TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The president of Washburn University says the school is “very safe” and sexual assault is rare on the Topeka campus.

President Jerry Farley says a federal investigation into the school’s handling of sexual violence stems from an alleged sexual assault involving two students. He says such cases are rare at Washburn.

The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights recently added Washburn to its list of post-secondary institutions with current Title IX sexual violence investigations.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports the victim of the alleged assault filed a complaint against Washburn in April, and the Office for Civil Rights is investigating.

The university has a month to provide the federal agency with documents concerning Washburn’s procedures and how the university responded to the reported assault.

By Bryan Thompson
Kansas Public Radio

TOPEKA — The American Academy of Family Physicians, based in Leawood, has some issues with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ recently released Medicare physician fee schedule for 2015. But the doctors’ group blames Congress more than CMS.

The biggest issue is the so-called sustainable growth rate formula, which Congress enacted in 1997 to hold Medicare spending at or below the U.S. economy’s growth rate.

To comply with the law, CMS proposes reductions in the reimbursement rate for doctors every year. And every year, Congress suspends those cuts. Next year’s reduction in physician fees would be 20.9 percent.

Tennessee physician Reid Blackwelder, who serves as president of the American Academy of Family Physicians, said if that cut is allowed to take effect, some doctors may have little choice but to stop seeing Medicare patients.

“The patient, if we’re still seeing them, will still come in and get care, but I will not be paid for even the cost of that care,” he said. “And that will make it very difficult for me to pay my overhead, pay my rent, pay my staff — to keep the doors open.”

Blackwelder says both political parties in Congress want to end this yearly game of chicken by doing away with the sustainable growth rate formula. The challenge, however, is coming up with a way to fully fund Medicare without those cuts.

In a news release issued by the AAFP, Blackwelder added, “Failure by Congress to repeal the long-standing SGR overshadows the 2015 proposed fee schedule’s new and commendable code for chronic care management services.”

Primary care physicians are well-suited to oversee care for elderly and disabled patients with chronic conditions, he said, and the new code for these services recognizes the work outside the exam room required for coordinated care.

“The AAFP welcomes the new code but we also look to a day when policies designed to strengthen primary medical care are not undermined by drastic cuts to the underlying foundation on which all payment is based.”

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — A northeast Kansas county will pay for copies of birth certificates for some voters needing to document their U.S. citizenship to register if they cannot afford to obtain the records.

The Lawrence Journal-World reports that Douglas County Clerk Jamie Shew announced the policy Wednesday. Shew said he’s addressing what he called an unfairness created by a state law requiring new voters to prove their citizenship.

The law says people born in Kansas are eligible for free copies of their birth certificates. Voters born outside the state must pay between $10 and $60.

Shew said his office will cover the cost for such voters if they can’t afford it. He said his office’s current budget can cover the cost. So far, it’s identified about five people who’d be helped by the policy.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) and U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) introduced an amendment to the Bipartisan Sportsmen’s Act of 2014 to prohibit the U.S. Department of Agriculture and U.S. Department of the Interior from altering any land management practices based on the listing of the Lesser Prairie Chicken as a threatened species.

“Just as we thought, in Kansas, the Lesser Prairie Chicken numbers are up in areas that have recently seen a little rain in this ongoing, multi-year drought,” Sen. Roberts said. “This amendment will protect farmers and ranchers, who are also suffering from the effects of drought, from having to change their operations and land management due to the listing of the Lesser Prairie Chicken.”

“As conservation efforts for the Lesser Prairie Chicken are considered, farmers and ranchers deserve the flexibility to implement plans that fit their operations,” Sen. Moran said. “I am committed to making certain the measures implemented are based on sound science and common sense, as well as represent the best interest of producers. We will continue to do what we can to resolve the problem and avoid thwarting industries vital to our state’s economy.”

The amendment is also cosponsored by U.S. Senators Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas).

Background

Sens. Roberts and Moran have worked to avoid the Lesser Prairie Chicken’s listing. On June 13, 2013, the senators sent a bipartisan letter requesting a six-month delay to the LPC listing decision in order to provide the maximum amount of time to consider the LPC listing allowed under federal law. This resulted in an extension that allowed time for evaluation of the science behind the listing decision and for the five-state plan to demonstrate results. That letter was a follow-up to a letter on Feb. 20, 2013, requesting an extension to the comment period for the proposed threatened listing, which U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services Director Dan Ashe agreed to provide within a week of the request.