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Families warn of new waiver wait lists; KDADS, KDHE say community support waiver and monitoring aim to reduce pressure
Summary
Families and advocates urged the committee to prevent new wait lists for the TA, brain-injury and frail‑elder waivers; KDADS and KDHE said they are pursuing a community support waiver, workforce supports, and automation efforts to reduce administrative backlogs and waiting.
Multiple families, advocates and agency officials spoke to the Bethell committee about home- and community-based services waivers and the risk of new waiting lists for several Medicaid waiver programs.
Several parents and advocacy groups — including Little Lobbyists, Disability Rights Center Kansas, Interhab and others — urged the committee to fully fund the TA (technology-assisted), brain-injury and frail-elderly waivers and to accelerate elimination of the IDD waiting list. Family testimony described the TA waiver as life-sustaining for medically fragile children who would otherwise need inpatient care, and several witnesses urged lawmakers to avoid a policy shift that would force children into hospital beds because HCBS capacity has been cut.
KDADS officials, including commissioner Michelle Hayden, said the department is preparing a community support waiver aimed at serving people whose needs are not met under existing waivers. Hayden said the agency is working with a technical advisory group, running a rate study to set service rates, and plans to submit a state plan waiver application to CMS in late 2025, but must also complete IDD corrective-action work (conflict-of-interest and settings-rule compliance) before full approval. KDADS said the waiver would include services capped at about $20,000 per year and could serve roughly 500 individuals when implemented.
On waits and projections, KDADS reported estimated shortfalls in FY26 that could create pressure to add capacity: an estimated $11.7 million shortfall for FE and $2.0 million for BI in FY26 (state general fund), with larger deficits projected in FY27 absent additional funding. Hayden said the agency is working with MCOs and providers to mitigate waits and has awarded targeted workforce and crisis stabilization grants. KDADS also said it has awarded ARPA-funded assistive-technology grants to improve independent living for waiver participants.
KDHE and KDADS officials told the committee they are pursuing automation for eligibility processes, improved data-sharing between SNAP and Medicaid, and a Medicaid data bureau to reduce re‑enrollment backlogs created during post-pandemic unwinding. KDHE also reported the eligibility over-45-day application category split introduced in their reports to more clearly show presumptive disability cases.
Ending: Families asked legislators for steady funding and for measures to ensure waiver slots continue to expand. Agencies asked for time to complete corrective-action compliance with CMS and for legislative flexibility and funding to launch the community support waiver and address workforce shortages.
