WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Sens. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) and Al Franken (D-Minn.), co-chairmen of the Senate Rural Health Caucus, and Sens. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) and Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.) today announced they have introduced legislation to improve rural health care by strengthening the rural health delivery system and providing relief to hospitals and other providers serving rural Americans. Today, November 17, is National Rural Health Day.

“Our rural communities face unique needs and often immense hurdles in regards to continuing to provide top-notch care,” said Roberts. “The R-HoPE Act recognizes that rural health care providers have very different needs than their urban counterparts and that health care is not one size fits all.”

Today is National #RuralHealth Day. I’m proud to introduce legislation to strengthen our rural health care system: https://t.co/SqWDggrSUr pic.twitter.com/upVWjfiD5j

— Pat Roberts (@SenPatRoberts) November 17, 2016

“For millions of rural Americans, getting access to high-quality health care can be a struggle,” said Franken. “As a member of the Senate Health Committee, I’ve traveled across Minnesota to meet with patients, providers, and rural health experts to better understand the challenges that rural communities face in accessing and providing quality care. This bipartisan legislation is a continuation of that effort and would help strengthen health care in Greater Minnesota and all across rural America.”

“In Wyoming, we understand the unique challenges our rural and frontier communities must overcome when people need medical care. Washington’s one-size-fits-all approach to health care simply doesn’t serve Wyoming patients well,” said Barrasso. “Our bill will help create an accessible rural health care system by putting our rural providers on a level playing field with other doctors and hospitals across the country. Most importantly, this bill ensures that folks in rural states like Wyoming have access to medical care as close to home as possible.”

“Every day I come to the U.S. Senate fighting for rural America, and that includes making sure families living in rural communities can access the quality, affordable health care they deserve,” said Heitkamp. “Our bipartisan bill would make needed changes to address the unique health care needs of small and remote towns in North Dakota and across the country. A one-size-fits-all model for health service doesn’t work for rural communities, and this bill would change that.”

The legislation, named the Craig Thomas Rural Hospital and Provider Equity Act (R-HoPE), honors the service of the late Sen. Craig Thomas (R-Wyo.), former chairman of the Senate Rural Health Caucus. The legislation makes changes to Medicare regulations for rural hospitals and providers, recognizing the difficulty in achieving the same economies of scale as large urban facilities.

Specifically, the legislation:

Equalizes Medicare’s disproportionate share of hospital payments to bring rural hospitals in line with urban facilities and provides additional assistance for small, rural hospitals that have a low-volume of patients. Often, these hospitals have trouble making ends meet under the Medicare payment system.
Extends incentive payments for doctors who practice in rural areas and protects the availability of other health care providers – such as rural health clinics, home health agencies, ambulances and mental health professionals.
Provides a Capital Infrastructure Loan Program to make loans available to help rural facilities improve crumbling buildings and infrastructure. Rural providers can apply to receive planning grants to help assess capital and infrastructure needs.
Allows marriage and family therapists and licensed professional counselors to bill Medicare for their services and be paid the rate of social workers, a provision championed by the late Sen. Thomas.
Creates a pilot program providing incentives for home health agencies to purchase and utilize home monitoring and communications technologies.
Facilitates telehealth services across state lines.
The legislation has received support from numerous rural health groups around the country including the National Rural Health Association, the State Offices of Rural Health, the American Hospital Association, and the National Association of Rural Health Clinics.

SEWARD – A teen was injured in an accident just before 1p.m. on Thursday in Seward County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2005 Suzuki FZS driven by Elden Charles Bond, 16, Paoki, OK., was traveling north on Southwest County Road P at a high rate of speed.

The rider lost control of the motorcycle and entered into a side skid.

It entered the west ditch and rolled multiple times

Bond was transported to Southwest Medical Center.

He was wearing a helmet, according to the KHP.

DOUGLAS COUNTY – Law enforcement authorities in Douglas County are investigating a suspect after a using a taser to wrestle away a knife from him.

Just before 1 p.m. on Thursday, a police officer on routine patrol in the 200 block of W 10th Street in Lawrence observed a disturbance, according to a media release.

As the officer attempted to make contact with the three individuals involved in the disturbance, the officer observed one of the subjects was armed with a knife.

The officer gave verbal commands to drop the knife, and the subject complied. The officer learned that one of the other individuals involved in the disturbance was also allegedly armed with a knife. This suspect was non-compliant with the officer’s verbal commands. The officer attempted to physically detain this suspect, but he fled on foot.

The suspect was non-compliant with verbal commands given by the officers while brandishing the knife.

Officers used a Taser to subdue the man and were able to wrestle the knife away.

A short time later, two officers located the suspect in the 800 block of Tennessee Street. The suspect again refused verbal commands and brandished a knife as the officers approached him. One of the officers was able to move into position to use a Taser on the subject. The subject was tased after repeatedly ignoring verbal commands, and continued to resist officers after being tased. Officers were eventually able to physically wrestle the knife away from the suspect, and he was taken into custody.

The suspect, a 20-year-old Lawrence man was arrested and transported to an area hospital to be medically cleared per department policy following a Taser exposure.

The other two individuals involved in the incident, a man and a woman were interviewed and released. They were not injured in the incident.

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By ANDY MARSO

A group appointed to study funding sources for Gov. Sam Brownback’s 50-year water plan is leaning toward proposing a dedicated sales tax.

Earl Lewis, assistant director of the Kansas Water Office, presented the preliminary results of the Blue Ribbon Task Force this week at the annual Kansas Water Conference in Manhattan.

Lewis said the task force has yet to finalize its report to Brownback, but as of Monday it intended to recommend a constitutional amendment dedicating 0.1 percent of the state sales tax to projects that secure the state’s water supply. Lewis said Minnesota, Missouri and Iowa have similar dedicated sales taxes.

The task force had some rigorous debates about other funding sources, he said.

“Any time you talk about water and fees and taxes, it’s going to be contentious,” Lewis said.

Rep. Tom Sloan, a Republican from Lawrence who has led the Legislature’s discussions on funding for water projects, said the dedicated sales tax idea would face opposition at the Statehouse.

Legislators raised the state’s sales tax to 6.5 percent in 2015 to balance the budget after a rancorous standoff that stretched the session to a record length.

But the budget problems have persisted, and Sloan said the crop of legislators elected last week would be reluctant to divert any of the current sales tax to water.

“Schools are underfunded, socials services are underfunded — there were a lot of campaigns run this fall over addressing those large issues,” he said. “So if you’re going to be taking revenue away from schools, even to fund something as important as water, it’s going to be a very difficult sell politically.”

Sloan said he would continue pushing for a plan that raises water-use fees instead.

The current low price of tap water compared to water-based products like beer causes people to undervalue clean water and waste it, he said, but increasing user fees would encourage conservation.

The task force also considered recommendations to increase irrigation fees, enact a residential electric fee to account for water used in energy production or create a 4-cent fee on bottled water. None of those found favor so far.

Water projects traditionally have been funded by a combination of fees on residential users and irrigators, as well as $8 million a year from the state general fund and an economic development fund.

But the Legislature has consistently failed to provide its share lately, shortchanging the state water fund by more than $50 million since 2009.
The water plan money is needed for projects like shoring up stream banks so less sediment flows into reservoirs and the much more costly work of dredging sediment once it’s in the reservoirs.

Lewis said new threats to the state’s water supply, like the explosive growth of blue-green algae, also need to be addressed.

“That’s a big issue for us now,” he said.

The task force estimated that Kansas would need about $55 million a year in new revenue to fund the governor’s water plan.

Tracy Streeter, director of the Kansas Water Office, pointed to the ongoing dredging of the John Redmond Reservoir near Burlington as an example of a successful project.

The reservoir had lost more than 40 percent of its original capacity to sedimentation, but the first phase of the dredging — completed last month —restored 1,800 acre-feet of storage.

That project received a funding boost from a $5.5 million legal judgment against Nebraska last year over its use of the Republican River.

That was a one-time windfall, though, and Streeter said it won’t be easy to pay for similar projects.

“We’re in a tough environment now to try and find money,” Streeter said.

HARVEY COUNTY – Law enforcement authorities continue to search for two suspects accused in connection with a triple homicide at a rural Harvey County residence.

Thirty-five year-old Jereme Nelson and 31-year-old Myrta Rangel are charged in arrest warrants with capital murder and three counts of first-degree murder.
Their bond has been set at $1 million each.

Authorities have written and served over twenty search warrants, followed up on numerous leads and have and spent many hours working the investigation, according to Harvey County Sheriff T. Walton.

“We have sent law enforcement officers to a number of states and we continue to work the case every day,” Walton wrote on social media.

“We have not found our suspects, but it’s only a matter of time before we do. We shall never give up on this case until justice is served.”

The bodies of 33-year-old Travis Street, 37-year-old Angela Graevs and the couple’s Newton friend, 52-year-old Richard Prouty were found outside a home in a rural area near Moundridge. The victims had been shot.
Harvey County Prosecuting Attorney David Yoder says the motive for the killings appears to be drug-related.