Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
KDADS outlines staffing, training shortfalls as survey workload grows
Summary
Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services officials told a legislative committee they face persistent vacancies and a lengthy training pipeline for nursing-facility surveyors, and they described a narrow set of options—higher pay, reclassification, or use of non-RN 'generalists'—to meet federally-required recertification timelines.
Lacey Hunter, commissioner of survey certification and credentialing for the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services, told the Special Committee on State Employee Compensation that the state is behind federal survey requirements because of staff shortages and the length of training required to certify new surveyors. Hunter said Kansas currently certifies about 303 federally certified nursing facilities and about 525 state-licensed-only adult care homes, and that federal rules call for a recertification survey “no greater than every 15.9” months. “We are currently as a state sitting at an average of 19.9,” Hunter said.
Hunter outlined the surveyor training pipeline: state onboarding plus approximately 1,500 pages of federal reading and a sequence of online tests and observation surveys. She said most recruits take about six months from hire to independent surveyor. “Most of our staff are getting all this…
Already have an account? Log in
Subscribe to keep reading
Unlock the rest of this article — and every article on Citizen Portal.
- Unlimited articles
- AI-powered breakdowns of topics, speakers, decisions, and budgets
- Instant alerts when your location has a new meeting
- Follow topics and more locations
- 1,000 AI Insights / month, plus AI Chat
