Families and providers warn rapid shift to conflict‑free targeted case management could disrupt services

Kansas families, service providers and case managers urged the Legislature's interim committee to slow the transition to federally required conflict‑free targeted case management (TCM), citing risks that rapid change would disrupt services for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD).

Speakers said the state must pair any policy changes with concrete capacity building, phased timelines and narrow exemptions so people who rely on long‑term relationships with case managers do not lose essential supports.

The issue stems from the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) requirements tied to the home‑and‑community‑based services (HCBS) settings rule. KDADS (Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services) staff told the committee the state must remove conflicts of interest in case management to keep federal Medicaid funding.

"We support conflict‑free case management, but we need a phased plan and supports in place," said Jeff, a TCM supervisor at Cottonwood Incorporated, who warned that Cottonwood’s plan to divest TCM services today would create hundreds more people waiting for new case managers in his area. "If divestiture…