funded access to dental care and telehealth services and for expanding a managed care program best known by its acronym PACE (Program for the All-inclusive Care of the Elderly.)
Currently, KDoA contracts with PACE programs in Wichita and Topeka, covering, on average, 253 low-income seniors.
KDoA Secretary Shawn Sullivan told the legislators he’s looking for ways to cut the agency’s administrative costs by $3 million.
Wednesday, he announced he will lay off as many as 20 full-time workers by June 30. Another 30 positions – all vacant – have been cut from the department’s budget, too.
The governor’s proposed budget would cut the department’s workforce to 164 full-time employees.
Several subcommittee members said they were upset to learn that Sullivan’s predecessor, Martin Kennedy, had blocked a $1.1 million initiative aimed at expanding a telehealth pilot project to cover 500 frail seniors. The program currently covers 75 seniors.
"I want there to be a specific statement in our recommendations that points out that this happened and that telehealth services should be considered part of the solution to the problems facing the department," said Sen. Dwayne Umbarger, R-Thayer.
Last year, Kennedy said he shelved the expansion to keep from having to make frail seniors wait for services that keep them out of nursing homes.
Historically, KDoA has avoided a waiting list because limiting frail seniors’ access to services increases the likelihood more will be admitted to nursing homes, which generally ends up costing the state more than home- and community-based services.
Umbarger said that delaying expansion of the telehealth project is sure to increase the state’s long-term costs as well.
Afterward, Jim Beckwith, an advocate for the elderly, said that without additional funding, a waiting list for services is inevitable. He called the proposed cuts, “fiscal insanity.”
On Friday, the subcommittee is expected to finalize its recommendations on the state hospital budgets.