Topeka Capital-Journal, Dec. 18
Midwest Health recently announced that Topeka’s Fairlawn Heights Assisted Living will close at the end of December. This facility was known for providing care for Medicaid recipients, who often struggle to find quality long-term care in Topeka. Midwest Health is working with residents and staff to transition to other facilities they own in the area, but any closure of a facility that cares for vulnerable people is reason for concern.
Last year, the state had to take over Washburn Community Care Center in central Topeka when an out-of-state owner became financially insolvent and was unable to make payroll. The nursing home’s 26 residents had 60 days to relocate.
Long-term care communities can be an excellent resource for people as they age. Independent living, assisted living and nursing homes offer a wide range of services to help people at different levels of need. Topeka is fortunate to have many options for senior housing staffed by compassionate, hard-working professionals.
However, long-term care has also become a lucrative business, with 69 percent of nursing homes now owned for-profit operators, according to data from the National Center for Health Statistics. Large chains operate thousands of facilities across the U.S.
Seniors need to do careful research and ask good questions when choosing a place to live. Visiting the facility, talking with staff and residents, looking at services and understanding fees is important. It is wise to know if a community is operated by a nonprofit or for-profit organization, where the owner is based and the owner’s experience managing long-term care communities in the area.
Medicare offers Nursing Home Compare at www.medicare.gov, a free online tool to allow people to look at key quality indicators for skilled nursing facilities. The website also offers lists of good questions to ask when choosing long-term care and a list of resident rights.
In Kansas, an organization called Kansas Advocates for Better Care (KABC) provides additional resources for Kansans researching long-term care. Their website at www.kabc.org provides lists of Kansas nursing homes with positive and poor records in health and safety inspections. They also provide free reports on assisted living and home plus communities.
For anyone understandably overwhelmed by the options, Jayhawk Area Agency on Aging at (785) 235-1367 can offer information and referral.
Owning a nursing home or assisted living community is not like owning any other company. There is an opportunity to provide a valuable service and run a profitable business, but Topeka citizens take seriously our role as caretakers for our elders. Business owners who choose to run long-term care facilities in our community should know that we hold them to a higher standard than other business owners. We expect they will keep commitments to their residents and work hard to provide the best possible care to those who have cared for us.
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Salina Journal, Dec. 18
At a time when our state faces a $350 million projected budget shortfall and a $580 million reduction in anticipated revenue next year, Kansans need to be especially critical of how the Brownback administration is spending money. This is why recent news of an expensive, botched attempt to modernize the state’s data technology is so frustrating - it was a $17 million failure.
Phil Whittmer is the chief IT officer in Kansas, and he explained that the Executive Branch Technology Modernization project (the internal attempt to replace an IBM mainframe that handles data for four state agencies) was too costly to sustain.
“That’s what we were going to do - that was the EBTM project,” he said Thursday. “The cost is prohibitive. It was slated to cost $33 million. We had sunk about half that into it. And when we looked at it, it was going to cost $50 million to finish it.” EBTM was placed on hold in early 2016, and the project was abandoned altogether three months ago.
In place of EBTM, the state negotiated a five-year, $14 million deal with a Chicago-based technology company called Ensono. According to the executive director of the Kansas Organization of State Employees, Rebecca Proctor, IT workers are worried about losing their jobs when the project moves out of state. Department of Administration spokesman John Milburn said a meeting about the outsourced project was held with IT workers two weeks ago, but he couldn’t say exactly what this would mean for their jobs: “It’s unclear at this time just exactly how many will be affected.”
The Legislature commissioned an efficiency study from Alvarez and Marsal (released in January) that recommended “a comprehensive data center outsourcing initiative” that would include “all existing state-owned data centers.” The study’s authors say this could “generate between 15 and 25 percent in total savings or $960,000 to $1.6 million in annual savings.” While the concerns about outsourcing raised by state IT workers (lost jobs, taxpayer funds leaving Kansas, etc.) are valid and disconcerting, there are economic realities that can’t be avoided.
Outsourcing the mainframe project to a company like Ensono might have been the only way to move on from this debacle - considering the amount of money that has already been wasted, it’s clear that the situation wasn’t going to be salvaged internally.
Milburn says the state might be able to get some of its money back: “We have several alternatives in front of us that will allow us to recover some costs.”
In the meantime, Kansans deserve answers to a few questions recently asked by The Topeka Capital-Journal: Why did the Brownback administration originally pursue the project? Is unused equipment just sitting around? How much of the $17 million was spent on leasing fees? How much does the state expect to get back? Are there any more expenditures that haven’t been reported?
At this point, one thing seems certain: the EBTM mess is a worst-of-both-worlds scenario for Kansans. Not only will an important technology project be outsourced, but the state is $17 million poorer for no reason.
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Wichita Eagle, Dec. 14
As state legislators prepare for the 2017 session, they should place Medicaid expansion near the top of their agenda.
Legislators have for too long put politics above the health of our state’s residents, the well-being of our communities, the security of our health care institutions and the protection and creation of jobs.
It is our hope that things will change in 2017 with the swearing in of a new Legislature.
For those not familiar with the issue, here is a recap: As part of the Affordable Care Act, health care providers agreed to accept cuts in certain reimbursement rates for their services with the understanding that the federal government would provide states with money to expand Medicaid, known as KanCare in Kansas.
The end result would be an increase in the number of patients with insurance, which would be a financial gain for health care providers.
It is estimated by the Alliance for a Healthy Kansas that the expansion would cover more than 150,000 working poor in Kansas who fall into the so-called health insurance gap - they make too much money to qualify for Medicaid under current guidelines but cannot afford insurance on the open market or through their employers.
Problems began, however, when the Supreme Court ruled that the federal government could not require states to expand Medicaid. A number of states, including Kansas, refused to accept billions in federal money to expand Medicaid.
To date, Kansas has missed out on more than $1.4 billion in federal funding for expanded Medicaid, according to the Alliance for a Healthy Kansas. That money has not been saved. It has gone to other states or been swallowed up by the federal government.
Medicaid expansion is first and foremost about providing access to affordable health care to the working poor. But it is also about jobs, economic development and the viability of health care providers.
Representatives of Via Christi Health said in a recent meeting with The Eagle’s editorial board that Via Christi is down about 650 full-time positions statewide, due, in part, to the failure of our Legislature to expand Medicaid.
The lack of Medicaid expansion has hurt rural hospitals the most. Many are at risk of closure, and some have not survived. Mercy Hospital in Independence closed last fall, leaving residents there to rely on a hospital 40 miles away in Oklahoma, according to an article in the Kansas City Star.
Communities that have lost a hospital have also lost jobs and a key ingredient for economic development. Companies looking to expand or build new plants want their employees to have access to quality health care in close proximity to where they live.
The expansion of Medicaid itself would create jobs in the health care industry - more than 3,800 new jobs in Kansas, according to the Alliance for a Healthy Kansas.
We recognize that uncertainty exists about the future of the Affordable Care Act. But that does not excuse a failure to act. If changes to the act occur, Kansas will be in a stronger position if it is standing on the side of Medicaid expansion.
The easiest thing for the Legislature to do would be to ignore Medicaid expansion. But members of the Legislature were not elected to make easy choices. They were elected to do what is right for Kansas.
In this case, that means expanding Medicaid.
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Lawrence Journal-World, Dec. 16
Lawrence ought to get excited about the prospects of a $70 million whitewater rafting and outdoor adventure center at Clinton Lake State Park.
That does not mean local governments should start writing checks to developers or making promises to support the project. But it would do the community no harm to be excited, enthused and even a bit flattered that the project is considering Lawrence.
Instead, when officials with the state of Kansas and Plei - the company that operates the U.S. National Whitewater Center near Charlotte, N.C. - came to town this week to talk about the project, local enthusiasm for the idea seemed a bit muted. Heaven help us if officials read comments on social media or other websites. Commenters there almost sounded insulted that someone would even propose such an idea for Lawrence.
Simply put, it is too early to know whether this project would be a good one for the community. The concept - which involves a manmade whitewater rafting course, zip lines, a conference center, an amphitheater, a restaurant and other amenities - is intriguing. How the project would be financed, how much government would need to incentivize it, and which governments would be providing the incentives are all key questions in determining whether this a good fit for Lawrence.
Those questions will get answered, or else the project won’t move forward. There is plenty of time to fret about what the answers will be. Right now, though, should be the fun time in this project: Dream about the possibilities and express appreciation that the opportunity to consider the project has come our way.
It should be particularly encouraging the state of Kansas has brought this project to Lawrence. State officials could have steered Plei officials to another community. But state officials view Lawrence and Clinton Lake highly enough that they’re pushing for this major investment to be made in Douglas County. Whether it be the completion of the South Lawrence Trafficway, or something else, Lawrence has caught the eye of state leaders. That has not always been the case. There have been major economic development projects that landed in other Kansas communities that Lawrence never got the opportunity to compete for because state officials did not think it would be worth the time.
This project is definitely worth our time to consider. It may not end up being the right fit for Lawrence. Further study may show such a water park isn’t that feasible. The community should not mortgage its future to build it. Right now, however, we are not being asked to do that. We’re being asked to have an open mind and look for ways to make this successful for all involved.
We should be excited to do so.
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