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Kansas lawmakers anxious about costly nursing shortage at psychiatric hospitals

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Kansas lawmakers anxious about costly nursing shortage at psychiatric hospitals

Nov 11, 2024 | 11:43 am ET
By Tim Carpenter
Kansas lawmakers anxious about costly nursing shortage at psychiatric hospitals
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Coldwater Republican Rep. Kyle Hoffman, right, comments during the latest meeting of the Kansas Legislature's special budget committee. The panel is expected to meet four more times before submitting its own proposed state government budget to the Legislature in January. Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly will also make budget recommendations. (Kansas Reflector screen capture of Kansas Legislature video)

TOPEKA — The staffing shortage at Kansas’ psychiatric hospitals in Larned and Osawatomie prompted budget requests of more than $60 million to continue filling the health-care gap with private contract nurses.

The state’s inability to hire a sustainable workforce of registered nurses, licensed practical nurses, certified nurse aides and patient care support staff at the two state hospitals has generated bipartisan frustration in the Kansas Legislature.

The challenge has been most acute at Larned State Hospital, which would need $43 million annually to continue receiving the services of about 200 contract staff. The Osawatomie State Hospital requested $23 million for the same purpose.

“We’ve tried everything, but you just can’t force people to go there to work,” said Rep. Will Carpenter, an El Dorado Republican on the Legislature’s interim budget committee. “It’s a question I have no answer for.”

Democratic Rep. Henry Helgerson of Eastborough said: “After four or five years of going down the same path, I’ve lost my patience. We have to do something more radical.”

House Speaker Dan Hawkins, R-Wichita, said it was time the Legislature to form a separate committee to look into alternatives to embedding tens of millions of dollars annually in the state budget for nurses provided by private agencies. Employing contract nurses costs the hospitals an estimated 2.5 times the cost of hiring a state worker to do the same job.

The state has committed about $70 million to construction of a 50-bed psychiatric hospital in southwest Wichita that could be expanded to 100 beds. That decision has come under scrutiny after a lobbyists for owner of the former Riverside Hospital complex in Wichita suggested the state buy and renovate the old hospital for use as the psychiatric hospital.

In March, the overall job vacancy rate at Larned stood at 45%, while the shortage at Osawatomie was 37%. However, vacancies among nursing staff at Larned reached 69%.

Staffing problems have driven interest at the statehouse in outsourcing to private companies all responsibility for managing the state hospitals serving people in mental health crisis as well as sex offenders placed indefinitely in Larned’s treatment program after serving prison sentences. The number of sexual predators at Larned has expanded to about 230.

“It’s huge and growing by the year,” Carpenter said. “I don’t want to be responsible for letting these folks out.”

The nursing shortage conversation occurred Friday during the first of five meetings by the newly formed 2024 Special Committee on Budget Process and Development. The GOP-inspired committee plans to depart from tradition by introducing its own draft of the state budget in January at opening of the annual legislative session. For many years, the Legislature has worked from blueprints offered by governors.

Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly has been working on her version of the budget. It’s expected her spending priorities would differ from those of a Republican-dominated budget committee.

Rep. Kristey Williams, R-Augusta, said the Legislature had to take the lead in sorting out state budget issues. She expressed disdain for tarnishing the process with horse trading behind closed doors at the Capitol.

“The executive branch is not in charge of the budget,” Williams said. “Tension is good when you have three branches of government.”

The 21-member committee plans to consider budget enhancement requests from 26 state agencies amounting to more than $1.2 billion in additional spending in the upcoming fiscal year. The roster included $272 million for the Kansas Board of Regents and $105 million for the Kansas State Department of Education. The list included $450 million to replace Hutchinson Correctional Facility.

During the initial meeting, the majority decided to sidestep the topic of state employee salary increases. The regular House and Senate budget committees will consider compensation issues as well as recommendations from the special budget committee during the 2025 session.

The next meeting of the budget panel won’t occur until after Nov. 20 when the state was scheduled to release an updated snapshot of the state’s revenue stream.