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State notifies cooperative to repay nearly $580,000 in Medicaid reimbursements, board told
Summary
School cooperative financing will be affected after an error in KDHE’s Medicaid formula created a $579,000‑plus overpayment; the cooperative must repay the amount within one year, the superintendent said at the June 10 meeting.
The Salina Public Schools superintendent told the board on June 10 that the Central Kansas Cooperative in Education (CKCIE) must repay nearly $580,000 after Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) identified a Medicaid reimbursement calculation error affecting fiscal years 2016 through 2022.
The repayment requirement matters because CKCIE serves 12 districts and the amount — "the impact to our cooperative is nearly $580,000," Superintendent Lynn Ecksline said — will affect the cooperative’s budget and member districts’ special education financing.
Ecksline told the board CKCIE asked KDHE to allow repayment over the same seven‑year period during which the error occurred. "We did receive notice ... that said that no, we had 1 of 2 options: the coop can either repay that from the June Medicaid payment or from the next 4 quarters but it has to be paid back within 1 year," she said. The district's representation said the cooperative was seeking a more phased repayment; KDHE’s notification required repayment within a 12‑month window.
Ecksline said the error in KDHE’s calculation affected Medicaid reimbursement from fiscal year 2016 through 2022 and that the cooperative’s external audits found no fault with the cooperative’s practices. "The error was not on our part," she said, and that the cooperative would work to address the fiscal impact.
CKCIE officials have been advocating with the state for options to minimize the cooperative’s budgetary shock; the board was told the cooperative could either accept an immediate deduction from a Medicaid payment or permit repayment over the next four quarters within the one‑year limit. Board members asked no additional questions about the repayment schedule during the meeting; the superintendent said district and cooperative staff would work to determine how to absorb the repayment.
The board did not take formal action on the repayment during the meeting; the item was an informational update from the superintendent’s report.
