By Dave Ranney, KHI News Service, June 21, 2010
TOPEKA — State officials are scheduled to review upcoming budgets for long-term care services starting at 2 p.m., July 6 at the SRS Learning Center, 2600 SW E. Circle, Topeka.
Open to the public, the meeting will feature presentations by Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services Secretary Don Jordan and Department on Aging Secretary Martin Kennedy.
Kennedy and Jordan are expected to discuss their fiscal 2011 long-term care budgets and take public comment on their budget plans for fiscal 2012. Fiscal 2011 begins July 1, 2010.
"Long-term care services span both budgets, so this is a way to take a cooperative approach to moving forward," said Barb Conant, a spokeswoman for KDoA.
KDoA oversees the state’s nursing homes as well as Medicaid-funded, in-home services for the frail elderly.
SRS administers the Medicaid-funded home and community based services for people with developmental and physical disabilities.
The meeting will include a question-answer session.
Earlier this month, Jordan announced that services for people with disabilities were exceeding projections and would lead to fewer people being moved off the department’s waiting lists for services.
"We’re still working on what that number will look like," said Michelle Ponce, a spokeswoman for SRS. "We should know by July 6, if not by next week."
Ponce said Jordan also would discuss SRS’ ongoing efforts to downsize Parsons State Hospital and Kansas Neurological Institute, the state’s two hospitals for the developmentally disabled