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Bill would let qualifying rural emergency hospitals convert up to 10 swing beds to skilled nursing beds
Summary
Senate Bill 82 would require the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services to grant physical-environment waivers allowing certain rural emergency hospitals to convert up to 10 swing beds into skilled nursing facility beds; proponents said the change would preserve local long-term care capacity in rural areas.
The House Health and Human Services Committee opened and closed a hearing on Senate Bill 82, which would create a statutory requirement for the Secretary for Aging and Disability Services to grant physical-environment waivers allowing certain rural emergency hospitals to convert up to 10 swing beds into skilled nursing facility beds.
The bill “requires the secretary for aging and disability services to grant physical environment waivers for certain rural emergency hospitals to provide skilled nursing facility care,” Revisor Carly (committee staff) told the committee, adding the measure mirrors House Bill 2249 and that “the bill passed the Senate 40 to 0 and would go into effect on 07/01/2025 upon publication in the statute book.”
Proponents said the bill is narrowly targeted. Tara Mays of the Kansas Hospital Association told the committee the proposal “gets at allowing a rural emergency hospital to get past one important step in being able to keep and retain skilled nursing facility beds.” Kylie Childs of LeadingAge Kansas said the change would help preserve a continuum of care in rural areas and noted the physical-environment waivers are already familiar to providers: “This waiver is not something outside the realm of normal operations for [KDADS] to grant.”
Lacey Hunter, commissioner of survey and certification for the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services (KDADS), testified neutrally and described KDADS’s current role and limits. Hunter said the bill “would clarify in statute KDADS authority and responsibility to provide waivers to statute or regulatory requirements” and that KDADS “is aware of only one rural emergency hospital that meets the criteria to request a physical environment waiver.” Hunter also said KDADS “did not have any regulatory oversight over the facility that would qualify for a waiver under Senate Bill 82 and does not have information on the utilization of the long-term beds in the facility before its transition to rural emergency hospital.”
Hunter, and multiple proponents, emphasized a federal dependency: the waiver would allow continuation of long-term care only if the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) approves the rural emergency hospital to be certified to provide Title XVIII and Title XIX services. As Hunter said, “This would only be true if CMS approves.”
The committee did not take a final vote on SB 82 during the hearing; members received the testimony and closed the public hearing.
If enacted, the bill would add a new statutory section giving KDADS a mandatory waiver-granting duty for qualifying facilities and would take effect July 1, 2025, upon publication in the statute book, according to the reviser’s description.
