Mental Health Beds Committee Meets

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careLearning Informational Webinar – March 23

The Kansas Hospital Association invites your facility to learn more about the careLearning education management solution on Thursday, March 23 at noon12:00 p.m. CT.

K-TRACS, Prescribing, and You - March 28

K-TRACS staff will provide an overview of the program, how its being used across the state, and trends in controlled substance prescribing. The presentation will also cover how K-TRACS information is reviewed internally, the K-TRACS Advisory Committees authority to review patients and prescribers of concern, and how healthcare organizations can access prescribing information.

KHA Spring District Meetings - April 3-14

These meetings are limited to KHA hospital and system members. Discussion times are prioritized for members to discuss current topics with their peers and to help KHA staff learn about key priorities. CEOs, trustees and senior staff are encouraged to attend.

Pioneer Health Network Meeting - April 5

The PHN Board Meetings occur the first Wednesday of every other month (the even-numbered month's ). For more information on these meetings contact Dee Dee Dewell at ddewell@phn.org.

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Mental Health Beds Committee Meets

Pediatric Mental Health (Aug. 23, 2022) – Today, the Special Interim Committee on Mental Health Beds, chaired by Senator Carolyn McGinn (R-Sedgwick), met for their first of three meetings. The committee received an overview from the Office of the Revisor and the Kansas Legislative Research Department regarding the history of mental health hospitals and services in Kansas, the timeline of previous recommendations concerning mental health beds, and the other states inpatient psychiatric bed numbers and funding.

The committee heard from Robyn Chadwick, hospital president, Ascension Via Christi Hospitals Wichita, Inc., regarding the mental health needs of South Central Kansas. She highlighted:

The work Sedgwick County Mental Health and Substance Abuse Coalition has been doing
Average length of stay and capacity strains on the overall system
Current patient volumes
Staffing concerns related to patient care needs
Legislative priorities to include:
- Addressing workforce challenges
- Increasing Medicaid reimbursement rates by 10 percent
- Approving Medicaid Expansion
- Increasing inpatient beds for substance abuse treatment
- Fully funding established crisis stabilization centers
- Fully funding the 988 hotline
- Supporting access to care via telemedicine

Ted Lutterman, senior director of Government and Commercial Research, NRI and Dr. Brian Hepburn, executive director of the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors presented on national trends and other state experiences when dealing with bed capacity needs for behavioral health services.

The afternoon session included discussions from Kansas Department of Aging and Disability Services Secretary Laura Howard and Deputy Director Scott Brunner regarding the Kansas mental health system and Psychiatric Beds and State Institutional Alternatives Reimbursement Program, as well as Amy Campbell, Kansas Mental Health Coalition regarding prior 2018 and 2019 Mental Health Task Force recommendations.

The committee will meet again to discuss possible additional bed capacity build-out and other programs to address behavioral health needs in Kansas.

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