Questions and scrambling follow news that KDHE will stop providing free COVID testing

Across Wichita, nonprofits and businesses have been scrambling as word trickles out that the Kansas Department of Health and Environment will cease funding free COVID tests as of Nov. 30.

How will that affect organizations and individuals, and how much will they have to pay? It depends on a number of things.

“Well, I think it’s a major concern,” said state Rep. Brenda Landwehr, R-Wichita.

“So what do people do now?”

Joan Duwve, the deputy state health officer, acknowledged the concerns but said there are other options.

“Many, many people have been reaching out to us, and we have been working with them to let them know about what resources are available.”

Those options aren’t all free, though.

“It is our intent to continue to provide access to testing, but we need to be very cost conscious about how we are going about doing this,” Duwve said.

KDHE developed what it called a unified testing strategy this time last year to boost testing levels around the state. It contracted with seven labs, including one at WSU, to test places such as long-term care facilities, schools and businesses.

Varied federal funding sources totaled $144 million.

“It was never intended to be the only source of COVID testing funding,” Duwve said.

The strategy funded a quarter of the state’s total COVID testing. The other 75% went through more traditional channels, such as providers billing insurance companies.

That’s the model KDHE is advocating now, and Duwve said that would have happened earlier if it hadn’t been for the serious delta variant this summer.

She said some organizations will still be able to get free testing. For instance, Duwve said, there is other federal money for long-term care facilities and another $84 million for schools.

“So we’re going to continue to test government employees but not our private-sector employees who were forced into this with no choice?” Landwehr said. “Now how does the average . . . employer pay for that?”

The government mandates that insurance providers pay for diagnostic testing of people with symptoms, but they don’t have to pay for what’s called surveillance testing, or the routine testing that large employers are mandated to do with employees who aren’t vaccinated.

Duwve said she understands some of that testing will not be covered.

That includes private individuals who don’t have symptoms but want to be tested. However, the major financial costs will be to businesses.

“Our private businesses are definitely going to be impacted by this,” Duwve said.

A shock

KDHE may have known the free funding would be coming to an end, but it seems not many others did.

Shock is how Rachel Mayberry described how she felt hearing the news when the Wichita State University lab notified her Friday.

Mayberry is senior director of public policy and communications at Heartspring, a nonprofit that serves children through educational and therapeutic support services.

Because of the population Heartspring serves, Mayberry said it has to test its 500 employees twice a week.

According to the e-mail WSU sent, saliva tests cost $76.85 and nasopharyngeal swabs cost $97.75.

Mayberry did some quick math.

“That is roughly $300,000 a month for us, which is — holy moly.”

She reached out to Sedgwick County on Friday but did not hear back.

The Eagle also reached out to the county that day, and Sedgwick County Health Department director Adrienne Byrne said in an e-mail:

“As we just learned of this today, haven’t had much time to react, but we do have the amity to run a limited number of COVID samples at the HD (Health Department). WSU have been a great partner.”

WSU referred questions to KDHE.

Mayberry said it was kind of ironic to get the news Friday because “we’ve actually been talking about it for a while. What happens when free testing is no longer available?”

She said Heartspring can’t wait until employees start showing signs of being sick to start testing.

“It’s just incredibly important to continue testing.”

Duwve said a group such as Heartspring would qualify for free testing through something called Battelle, which has four federally funded regional testing sites nationally for, among other groups, organizations that serve at-risk populations.

It’s been a chaotic release of information.

After The Eagle contacted KDHE Friday, no one was available to answer questions until Monday afternoon.

Landwehr said she and fellow legislators were caught off guard, too.

“I had to hear this from some of the labs,” she said.

That’s how a lot of organizations found out.

“I’m very frustrated right now,” Landwehr said. “Don’t you think you would let legislators know that this is what’s happening in their communities?”

She also questions the lack of money.

“I don’t recall us being told that there was a limited amount of money on the testing,” Landwehr said. “There’s still millions of dollars out there. It’s a choice as to what they choose to fund and not fund.”

What to do now

For businesses and others struggling with where to turn for testing help, Duwve recommends checking out a playbook that KDHE created on the subject at www.coronavirus.kdheks.gov/291/Employer-Based-Testing.

The department will be adding information to it in the coming days for other testing options, including free ones.

Mayberry was thrilled to hear from a reporter that Heartspring may still qualify for help.

“That would be incredible because it means we’re providing a safe and healthy environment for the children we’re serving,” she said. “Parents can be assured that people working with their children are being frequently tested for COVID.”

For companies, the answer may not be as simple or as much of a relief.

Some organizations, including a large Wichita employer, that were contacted would not speak for the story because they’re still trying to understand the ramifications.

When asked if one month’s notice of the funding cut is enough, Duwve said, “You know, the alternative might be that we run out of funding anyway.”

Landwehr said the Legislature asked its researchers to look into the issue, specifically the funding mechanism the state has been using.

“They need to come up with an accounting.”

There is still money available, though Duwve said she is not sure how much.

“It has not run out yet, and we are doing everything we can to make sure we have enough funding left to get to the end of the year and hopefully into January.”

Katie Bernard of the Kansas City Star contributed to this report.