Panel Questions Kansas Health Care System Changes

Two days of hearings in Kansas by a national health care oversight panel raised questions about the implementation of the state’s KanCare system and the impact on Medicaid services.

The hearings were conducted Wednesday and Thursday by the National Council on Disability, which advises the president and Congress on health care issues.

Members of the panel on Thursday questioned changes in how services were provided to the disabled under KanCare. The Wichita Eagle reports the panel asked Kansas officials to explain why some residents no longer qualified for services.

Shawn Sullivan, secretary for the Department for Aging and Disability Services, says the changes were related to how service levels were approved under a new managed-care model. He says that gave less discretion to deviate from approved standards of care.

Information from: The Wichita Eagle