BY JIM MCLEAN

The University of Kansas Health System and a Tennessee-based for-profit hospital chain have agreed to rescue a troubled Topeka hospital despite possible changes in federal health policy that could hurt Kansas providers.

Officials from the KU Health System and Ardent Health Services, the nation’s second-largest privately owned for-profit hospital chain, announced Thursday that they had signed a letter of intent to acquire St. Francis Health.

Kansas Republican Gov. Sam Brownback, who along with Topeka officials helped convene discussions that led to the agreement, also participated in the announcement.

A news release issued by the acquiring partners announced they had formed a joint venture to “purchase” St. Francis and provide $50 million in operating capital in the first year. Other terms of the agreement, to be finalized over the next 60 days, were not disclosed.

Download the news release on the joint venture purchase of St. Francis Health.

Bob Page, president and CEO of the KU Health System, said the partnership with Ardent, which operates 20 hospitals in six states, ensures that St. Francis, a 378-bed hospital that has operated in Topeka since 1909, will remain open.

“By marrying our resources as an academic medical center and Ardent’s operational expertise, we secure the long-term sustainability of St. Francis Health,” Page said.

Both Page and David Vandewater, president and CEO of Ardent Health Services, thanked Brownback and Topeka Mayor Larry Wolgast for helping to broker the deal, which was negotiated in a matter of weeks.

“This transaction has happened at light speed, so there are a lot of things that we and our new partner have to sit down and figure out,” Vandewater said.

Though many operational details are yet to be finalized, the partners have agreed to “preserve jobs for virtually all of St. Francis Health’s 1,600 employees,” according to the release. In addition, while the partners will control the joint venture’s board of directors, they will establish a local board of trustees for the for-profit hospital, which the release said “will continue to be led by local management.”

Federal Health Bill A Concern

In recent weeks, St. Francis’ financial troubles became a focal point in the ongoing debate in the Kansas Legislature about Medicaid expansion. Supporters said the billions of additional federal Medicaid dollars that expansion would provide in Kansas could help prevent the closure of several struggling hospitals across the state.

Asked whether the state’s rejection of expansion and Brownback’s recent veto of an expansion bill were a concern for Ardent, Vandewater said they weren’t a factor in the discussions. But he made it clear that the company would like to see KanCare, the state’s privatized Medicaid program, expanded to cover an additional 180,000 Kansans, many of whom are uninsured.

“I’ll talk to the governor about that. Probably not make a lot of progress,” Vandewater said, glancing at Brownback and drawing laughter from many who attended the announcement.

Thursday’s vote in the U.S. House to pass a replacement for the Affordable Care Actis a concern, Vandewater said, noting the Republican replacement bill could significantly reduce the number of Americans with health insurance.

Read more about the House-approved health reform bill..

“There are individuals that need care that do not have the ability to access it,” he said. “The United States has got to figure this out. This is not a Kansas issue, this is a national issue.”

‘Unfair’ To Kansas

Tom Bell, president and CEO of the Kansas Hospital Association, applauded the effort to rescue St. Francis but said the GOP health bill could jeopardize other hospitals in the state because it treats non-expansion states unfairly.

The difference in federal funding that expansion states would continue to receive compared to non-expansion states “is tremendous,” Bell said, noting that an amendment aimed at Kansas prohibits states that haven’t yet expanded their Medicaid programs from doing so.

“So, from our perspective it’s sort of a double whammy,” Bell said. “Number one, tens of millions of people will lose coverage. Number two, it’s unfair to non-expansion states.”

Kansas 1st District Republican Congressman Roger Marshall voted for the bill, which, he said includes funding to help providers cover the cost of caring for the uninsured.

“This new legislation is going to provide more access to quality health care,” Marshall said. “It’s going to start driving prices down and it’s going to literally save Kansas hospitals.”

The bill allocates about $200 million to Kansas providers over two budget years to help offset the cost of uncompensated care, Bell said. But, he said, that pales in comparison to the nearly $1 billion expansion would provide.

Though he expects the U.S. Senate will make substantial changes to the bill, Bell said its passage by the House further reduces the chances that Kansas lawmakers will make another run at passing an expansion bill in the final weeks of their legislative session.

“That’s another thing that we find really problematic with the bill,” he said. “It tells states that might be thinking about it (expansion), ‘Sorry, you didn’t do it by March 1 so you’re out of luck.’”

Jim McLean is managing director of the Kansas News Service, a collaboration of kcur.org, Kansas Public Radio and KMUW covering health, education and politics. You can reach him on Twitter @jmcleanks.

NEMAHA COUNTY – Law enforcement authorities in Nemaha County are investigating three teen suspects after a break-in at a Kansas High School.

charges were filed in district court against

Marcus Andrew Jackman, 18, Grant Alan Meyer, 19, and a 17-year-old boy were charged with Burglary, Felony Criminal Damage to Property, Theft and Consumption of Alcohol by a Minor in Nemaha County District Court, according to a media release from County Attorney Brad Lippert.

These charges result from the April 15, break-in at the Sabetha High School during which property was both damaged and stolen, according to the Sabetha Police Department.

All three were released on $10,800 bond, according to Lippert.

PITTSBURG, Kan. (AP) — A Chanute man who he struck and killed a Washburn University professor has been arrested for reckless driving.

Crawford County Sheriff Dan Peak says 39-year-old Todd Kidwell was arrested Thursday after a sheriff’s detective reported seeing him fail to stop at an intersection on Kansas 7. He is free on $500 bond.

Peak told The Pittsburg Morning Sun Kidwell made little, if any, attempt to stop at the intersection.

Kidwell served 60 days and was on three years’ probation for the June 2015 death of Washburn art teacher Glenda Taylor as she rode her bicycle near Walnut. He pleaded guilty last year to involuntary manslaughter.

Crawford County Attorney Michael Gayoso and Kidwell’s probation officer could request revocation of his probation, which would need to be determined by a judge.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — An animal rights group is offering a $5,000 reward for information after a dog was left to drown at a Kansas City-area lake.

PETA officials say park rangers found the dog tied to a cinder block Friday on the shore of Longview Lake in Jackson County. He had no food or water and was caked in mud.

On Wednesday, PETA announced the reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction on animal cruelty charges.

PETA vice president Colleen O’Brien says someone left the dog, who is now called Deputy, to drown in the lake’s rising waters.

Deputy is now being cared for at Great Plains SPCA and was available for adoption on Thursday.

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP) — A woman in Kansas has been charged in the death of a 7-month-old boy who died earlier this year at her day care.

The Kansas City Star  reports 54-year-old Bilma Maese-Sanchez of Overland Park was charged in Johnson County District Court on Wednesday with aggravated child endangerment and unlawfully operating a child care facility. She was released from custody the same day after posting a $5,000 bond.

Court documents show Gabriel Omar Rivera-Contreras died in February at Maese-Sanchez’s home after reportedly not breathing. She isn’t accused of intentionally harming the child.

The charges allege the woman “recklessly” placed Gabriel in a situation where his “life, body or health is injured or endangered.”

Maese-Sanchez’s next court hearing is scheduled for May 11. She is banned from owning, operating or working at any day care facility as part of her bond.

WICHITA- A Kansas man was charged in U.S. District Court Wednesday with producing child pornography, according to U.S. Attorney Tom Beall.

Ian Nathanial Smith, 20, Viola, Kan., is charged with one count of sexual exploitation of a child and one count of possessing child pornography.

An investigator’s affidavit alleges Smith used social media to communicate over the internet with a 14-year-old girl in another state. He asked the girl to send him live streaming video of herself engaged in sexual activities. Investigators found child pornography on his phone, including 204 images and four videos.

If convicted, he faces not less than 15 years and not more than 30 years in federal prison on the charge of exploiting a minor and up to 10 years and a fine up to $250,000 on the possession charge. The FBI investigated. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason Hart is prosecuting.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on an executive order on an IRS rule on churches (all times local):

President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday that will further weaken enforcement of an IRS rule barring churches and tax-exempt groups from endorsing political candidates.

Trump signed the order at a White House ceremony marking the National Day of Prayer.

 

The executive order has disappointed some of Trump’s supporters who were hoping for a more sweeping measure.

The order asks the IRS to use “maximum enforcement discretion” over the regulation, known as the Johnson Amendment, which applies to churches and nonprofits.

Trump noted that “freedom is not a gift from government, freedom is a gift from God.”

And he insisted that no American should be “forced to choose between the dictates of the federal government and the tenants of their faith.”

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — New regulations being considered by the Kansas school board includes a lifetime ban on working as a school bus driver for people who commit any crime involving a child.

State director of pupil transportation Keith Dreiling tells the Wichita Eagle the ban was proposed by a law-enforcement representative on the committee that drafted the regulations about three years ago. He says the process has taken this long because the rules have to be reviewed at several government levels.

Current regulations say a person who has committed a crime involving a child doesn’t have to report it to the bus driver hiring agency if the conviction was over 10 years ago. The rewritten rule changes the 10-year threshold to a lifetime.

Wichita school district spokeswoman Susan Arensman says the change isn’t expected to impact the district.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Latest on the Kansas Supreme Court’s continued review of the capital murder cases of two brothers sentenced to die for what became known as “the Wichita massacre” (all times local):

12:30 p.m.

The Kansas Supreme Court is struggling with how much discretion it has to spare two brothers from execution for four notorious Wichita slayings following a U.S. Supreme Court decision against them.

The Kansas court heard arguments Thursday in the cases of Jonathan and Reginald Carr. They were convicted of dozens of crimes against five people in December 2000 that ended with the victims being shot in a field. One woman survived.

The Kansas court previously overturned their death sentences in 2014 in part because it believed it was unfair to have them tried and sentenced together rather than separately. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2016 that the U.S. Constitution didn’t require separate proceedings.

Attorneys for the men argued that the Kansas Constitution requires separate sentencing hearings.

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TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Supreme Court is considering for a second time whether to spare two brothers from being executed for four murders in what became known as “the Wichita massacre.”

The justices were hearing arguments from attorneys Thursday in the cases of Jonathan and Reginald Carr.

They were convicted of dozens of crimes against five people in December 2000 that ended with the victims being shot in a field. One woman survived.

The crimes were among the most notorious in the state since the 1959 slayings of a western Kansas family that inspired the book “In Cold Blood.”

The Kansas court overturned the death sentences in July 2014 and cited flaws in their joint trial and sentencing hearing. The U.S. Supreme Court rejected the Kansas court’s rulings and forced another review.

U.S. Senator Pat Roberts Thursday released a statement and video to recognize and commemorate the 10^th Anniversary of the Greensburg tornado.

Senator Pat Roberts released the video and details on the 10th anniversary:

On May 4, 2007, an EF-5 tornado ripped through the western Kansas town of Greensburg, destroying nearly 95 percent of the city and killing 11 people.

Roberts’ efforts began immediately. In the pre-dawn hours after the deadly storm, Senator Roberts drove to Greensburg to meet with emergency responders and to ensure the state and local authorities had everything they needed to help Kansans in need. He toured the area, was briefed by officials on the ground, and then traveled to a shelter that had been set up for victims.

After consoling many whose homes had been wiped off the map and armed with his own accounts of the damage of the storm and the needs of the residents, Senator Roberts called President George W. Bush from a McDonald’s restaurant in Pratt – the first place he could get cellular phone service.

Roberts told the President that emergency disaster declaration requests would be coming from the governor and urged his immediate approval. Before Roberts could even finish the request, President Bush assured Senator Roberts the state would have whatever it needed.

Senator Roberts invited President Bush to the state to review the damage first hand, and the president accepted. A few days later, Roberts and Bush led the Kansas Congressional delegation through the town to meet with affected families and businesses.

At the same time, Roberts’ staff immediately responded by opening offices on the weekend to field calls from citizens in need. Senator Roberts tapped one of his senior staffers, Mel Thompson, to full time work in and around Greensburg. Mel was on site every day for months and remained in the community on a regular basis for more than a year.

One of the first pieces of federal assistance to come was FEMA’s declaration that Greensburg and surrounding communities would receive 100 percent reimbursement for any costs incurred during the 72 hours following the storm. Usually, FEMA only covers up to 75 percent of the costs, but with Senator Roberts’ help, the agency agreed that the damage in Greensburg warranted a full reimbursement for reconstruction.

Likewise, Senator Roberts moved to develop federal relief programs for victims of the storm. The Senate passed a package of tax relief provisions, the Kansas Disaster Tax Relief Assistance Act (S. 1532), which was later added to the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008, commonly referred to as the Farm Bill and passed into law.

The legislation provided small businesses with an employee retention tax credit and increased the expensing limit for businesses who continued to pay their employees while the city was rebuilding. The new rules allowed small businesses to expense up to 50 percent of the clean-up and demolition costs during the renovation process. Finally, the bill waived the penalty for early withdrawal from IRA and other retirement plans for affected individuals.

Following Hurricane Katrina, Greensburg became the national model for rebuilding from a natural disaster. State, local and federal governments worked together to rapidly rebuild and assist those in need based on the model that Senator Roberts’ helped to create in Kansas.

Senator Roberts was honored to be asked to address the Greensburg High School graduation twice, once with President George W. Bush. He recognized each member of the class and declared them the “Class of Dedication and Hope” in 2007 for their perseverance.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — An 81-year-old Topeka man has been charged with fatally shooting another man in the presence of an 8-year-old child.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that Anthony Darcy was charged Wednesday with premeditated first-degree murder in the Monday night killing of 36-year-old Stephen Snyder. Darcy also faces felony charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and aggravated child endangerment. Bond is set at $1 million cash or professional surety.

District attorney Mike Kagay said in a news release that Snyder was on the driveway of a home suffering from what appeared to be multiple gunshot wounds when police arrived. Darcy was at the home and taken into custody.

It wasn’t immediately known whether Darcy had an attorney. The prosecutor’s office didn’t immediately return a phone message seeking comment.

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — Court documents say the family of a 10-year-old boy who died on a giant waterslide at a Kansas water park will receive nearly $20 million in settlement payments.

The Kansas City Star reports that $14 million of the payment to Caleb Schwab’s family will come from SVV 1 and KC Water Park. The two companies are associated with Texas-based water park company Schlitterbahn.

The rest of the money will come from the general contractor, the raft manufacturer and a company that consulted on the 17-story “Verruckt” waterslide that was dubbed the tallest in the world.

The waterslide at the park in Kansas City has been closed since Caleb’s death on Aug. 7, 2016.

The settlements were announced previously, but the amount involved wasn’t disclosed.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas legislators are resuming negotiations over increasing income taxes to fix the state budget and provide additional funds for public schools.

House and Senate negotiators planned to meet Thursday morning after top Republicans in the GOP-controlled Legislature canceled a vote on tax legislation for the second consecutive day.

Kansas faces projected budget shortfalls totaling $887 million through June 2019 and the Kansas Supreme Court ruled in March that state education funding is inadequate.

A proposal drafted by negotiators Tuesday but scrapped Wednesday would have rolled back past income tax cuts championed by Republican Gov. Sam Brownback to raise more than $1 billion over two years. It was drafted after a similar but smaller plan fell flat.

Democrats and GOP moderates complained that neither plan raised enough new revenue.