WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas nurse who pleaded guilty to mistreating an adult at an Andover nursing home faces 60 days in jail.
KWCH reports Geofrey Nyangweso pleaded guilty to mistreating a dependent adult at Victoria Falls Skilled Nursing Home in Andover in 2013. He was sentenced Thursday.
Judge David Ricke also ruled that Nyangweso is no longer allowed to work in any care facility working with patients.
The Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services said earlier it had cited the nursing home for failing to meet certain regulations and failing to investigate some abuse complaints.
A department inspection showed at least two of the 63 residents suffered verbal and physical abuse, including one targeted by at least four staff members and another who had been abused by another resident.
NEW YORK (AP) — Crude oil futures prices ended higher on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The near-month contract for the benchmark grade rose 50 cents — closing at $46.75 a barrel.
Adam Armijo, a Pueblo, Colo., graduate student in the College of Health and Behavioral Sciences at Fort Hays State University, was selected for a 10-week research internship with the Department of Homeland Security this summer in Concord, Mass., to study human decision making about navigation.
Armijo worked with the risk and decision analysis team on three projects. One project focused on modeling decisions about which route people will take when given the option between two competing routes. When in an unfamiliar city, many people will use maps or GPS to find the optimal route to a destination. However, when left to their own brains, humans are not nearly as efficient at finding the best route.
“Even though we like to think we are logical, we in fact aren’t,” Armijo said. “We make a lot of mistakes when making decisions when they are very similar in nature.”
Armijo’s research looked at heuristics — quick and simple rules of thumb — as a method people might use in making navigation decisions. For example, a person often chooses a route that starts with a straight path as opposed to a route that starts with a turn, even if the route with the turn will get the person to a destination in a shorter amount of time.
This was Armijo’s first internship. He hopes to finish his master’s in experimental psychology in May 2016, then go on to a Ph.D. Armijo would like to eventually teach or do research. The internship will be a big benefit, he said.
“I think it allowed me to get some great connections,” Armijo said. “I’ll be working on a few publications with them.”
HUTCHINSON, Kan. (AP) — Friends University in Wichita has partnered with four area community colleges to offer on-site degree programs.
The university announced Wednesday it will work with students attending Hutchinson Community College, Dodge City Community College, Garden City Community College and Seward County Community College in Liberal.
The Hutchinson News reports the program, called “Finish with Friends,” will offer degree completion programs in accounting, business management, computer information systems and human resource management at the four community colleges. Garden City Community College students can earn an undergraduate degree in accounting through the program.
Students will be able to attend upper-level classes taught by Friends University faculty on each community college campus. The students will be guaranteed admission to Friends University and may transfer up to 78 credit hours.
The Kansas Insurance Department (KID) can now assist Kansans in locating life insurance and annuity benefits they may be owed.
The new Life Insurance Policy and Annuity Search is now available by submitting a request form to our department. Kansans who believe they are beneficiaries, an executor or legal representative of a deceased person can request help through KID.
KID will then send the request to all Kansas-licensed life insurance companies to search their records. If a policy or contract is found, the company will respond directly to the requestor to begin the claims process.
We are pleased that we can provide this service. It will enable Kansans who are possible beneficiaries to find benefits from another person’s life insurance or annuity contract. It will eliminate multiple searches by individuals because the insurance department will act as a clearinghouse for those requests.
Those submitting a request will need to do the following:
• Complete a form you can download off our website, http://www.ksinsurance.org/healthlife/life/life-policy-search.php .
• Have the form notarized.
• Attach a copy of the certified death certificate of the policyholder.
• Send all information to the department address listed on the form.
It is especially appropriate that this service is first offered through our department during Life Insurance Awareness Month. Although this service may benefit those who didn’t know about a person’s policy, Kansans should always consider letting beneficiaries know of a policy’s existence. That can have a great significance for them over the course of a lifetime.
Your beneficiaries will receive the insurance benefits tax free, and life insurance benefits do not have to go through probate or other legal delays involved in settlement of an estate.
You can specify as many beneficiaries as you want to receive the benefits. You may also specify how the benefits are to be divided. It is a good idea to name a second (contingent) beneficiary to receive the money in case your primary beneficiary dies before you do or at the same time as you.
According to law, monthly life insurance or annuity payments will not disqualify the beneficiary from receiving full Social Security payments. Monthly life insurance benefits do not count as earned income, regardless of how much is paid each month through a policy.
As a general rule, your beneficiary does not have to pay any federal income taxes on the proceeds of your policy. However, if proceeds of a policy are paid to the deceased person’s estate, and the total estate exceeds a statutory maximum, including life insurance, there will be federal estate taxes payable. Seek assistance from your insurance agent, lawyer or accountant if you need more information.
We hope that the new locator service will provide an efficient way for previously-unknown beneficiaries to receive undistributed funds. But, we really hope that you as a policyholder notify any beneficiaries so that they don’t need this new service in the future. Ken Selzer is the Kansas Commissioner of Insurance
Hutchinson – On Wednesday a federal judge vacated the ‘threatened’ listing of the Lesser Prairie Chicken due to a power-hungry move by the Fish and Wildlife Service that ignored the law and the voluntary conservation efforts and state and local conservation efforts.
Huelskamp issued the following statement:
“In countless efforts my office made to oppose this listing and protect Kansas farmers and ranchers, I always maintained that the Lesser Prairie Chicken would recover as the drought abated and we continued our voluntary conservation efforts. Today, a federal judge agreed that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service ignored the law and never performed a valid analysis to demonstrate otherwise.”
Fort Hays State University’s Swimming Tigers swim lessons will be offered during this semester. Classes offered are: Parent-Child, Sept 8-17; Preschool Sept. 21-Nov. 1; Level 1 Oct. 5-15.
The lessons will be 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. The first six who sign up at IMLeagues.com will be taken. If you have questions contact the FHSU Intramurals office at (785) 628-4373.
WASHINGTON– Kenosha Beef International LTD, a Kenosha, Wis. establishment, is recalling approximately 89,235 pounds of pork sausage patty products that may be contaminated with extraneous materials, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced today.
The frozen, pork sausage patties were produced on May 13, 2015. The following products are subject to recall:
24-oz. cartons of “Johnsonville Grillers CHEDDAR CHEESE & BACON FLAVOR.”
13.5-lb. cases of “Johnsonville Grillers CHEDDAR CHEESE & BACON FLAVOR” containing nine, 24-oz. cartons of the product.
Retail products subject to recall bear the establishment number “EST. 425B” and a “BEST FLAVOR BY” date of “12/29/15” on the end flap of the package. Cases of the recalled product bear the establishment number
“EST. 425B” inside the USDA mark of inspection on the generic label. These items were shipped to retail locations in eleven states including Kansas.
The problem was discovered after the firm began receiving consumer complaints that small pieces of metal were being found in the products. The source of the extraneous material is unknown at this time.
FSIS and the company have received no reports of oral injury, adverse reactions or illness due to consumption of these products. Anyone concerned about an injury or illness should contact a healthcare provider.
Consumers who have purchased these products are urged not to consume them. These products should be thrown away or returned to the place of purchase.
Photo by KHI News Service Cindy Luxem, president and CEO of the Kansas Health Care Association, says the CMS proposal is “the biggest unfunded mandate our providers have ever faced.
By ANDY MARSO
A federal rule buried in a host of other proposed Medicare and Medicaid changes has nursing home administrators in Kansas — and other states — shaking their heads.
Released in July, the rule would require nursing homes and other long-term care facilities to have residents examined by a doctor, physician’s assistant, nurse practitioner or clinical nurse specialist before they are transferred to a hospital. Failure to comply could cause a “deficiency” mark in the nursing home’s annual Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services review.
Such marks can lead to fines, withheld payments and downgrades in a facility’s publicly available CMS rating. Each nursing home has a contract with a medical director who meets the level of expertise required by the hospital transfer rule, but in most cases that director is off-site. Few facilities have medical personnel of that level on staff.
The goal of the proposed rule is to prevent unnecessary hospitalizations.
But Reginald Hislop, who operates a nursing home in Wichita, said it’s just not practical.
“That is going to be impossible to comply with,” Hislop said. “I don’t care who you are. I don’t care where you are. Unless you’re connected to a hospital, with hospitalists right next to you, I don’t know how you’re going to comply.” Hislop is not alone in his concerns.
Blair Jackson is vice president of public affairs for the American Health Care Association, an advocacy group for long-term care providers. Jackson said the hospital transfer rule is one of many red flags in the CMS proposal that his association’s members are discussing.
“It’s definitely an area of concern nationally,” he said. Jackson noted that the rules have yet to be approved. His organization is encouraging members to file public comments with CMS before the Sept. 14 deadline.
William Polglase, who works in media relations for CMS, declined to comment on the hospital transfer requirement except to say that it is part of proposed rules and that input on them is encouraged.
“CMS will carefully consider all comments,” Polglase said. Jackson said the hospital transfer rule will be especially difficult for facilities in rural areas, where the few health care providers often must travel long distances to see residents in person.
Hislop’s nursing home, Larksfield Place Retirement Community, is in a metropolitan area and licensed for a total of 170 nursing home and assisted living residents. But even in Wichita, he said, getting a doctor to the facility during the day would take about an hour. Getting one in the middle of the night would be nearly impossible.
“In terms of after hours, it’s just not going to happen,” Hislop said.
The proposed rule provides an exception for “emergency situations where the health or safety of the individual would be endangered” but does not define those situations. Hislop said that leaves too many unknowns for staff to determine before a hospital transfer.
A resident complaining of chest pains could have heartburn or a heart attack. One complaining of abdominal pain could have gas or acute appendicitis. Hislop said he will submit comments directly to CMS and through his advocacy group LeadingAge Kansas. He has notified the Kansas congressional delegation of his concerns.
CMS announced the 100-plus pages of proposed rules for long-term care facilities July 13, saying it was the first major revamp of the regulations since 1991.
After CMS officials receive and consider the comments, they will decide whether to adjust the regulations and then will issue a “final rule.” There’s no timeline yet for when that might happen.
Sylvia Burwell, secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, said the proposal would prevent unnecessary hospitalizations and infections and increase the quality of care for 1.5 million Americans living in nursing homes, including 16,000 Kansans as of 2013.
“This proposal is just one part of the administration’s overall commitment to transform our health system to deliver better quality care and spend our health care dollars in a smarter way,” Burwell said in a prepared statement.
“Today’s measures set high standards for quality and safety in nursing homes and long-term care facilities. When a family makes the decision for a loved one to be placed in a nursing home or long-term care facility, they need to know that their loved one’s health and safety are priorities.”
The CMS regulations proposed in July are in addition to new regulations imposed on Medicare and Medicaid providers by the federal Affordable Care Act. Cindy Luxem is president and CEO of the Kansas Health Care Association, which represents for-profit nursing homes statewide.
Luxem called the entire July Medicare proposal “the biggest unfunded mandate our providers have ever faced.” “It’s the put-us-out-of-business rule,” she said. “Because the federal government is reaching way too far into our world of health care. … I don’t know how the providers can get ahead of anything.”
Hislop’s facility is a nonprofit. He said the CMS proposal reflects a lack of understanding of the current shortage of health care professionals. The hospital transfer rule, in particular, assumes a world in which doctors and nurses are available to evaluate residents at a moment’s notice.
But Hislop said many nursing home residents struggle to find a primary care doctor, even in urban areas. “If you’re out in Russell, Kansas, what are you going to do?” he asked. “How many doctors do you think are out there?”
Andy Marso is a reporter for Heartland Health Monitor, a news collaboration focusing on health issues and their impact in Missouri and Kansas.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Newman University officials say a 21-year-old wrestler from the school died when his motorcycle crashed into a building.
The school says Reece Wright-Conklin was on his way to work at the PetSmart in west Wichita Thursday morning when the accident occurred.
The Wichita Eagle reports Wright-Conklin crashed his Honda 600 sport bike into the side of the building. He was discovered by a co-worker arriving for work and flown to a Wichita hospital, where he died.
Wichita police Lt. Joe Schroeder says police aren’t sure exactly when the crash occurred.
A prayer service will be held at 4 p.m. Thursday in St. John’s Chapel, inside Sacred Heart Hall on the Newman campus.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas judge has put on hold his order striking down a policy imposed on the courts in a move that protects the judicial branch’s budget.
Shawnee County District Judge Larry Hendricks issued a stay Thursday at Attorney General Derek Schmidt’s request.
Hendricks on Wednesday struck down a 2014 law having district court judges instead of the Kansas Supreme Court pick chief judges in each of the state’s 31 judicial districts. Hendricks said the law violated the state constitution by infringing on the Supreme Court’s power to administer the courts.
Legislators this year passed another law nullifying the judicial branch’s entire budget if the policy change was struck down.
Schmidt has promised to appeal Hendricks’ decision Wednesday, and the stay will remain in effect in the meantime.
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TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt is asking a state judge to put on hold his order striking down a policy imposed on the courts to protect the judicial branch’s budget.
Schmidt filed the request Thursday with Shawnee County District Judge Larry Hendricks.
Hendricks on Wednesday struck down a 2014 law having district court judges instead of the Kansas Supreme Court pick chief judges in each of the state’s 31 judicial districts. Hendricks said the law violated the state constitution by infringing on the Supreme Court’s power to administer the courts.
Legislators this year passed another law nullifying the judicial branch’s entire budget if the policy change was struck down.
Schmidt noted that any court ruling doesn’t take effect for two weeks and promised in his filing to appeal Hendricks’ ruling.
ST. GEORGE – Law enforcement authorities in Pottawatomie County are investigating two suspects who are in custody following a Thursday morning chase.
Just before 5 a.m. on Thursday, the Pottawatomie County Sheriff’s Office received a call from a resident in the Oak View area of St. George, reporting that they saw the dome light come on in their 2012 Chevy Camaro, according to Sheriff Greg Riat.
The caller went to investigate what was going on when the Camaro was driven away from his residence.
A Sheriff’s deputy saw the suspects driving the Camaro driving east on Highway 24 at a high rate of speed
The vehicle left Highway 24 and went east on Vineyard Road.
Two suspects, a driver and passenger, abandoned the vehicle in the area of Vineyard Road and White Tale Lane.
One suspect was taken into custody a short time later, and the second suspect was taken into custody just before 8:00 a.m.
Names of the suspects have not been released.
The Kansas Highway Patrol, a helicopter from the Kansas Highway Patrol Aircraft division and Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks, assisted the Pottawatomie Count Sheriff’s Office.
