Kansas hearings spotlight $40M‑plus annual contract nursing costs and limits of local workforce

State hospital leaders, higher‑education officials and health‑system representatives told a House appropriations subcommittee in Topeka that Kansas’ four state psychiatric hospitals face persistent nursing and clinical staffing shortages and are spending tens of millions of dollars each year on contract nurses to keep beds open.

Deputy Secretary Scott Brunner of the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services (KDADS) told the panel that "in fiscal year 2025 we spent a little under $46,100,000" on contract nursing at Larned State Hospital, and that Osawatomie State Hospital spent about $15.4 million in the same period. Brunner said contract nurse pay rates are typically double what the state pays employees, with agencies billing $90–$100 per hour while much smaller shares reach the individual nurses.

Why it matters: Subcommittee members pressed officials for specific, short‑term ways to reduce contract spending while also growing a larger, local health workforce. Witnesses said the problem is not single‑sourced: high vacancy rates for direct‑care positions, the clinical complexity and aging of some patient populations, long travel distances for rural jobs, and limits in how quickly training programs can produce new nurses and behavioral‑health clinicians.

Most relevant facts and figures

- KDADS reported roughly $46.1 million in contract nursing costs at Larned State Hospital in fiscal 2025 and about $15.4 million at Osawatomie State Hospital for the same period. - Brunner said Larned averaged about 232 contract staffers over the fiscal year; Osawatomie averaged about 105. - Vacancy counts cited included about 248 vacant critical…