Panel hears bill to allow up to 10 swing beds at rural emergency hospitals to convert to skilled-nursing beds

Senators on the Kansas Senate Public Health Committee heard testimony Sept. 20 on Senate Bill 82, a one‑page bill that would require the Kansas Department of Aging and Disability Services (KDADS) to grant a physical‑environment waiver allowing a qualifying rural emergency hospital to convert up to 10 existing swing beds into skilled nursing facility beds.

The bill would require KDADS to grant the waiver if the facility: is currently licensed as a rural emergency hospital; was licensed as a hospital immediately prior to that designation; and, while licensed as a hospital, provided skilled‑nursing or critical access hospital swing‑bed services for at least one year without a finding of immediate jeopardy. The bill as presented would take effect July 1.

Proponents told the committee the change corrects an unintended licensing gap created when hospitals converted to the rural emergency hospital designation enacted in 2021. “This allows those hospitals to be able to keep those skilled nursing facility services without having to make infrastructure upgrades as if they are a brand new long term care facility,” Tara Mays of the Kansas Hospital Association said. Kylie Childs of LeadingAge Kansas added that without the waiver states’ capacity for short‑term post‑acute care could worsen.

Aaron Herbal, administrator and CFO of Mercy Hospital in Mount Ridge, testified his hospital would face roughly $3,000,000 in remodeling costs to meet full nursing‑home physical‑plant standards under KDADS survey rules. Herbal said Mercy had provided skilled‑nursing services for more than 50 years without immediate jeopardy citations and that a waiver would let the community keep local short‑term recovery capacity.

Lacey Hunter, Commissioner of Survey Certification and Credentialing for KDADS, testified neutrally that the bill “solidifies authority and responsibility to provide waivers” and that KDADS was aware of only one rural emergency hospital that currently meets the bill’s criteria. Hunter also noted that KDADS did not previously regulate the eligible facility and that the facility’s prior utilization data was not available to KDADS.

Committee members asked whether the waiver would change federal certification. Hunter said the waiver would have no impact on providers unless the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) allowed the newly designated entity to be certified under Medicare/Medicaid long‑term care rules. Several senators offered brief thanks and moved on; no committee vote was taken on SB82 at the Sept. 20 meeting.

The hearing record contains proponents from hospital and aging services organizations, a hospital administrator describing local impact and remodeling cost estimates, and a KDADS official confirming the department’s view that the legislation clarifies statutory authority to grant waivers.

Looking ahead: SB82 was heard; the committee did not take final action on Sept. 20.