By Dave Ranney
KHI News Service
TOPEKA, April 12
– State officials have proposed closing the 20-bed children”s unit at the Rainbow Mental Health Facility to make room for more adults.
The plan calls for the state paying KVC Behavioral HealthCare to provide inpatient care for 20 children at its psychiatric hospital in Kansas City, Kan. Formerly known as Kaw Valley Center, KVC Behavioral HealthCare is one of the state”s four foster-care contractors.
“We have an immediate need for more adult beds and Rainbow is the only facility that can meet this need at the current time,” said Abbie Hodgson, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services.
“This will provide some immediate relief,” she said, noting the plan is expected to take effect July 1.
In recent years, state hospitals for the adult mentally ill in Osawatomie and Larned have been at, near or over capacity.
Legislators have set aside $1.9 million to accommodate moving the children”s unit from Rainbow, though the House Social Services Budget Committee is expected to hold one of more hearings on the plan during the veto session.
“I know we want to create more adult beds at Rainbows, but I”m not sure of all the details,” said committee chairman, Rep. Bob Bethell, R-Alden. “Those details will come out when we meet.”
Earlier, advocates for the mentally ill urged lawmakers to either reopen a 30-bed unit at Osawatomie State Hospital or pay for stays in psychiatric units in private hospitals. Both proposals stalled.
“The problem we had with putting more mental health (inpatient) beds out in the community is that a lot of hospitals that used to have these kinds of beds have had to shut them down due to reimbursement and other issues,” Bethell said.
“I”m sure that having these beds closer to the patients” homes would be better for the patients,” he said. “I just don”t know that it”s logistically possible.”
Hodgson said SRS opposed reopening the unit at Osawatomie State Hospital because it would have taken several months to remodel and the money would be better spent on services.
“This solves an immediate problem,” Hodgson said of the plan to contract with KVC Behavioral HealthCare.
On Wednesday, 162 of the 176 beds at Osawatomie State Hospital were occupied. “That”s good,” Hodgson said. “But on April 9, the census was 181.”
Rainbow Mental Health Facility has a 50-bed capacity; 30 for adults, 20 for children. On Wednesday, the facility had 39 adults, four children.
“That means there were four children in a 20-bed unit,” Hodgson said. “That”s not a good use of resources.”
KVC Behavioral HealthCare President and CEO Wayne Sims said his agency is more than capable of handling Rainbow Mental Health Facility”s caseload.
“We see the highest level of acuity in the state,” Sims said. “We take kids from the state hospitals, community mental health centers refer to us, KU Med refers to us.”
The KVC facility is on a 75-acre campus in a rural setting within the Kansas City metropolitan area. Its caseload is not restricted to children in foster care.
“We admit children from throughout the metropolitan area,” Sims said.
Fully accredited, the campus has a 20-bed inpatient unit and a 40-bed psychiatric resident treatment facility. Both are designed for and admit only children.
Rainbow Mental Health Facility was not designed for children. It admits both children and adults.
Advocates for the mentally ill say the plan has their cautious support.
“This is an interim solution at best,” said Rick Cagen, executive director at the National Alliance of Mental Illness-Kansas Chapter office in Topeka. “It”s a small part of a much bigger discussion that needs to take place on the role we want the state hospitals to play and just what it is we”re trying to do here.”
SRS is putting together a “Hospital and Home Initiative” team to do just that.
“We”re told they”re going to get serious about redefining the system,” said Dr. Roy Menninger, chairman of the Kansas Mental Health Coalition.
“When I first heard this, I thought it was too good to be true. It would be the culmination of five years of kicking, shouting and pounding on the table,” Menninger said. “But I have to say (SRS Deputy Secretary for Health Policy) Ray Dalton has been very conscientious and straightforward with us so maybe we”re truly embarking on a new era.”
Menninger is a former president and CEO of the famous Menninger psychiatric clinic which moved from Topeka to Houston in 2003.
-Dave Ranney is a staff writer for KHI News Service, which specializes in coverage of health issues facing Kansans. He can be reached at
dranney@khi.org
or at 785-233-5443, ext. 128.