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Gov. Sam Brownback’s policies have put Horizons Mental Health in an unenviable position again. With economic shortfalls at the state level, the governor has placed the agency in the position where they will have to do better with less.
Horizons was in the red $8,000 in the month of December and has written off approximately $349,000 so far in the first six months of the fiscal year, with an additional $172,000 loss being attributed to self discounts (sliding scale payments). Even with these losses, Horizons still maintains a positive $90,000-$100,000 budget surplus.
Next year’s budget looks even bleaker, as $176,000 will be cut by the governor out of the Children’s Cabinet Fund. Mental health services to children and adults will also be funded at $287,000 less, than last year. In the last three years, the agency has lost over $900,000 in Medicaid revenues and the future does not look promising, according to Horizons Mental Health Director Mike Garrett.
Medicare will only pay for mental health services at a set rate per client for services in the future, according to Garrett. The rate will be based upon a set fee per client holding a Medicaid card. The agency will be required to provide required services to clients based on a total dollar figure. The dollars to be budgeted are computed by what is bid by agencies to provide services to the state based on the number of Medicaid holders. If the number of clients increases over the year – the number of dollars stays the same.
There are approximately 320,000 enrollees across the state of Kansas, according to Garrett, and 1,165 holding a Medicaid card in Pratt County. Last year Horizons Mental Health served 163 individuals, or 13.90 percent of those holding cards, from Pratt County.
The demand for services in the state of Kansas is growing, according to Garrett, as Larned State Hospital only has a capacity of 90 beds at their unit. With a daily inpatient rate approaching 120 per day, overflow patients, who are non-violent, are also being housed at a facility in Newton.
Of the four counties in the Horizons district, Kingman has 727 individuals, or 9.10 percent of the population (7,971) with Medicaid cards, Pratt has 1165 individuals, or 12.50 percent of the population (9,304), Harper has 756, or 13.30 percent of the population (5,667), and Barber has 504, or 11.00 percent of the population (4,593).
Area office services provided show a total of 669 intakes, with 297 in Pratt County, and 182 screenings, with 77 in Pratt County. The total service hours for the past year amounted to 23,233 hours, with 7,853 being from Pratt County.
Gov. Sam Brownback’s policies have put Horizons Mental Health in an unenviable position again. With economic shortfalls at the state level, the governor has placed the agency in the position where they will have to do better with less.
Horizons was in the red $8,000 in the month of December and has written off approximately $349,000 so far in the first six months of the fiscal year, with an additional $172,000 loss being attributed to self discounts (sliding scale payments). Even with these losses, Horizons still maintains a positive $90,000-$100,000 budget surplus.
Next year’s budget looks even bleaker, as $176,000 will be cut by the governor out of the Children’s Cabinet Fund. Mental health services to children and adults will also be funded at $287,000 less, than last year. In the last three years, the agency has lost over $900,000 in Medicaid revenues and the future does not look promising, according to Horizons Mental Health Director Mike Garrett.
Medicare will only pay for mental health services at a set rate per client for services in the future, according to Garrett. The rate will be based upon a set fee per client holding a Medicaid card. The agency will be required to provide required services to clients based on a total dollar figure. The dollars to be budgeted are computed by what is bid by agencies to provide services to the state based on the number of Medicaid holders. If the number of clients increases over the year – the number of dollars stays the same.
There are approximately 320,000 enrollees across the state of Kansas, according to Garrett, and 1,165 holding a Medicaid card in Pratt County. Last year Horizons Mental Health served 163 individuals, or 13.90 percent of those holding cards, from Pratt County.
The demand for services in the state of Kansas is growing, according to Garrett, as Larned State Hospital only has a capacity of 90 beds at their unit. With a daily inpatient rate approaching 120 per day, overflow patients, who are non-violent, are also being housed at a facility in Newton.
Of the four counties in the Horizons district, Kingman has 727 individuals, or 9.10 percent of the population (7,971) with Medicaid cards, Pratt has 1165 individuals, or 12.50 percent of the population (9,304), Harper has 756, or 13.30 percent of the population (5,667), and Barber has 504, or 11.00 percent of the population (4,593).
Area office services provided show a total of 669 intakes, with 297 in Pratt County, and 182 screenings, with 77 in Pratt County. The total service hours for the past year amounted to 23,233 hours, with 7,853 being from Pratt County.
In other matters, commissioners:
• Were asked by Pratt City Manager Dave Howard to consider setting up a joint meeting between the city and county sometime in March, or April.
• Signed and approved the plat for the Sycamore Addition.
• Approved road-crossing permits for Roger Staats and Mark Fincham.
• Were informed, by Pratt County Road and Bridge Supervisor Randy Phillippi, the Waldeck Bridge was open to the public.
• Discussed with Phillippi putting flooded pressure tank at Pratt County Veterans Memorial Lake above ground in a permanent building.
• Discussed with Phillippi hiring an individual to work full-time at Pratt County Veterans Memorial Lake.
• Discussed proposed commission boundaries with Pratt County Appraiser D.J. McMurry and Pratt County Counselor Robert Schmisseur. Decided to wait until next week to finalize boundary map.
• Decided not to have Don Hensley return to discuss airport safety matters with zoning board, as expense was too high. Hensley charged between $1,300 and $1,800 for his first trip to Pratt and was asking $800 to come down again. Commissioners stated, regular zoning board meetings are costing the county $1,700 each night and it is time for the zoning board to start making some decisions.
