Primary care clinics would get less under health funding cuts

Aid to community primary care clinics would be reduced if the Kansas Department of Health and Environment faces budget cuts next year.

The agency, which oversees public health in Kansas, would trim its primary care grant program by nearly $380,000 if the departmental budget is cut by 5 percent, according to documents obtained by The Eagle.

Gov. Sam Brownback’s budget director asked all state agencies to submit documents outlining the impact of a 5 percent cut to state general funding. Brownback’s office has said it will not release those documents; previous administrations opened similar documents to the public. The Eagle obtained the KDHE documents from a source in state government.

Brownback’s office has said that the governor does not plan to make across-the-board cuts. However, some cuts probably will be necessary, because the state faces a more than $60 million budget hole. The documents submitted by state agencies will guide the governor as he makes those decisions.

The primary care grant program is intended to make medical care and prescription drugs more accessible for uninsured and underserved Kansans. The KDHE cut would be passed on to the clinics participating in the program.

The KDHE would reduce general funding for the administration of the state’s Medicaid program by more than $500,000 if it had a 5 percent cut. It would offset that by shifting money from a fee fund to avoid affecting the program or losing federal matching funds.

The agency would also reduce state funding for the state’s Bureau of Disease Control and Prevention by $97,000, which would affect programs meant to support immunization and treat HIV.

The KDHE would also look to save about $160,000 by eliminating three environmental positions.

This story was originally published October 17, 2016 at 7:10 PM with the headline "Primary care clinics would get less under health funding cuts."