Panel endorses Board of Healing Arts appropriation plan after directors explain fee cycles and staffing

The House Committee on Higher Education Budget voted to recommend the State Board of Healing Arts’ proposed appropriations in HB 2007 after receiving testimony on the board’s fee structure, staffing and planned IT and contractual expenditures.

Megan Leopold, budget analyst with the Kansas Legislative Research Department, told the committee the State Board of Healing Arts licenses more than 36,000 practitioners across 16 license types and that the agency operates solely from its fee fund. Leopold summarized the board’s fiscal requests and noted requested increases mainly for contractual services, group health insurance and capital outlay.

Executive Director Susan Guile described the board’s revenue timing and operating profile, explaining the agency receives a large share of fees during the June renewal and graduation cycle. She said the board’s no‑limit fee fund has about $4 million available — roughly four months of operating expenditures — and stated, “It costs us a little over half a $1,000,000, basically, to keep our doors open, about $535,000 a month operating expenses.”

Leopold and Guile highlighted specific budget lines: the board requested an increase for contractual services (including rent and IT/server contracts) and sought to raise its statutory hospitality spending limit from $1,000 to $5,000 without additional appropriation; staff explained this is an internal reallocation within existing special revenue authority rather than a new appropriation request.

Committee members asked about a jump in approved FTEs between 2024 and 2025 (from 57 to 67). Guile said most of those were previously approved FTEs the agency had not filled; the board has been actively recruiting and some positions were hard to fill, particularly attorneys. Filling existing authorized positions and increased workload from new statutory licensing requirements drove the higher personnel levels.

Members also raised questions about licensing timelines and postgraduate training. Guile described the board’s goal to process complete applications within about 20 working days (10 days with a licensing analyst, 10 days with a licensing specialist) but said timing slips in the busy season. She noted a statutory change requiring 36 months of postgraduate training before issuing an active license has lengthened the sequence for new doctors to obtain DEA numbers and hospital credentialing. Guile proposed an administrative fix: accept a signed letter from an educational institution stating a candidate will complete postgraduate training and process the license to take effect on the program completion date, subject to confirmation.

After discussion, Vice Chair Sanders moved the committee recommend the Legislative Budget Committee’s appropriations for the Kansas Board of Healing Arts in HB 2007; the motion was seconded and carried by voice vote. The transcript records the clerk’s announcement, “Motion carries,” but no roll‑call tally appears in the record.

The committee will forward the recommendation to the House Committee on Appropriations for inclusion in the House budget process.