The first adjournment of the Kansas Legislature occurred in the wee hours of Good Friday morning, April 7, 2023. The Senate finished business around 4:20 a.m., and the House a few minutes later. This Legislative “Spring Break” will last until April 26 when the veto session will begin.
After many hours of negotiations in House and Senate Conference committee and the use of several shell bills, the KDADS budget was finalized and moved on to the House and Senate floor.
Bottom line, we got all of our funding requests!
Below is a brief look at what we achieved:
1. Add an additional 34.5 million in all funds including 14 million of State General Funds (SGF) to the Governor’s Budget recommendation.
a. Result - Rebases State Fiscal Year (SFY) 2024 Nursing Facility rates using the average of the three most recent cost reports and inflation based on the midpoint of the most recent cost report year. The fiscal note according to KDADS would be a total of 72 million in all funds with 29 million being SGF. The current proposed budget only asks for 37.5 million in all funds with 15 million being SGF. The additional ask would fund the statutorily required amount to the limits they are currently held to.
2. Add new funds of $24,671,128 SGF, 61.68 million all funds. To establish an add-on for nursing homes based on the percentage of Medicaid residents that they serve.
a. Formula: 3,083,891 Medicaid days (from 2021 cost report) X $20 = $61,677,820 All funds. $24,671,128 SGF. Distribute per Medicaid resident based on the percentage of Medicaid Residents as reported on annual cost report with a range of added dollars per day from $2 for the homes serving the lowest amount of Medicaid residents up to $25 per day for homes who serve over 80% Medicaid residents.
Distribution
Range of Medicaid % Add on $ # of homes per level
1% 4% $2 2
5% 25% $5 11
26% 39% $10 21
40% 59% $15 110
60% 79% $20 124
80% 100% $25 36
3. Add an additional 4.7 SGF, 11 million all funds to the HCBS/FE funding for licensed adult care homes.
Continued increases in staffing costs, food costs, energy costs and nearly everything else, we are requesting a 10% increase to the Frail Elder (FE) rate on units of care in licensed adult care homes. The cost is estimated at 11 million dollars in all funds with 4.7 million in SGF. This would bring the per unit (15 minutes) from $5.04 to $5.54.
We owe a debt of gratitude to the Legislators who hear you, value you, and want to help sustain you. Many thanks must also go the lobby team of John Federico and Stephen Duerst. As always, I am honored and privileged to serve you and thank you for this opportunity.
