Kansas has taken steps to ask the federal government to certify part of its state mental hospital in Osawatomie.

The state Department of Aging and Disability Service is seeking certification of 60 of the 206 beds at Osawatomie State Hospital, southwest of Kansas City.

Tim Keck, interim KDADS secretary, said in an email to hospital staff Thursday he has sent the application to inform the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and KDHE that the hospital’s Adair Acute Care unit will be ready for certification on August 30.

Kansas has been losing about $1 million a month in federal funds since CMS decertified Osawatomie in December after a patient was charged with raping an employee and other safety issues.

Certification would restore less than half of its lost federal funding.