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Mother urges Sedgwick County to back NACO resolution opposing parts of federal HCBS setting rule
Summary
A Wichita mother told commissioners the federal HCBS setting rule threatens center‑based work programs for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities and asked the board to support the National Association of Counties’ resolution calling for changes. Commissioners pledged staff follow-up and outreach to the county’s federal delegation.
Cammie Funston, a Wichita mother whose adult daughter participates in a Starkey center‑based work program, asked the Sedgwick County Board of County Commissioners on May 20 to support a National Association of Counties 2026 resolution urging Congress and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to rescind or amend the Medicaid Home and Community‑Based Services (HCBS) setting rule.
Funston said the HCBS setting rule, adopted in 2014, contains prescriptive requirements that treat center‑based employment as segregated and therefore not permissible under some interpretations of the rule. She said her daughter Charity has found purpose and income through Starkey’s work‑activity program and that the center provides supports and socialization that would not be easily replaced by a push to competitive integrated employment for all participants.
"For my daughter, her coworkers provide community," Funston said, and she urged commissioners to support amendments proposed by the advocacy group Together for Choice that would make reasonable, targeted changes (for example, changing singular uses of the word "community" to "communities" to reflect the reality that people participate in multiple communities).
Commissioners asked clarifying questions about authority and enforcement. Staff and Funston said the rule is federal and that the state's role (KDADS) and CMS approval processes shape how the rule is implemented locally. Commissioner Beatty asked county staff to coordinate with the CDDO and with the county’s federal delegation; Commissioner Wise said staff and Jeanette Livingston would brief other commissioners on the issue.
The meeting record shows the board received the public comment; commissioners committed to staff follow‑up and outreach but did not adopt a formal county resolution on the spot.
