Appropriations committee advances KDADS budget with targeted HCBS increases, nursing-home payment changes and ARPA support for IDD housing

The Committee on Appropriations on [date not specified] approved fiscal recommendations for the Kansas Department of Aging and Disability Services (KDADS), adding targeted funding for home- and community-based services (HCBS) waivers, adjusting nursing-home capacity payments and endorsing a mix of ARPA and state dollars for a residential project serving adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Chairman Bueller, standing for the Social Services budget committee, told members KDADS is “about 15% of the state budget” and outlined the agency’s responsibilities, including Medicaid long-term care payments, adult care-home certification, behavioral health programs and administration of seven HCBS waivers. The committee reviewed the agency request (about $3.8 billion) alongside the special committee and House Social Services estimates before making amendments.

Why it matters: Committee members said modest, targeted increases were intended to preserve capacity and keep residents served in community settings when possible — a strategy the committee described as cost-avoidant compared with nursing-home placements.

What the committee did: The committee approved multiple adjustments to KDADS funding packages: it restored funding for a South Central Regional Hospital reappropriation and added a series of enhancements for waiver populations. Notable items adopted or amended include:

- Frail & elderly (FE) HCBS waiver: committee discussion centered on a potential FE wait list. The panel ultimately reduced an originally discussed FY2026 add from $10 million SGF to $5 million SGF (with $12.5 million all funds) and preserved a $10 million add for FY2027 after further review of projections and caseload data. Chairman Bueller said the committee was trying to match projected need for “somewhere between 8 and 10000 people right now.”

- Across-waiver provider increases: an approximately $41 million package (including about $16.16 million SGF) to provide a 3% reimbursement rate increase for HCBS providers across the seven waiver categories, intended as an incremental approach to address provider shortages.

- Nursing-facility capacity payment: the committee added $75 million (including roughly $29 million SGF) to support a $20-per-resident-per-day capacity payment in FY2027 to stabilize operations and workforce. After debate about the scale of that increase, members adopted a substitute motion setting a lower adjusted figure (substitute motion passed by voice vote).

- Community supports and targeted programs: additions included one-time $4 million SGF grants for community mental health centers, $5 million SGF for uninsured individuals via the federal block grant, workforce development funds for substance use disorder providers (Mere Inc.), and specific increases for the brain-injury waiver and technology-assisted waiver.

- Meals on Wheels: the committee reduced the agency’s $3.9 million request to $3.0 million and directed funding toward planning/service areas reporting waiting lists (Wichita, Topeka, Chanute and Johnson County). Representative Ballard highlighted a waiting list of about 3,100 people for home-delivered meals in the state.

- Inclusion Connections / Belong KC housing: committee members recommended a $3.5 million one-time ARPA allocation to support construction of a residence for 41 young adults with IDD; project cost was described at about $20 million with private fundraising and LIHTC support. The committee agreed the ARPA allocation would be deleted if ARPA funds were unavailable and an SGF fallback of $2 million was identified.

Motions and votes: The committee moved and passed the social services budget committee recommendations for KDADS for FY2026–2028 as amended. Several procedural motions were taken during the hearing, including recorded voice votes on substitute proposals for nursing-home payment levels.

Context and committee concerns: Members pressed for clearer caseload and case-mix data (the Kansas Register case-mix index was noted as difficult to interpret). Questions focused on whether waiver options are consistently presented to families, how many people are on wait lists, and how per-diem increases would affect long-term affordability. Representative Carpenter emphasized the committee’s cost-avoidance rationale: keeping eligible Kansans in waivers can be far less expensive than nursing-home placement.

What's next: The committee’s KDADS recommendations were approved and will move forward as part of the broader budget package. Any ARPA-dependent items (for example, Inclusion Connections) include contingency language that would convert funding to a reduced SGF allocation if ARPA dollars are not available.