By Andy Marso 

A representative of a large Kansas nursing home system testified Wednesday for the right to self-insure its facilities under the Health Care Stabilization Fund, like hospitals can.

Legislation passed last year added hundreds of nursing homes to the state fund, which backs up health care providers’ private medical malpractice insurance with additional coverage to diminish their financial risk. All providers who participate in the fund must have private malpractice insurance, but health care systems that already were in the fund are allowed to self-insure if they have two or more facilities with a combined premium cost of $100,000 or more.

Jennifer Sourk, an attorney for Midwest Health, told the Senate Committee on Financial Institutions and Insurance that the company had self-insured its 53 assisted living facilities in four states since 2004. She said the system’s 29 assisted living facilities in Kansas that now fall under the Health Care Stabilization Act also should be allowed to use its self-insurance to satisfy the stabilization fund requirements.

“Adult long-term care facilities are asking to be allowed the opportunity to apply for self-insurance just as other defined health care providers are allowed under the law,” Sourk said. Not being able to self-insure under the stabilization fund will cost the company $50,000 this year, she said.

“This amount will only increase as Midwest Health grows in Kansas,” Sourk said, “which plays a part into the calculation of whether an operation will be successful.” The bill’s cost to the fund is estimated at about $40,000 in administrative expenses to vet new applications for self-insurance.

Cindy Luxem, CEO of the Kansas Health Care Association, said her group, which represents assisted living facilities, was testifying in support of Midwest Health because its financial strength is integral to the communities where it operates. “In most of these communities this is the main employer, and in many it’s the only health care provider,” Luxem said.

Charles Wheelen, the stabilization fund’s executive director, said a rigorous review process ensures that systems applying for self-insurance have the financial strength to handle it.

“Under a worst-case scenario, a self-insured facility might declare bankruptcy and discontinue operations,” Wheelen said. “In that case, the HCSF would become liable for any and all unresolved claims against the facility as well as any claims that might arise after the facility closed its doors.”

Wheelen said not only is the initial application “somewhat demanding,” systems that have been granted a certificate of self-insurance must provide updated information annually. The stabilization fund is funded through a fee assessed on providers’ private liability coverage.

Jerry Slaughter, executive director of the Kansas Medical Society, said his group is neutral on the bill although “we do have some concerns.” The medical society represents hundreds of physicians across the state who also pay into the stabilization fund. Slaughter said the stabilization fund has worked well for 40 years, and his group is leery of structural changes that might increase the risk of the fund having to pay out large sums of money.

That risk, he reminded legislators, is shared by all who use the fund. “Though we understand the desire of the proponents of this bill to take advantage of the self-insurance provision in the HCSF law,” Slaughter said, “we are concerned that it will make it difficult to say no to other groups of providers in the future who will see this as an opportunity to avoid having to purchase a policy of professional liability insurance.”

Andy Marso is a reporter for Heartland Health Monitor, a news collaboration focusing on health issues and their impact in Missouri and Kansas.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A bill before the Kansas House would prohibit employees of universities and state colleges from using their official job titles when they contribute to newspaper opinion pieces.

The bill currently applies only to opinion pieces and letters to the editor in newspapers, not to other forms of media. It prohibits use of job titles only when the subject is an elected official, a candidate or a matter pending before a government body.

Rep. Joe Seiwert, a Republican from Pretty Prairie, told The Topeka Capital-Journal that employees of private businesses are not allowed to identify their places of work when they write an opinion for publication.

But Democratic Rep. John Carmichael of Wichita said the legislation could create constitutional problems and limit public debate.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) on Thursday convened his first hearing as Chairman of the Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, Insurance, and Data Security in the 114thCongress.

The hearing, entitled “Getting it Right on Data Breach and Notification Legislation in the 114th Congress,” focused on the call for policy changes in light of the recent data breaches impacting consumers and companies across the country. The discussion, featuring testimony from a panel of experts, focused on the consumer benefits of a uniform federal law dealing with data security breaches, the timeliness of notification to consumers, and how sensitive personal information should be defined.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — An autopsy report says a Wichita woman who was raped, beaten and set on fire at a city park died of complications from the burns.

Sedgwick County officials say 36-year-old Letitia Davis was burned over about 70 percent of her body in the attack at Fairmount Park in November near the Wichita State University campus. The report was filed in court Tuesday.

The Wichita Eagle reports the autopsy also showed Davis had blunt-force trauma to her head, facial fractures and cuts. She died Nov. 22, eight days after the attack.

Cornell McNeal has been charged with capital murder in the attack. He remains in jail with a bond of more than $1.25 million. His preliminary hearing is scheduled for March 5.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Senate is considering a bill that would allow officials to prohibit concealed weapons in some areas of public buildings.

Currently, people carrying concealed weapons must be allowed to go anywhere in public buildings where the guns are allowed.

Legislation submitted by Republican Sen. Forrest Knox of Altoona would allow officials to ban weapons from some parts of the buildings.

Knox says courthouses in some rural counties want to be able to secure parts of the buildings, such as courtrooms, while the rest of the building would remain open to concealed weapons.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports no one testified in opposition to the bill during a hearing Thursday. The Kansas State Rifle Association, the League of Kansas Municipalities and several law enforcement associations testified in support.

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EMPORIA, Kan. (AP) — Fire caused damage to a building on the Emporia State University campus but no injuries were reported.

University spokeswoman Gwen Larson says flames were seen Thursday evening on the roof of the Health, Physical Education and Recreation building, which also houses the university’s athletics offices.

WIBW-TV reports Larson says a few people who were inside the building were able to get out safely. No injuries were reported.

Larson says the building’s heating and air conditioning system and roof were damaged. The complete extent of the damage has not been determined.

Investigators believe a malfunction in a dryer near a locker room caused the fire.

COLBY – A man died in an accident just after 8 p.m. on Thursday in Thomas County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2008 Pontiac Grand Prix driven by Billy M. Garcia, 63, Fort Smith, AR., was westbound on U.S. 24 four miles east of Colby.

The vehicle traveled across the eastbound lane into the south ditch, across County Road 27, struck a fence a power pole.

Garcia was transported to Citizens Medical Center where he died.
He was properly restrained at the time of the accident according to the KHP

By JIM MCLEAN

It’s likely that the records of some Kansas Medicaid recipients and Missouri Blue Cross and Blue Shield policyholders were compromised by a cyberattack on the Anthem health insurance company.

The breach was discovered last week but news of it wasn’t made public until Wednesday.

Cindy Wakefield, a spokesperson for Anthem, the nation’s second-largest health insurer, said the hackers accessed the records of a significant number of current and former policyholders and individuals covered by the company’s Medicare and Medicaid subsidiaries.

All told, the database contained approximately 80 million records, she said.

“We don’t believe that the entire population was impacted, but we think that it’s in the tens of millions,” Wakefield said. “We know that it is impacting all lines of our business in all of our states.”

Anthem is the parent company of Amerigroup, one of the three private managed care organizations selected by Kansas to privatize its Medicaid program, known as KanCare. Amerigroup covers approximately 132,000 of the more than 411,000 low-income, disabled and elderly Kansans enrolled in KanCare, according to a recent report compiled by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment for a legislative oversight committee.

Wakefield said the company is “working around the clock” to determine the number of its Kansas beneficiaries who were affected by the cyberattack.

“The assumption is that some of our Kansas members have been impacted, but at this point we just do not know how many,” she said.

The same is true, Wakefield said, for Anthem’s policyholders in Missouri, where the company has about 25 percent of the private health insurance market. Most of the policyholders are concentrated in the St. Louis area.

When company and FBI investigators are able to determine which records were compromised, Anthem will notify affected individuals by letter. The letters will include information about how to enroll in credit monitoring services and will offer to cover the cost of credit repair services, Wakefield said.

“And that (the credit repair) will be retroactive to last week when we discovered the attack,” she said.

So far, Wakefield said, “There is no evidence that any fraudulent activity has occurred due to this attack.”

The records accessed by the hackers contained people’s names, addresses and Social Security numbers, but no credit card or sensitive medical information, Wakefield said.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas is not affiliated with Anthem, but some of its members may have had records in Anthem’s system, said Mary Beth Chambers, a spokesperson for Kansas’ largest health insurer.

“We are working with Anthem to learn more about the data that was compromised and whether any Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas members are affected by this breach,” Chambers said. “If we learn that any of our members had their information compromised, we will notify them in writing as soon as possible.”

In the meantime, Chambers urged consumers to check a special BCBS website that has answers to frequently asked questions about the breach.

Anthem also has created a website to keep consumers updated on its investigation.

Jim McLean is executive editor of KHI News Service in Topeka, a partner in the Heartland Health Monitor team.