On Tuesday this week, Senate Public Health and Welfare held a hearing on HB2784, the oversight of CCRC from KID to KDADS bill, and LeadingAge Kansas provided oral, neutral testimony. The two proponents of the bill were the Kansas Insurance Department and Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services. LeadingAge Kansas highlighted their current neutral position as more favorable than their opposed position on the House side with the amendments included from the House. However, there were two amendments LeadingAge Kansas wanted the committee to consider including adding Home Plus to the levels of care outlined in definition of CCRC and changing the April 1 deadline back to within four months of the end of the provider’s fiscal year. LeadingAge Kansas anticipates HB2777, the body camera bill, and HB2784 could be worked for final action next week.
The House Appropriations Chairman Waymaster notified the committee a special subcommittee to address contract nursing concerns was set to occur around omnibus. Those appointed to the committee include Representative Les Mason (R-McPherson), Representative Henry Helgerson (D-Wichita), Representative Brenda Landwehr (R-Wichita), Representative Susan Concannon (R-Beloit), and Representative Barbara Ballard (D-Lawrence). The Government Affairs team has reached out to several members asking for them to provide testimony for this committee which we expect to occur around the first week of April. If any members are interested in submitting written or oral testimony on this topic, send an email to Kylee Childs as soon as possible.
The Senate Chamber is expected to debate SB514 on Wednesday which contains our budget recommendations of the nursing home Medicaid capacity payments extending to FY25, rebasing PACE providers to 90% of the capitated payment, eliminating the 5% haircut hospice providers receive for nursing home patients with Medicaid as a secondary payer, an interim committee to study capacity issues for the HCBS-FE waiver, and staffing agency proviso language. Watch the chamber at 2:30 p.m. on YouTube.
House Health and Human Services will hold a hearing on HB2556, Medicaid Expansion, on Wednesday, March 20 at 1:00 p.m. in room 112-N. LeadingAge Kansas plans to submit written-only testimony. Committees are expected to wrap up their final action on bills by next week, and head to their respective chamber floors the following week to begin determining conference committee hearings or passing bills on to Governor Kelly for signature.
If you haven’t yet done so, get registered for the LeadingAge Kansas Spring Conference to attend the General Session: Updates from the Capitol City
