January 2016 – Page 54 – Welcome to Wyandotte Daily!

No. 6 KCKCC drops first at No. 7 Highland; No. 1 JCCC here Saturday

by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC

Kansas City Kansas Community College’s unbeaten women’s season came to an end Wednesday, a victim in no small part of its own misgivings.

Taking advantage of a season high 31 KCKCC turnovers, Highland pulled away in the closing minutes for an 82-71 win at Highland.

The win boosted the No. 7 ranked Lady Scotties to 17-1 on the season while No. 6 KCKCC fell to 16-1 with an even sterner test ahead. Unbeaten and No. 1 ranked Johnson County comes to KCKCC Saturday for a 2 p.m. tipoff.

The turnovers weren’t one-sided by any means. The Lady Blue Devils forced 27 Highland errors but couldn’t withstand a second half Scottie rally fed by 60.6 percent (20-of-33) shooting from the field.

KCKCC jumped off to a 19-13 first quarter lead and led by as many as seven points in the second quarter.

“We started with great effort and enthusiasm which allowed us to force Highland into 16 first half turnovers and kept them from making any big runs on us,” said KCKCC coach Joe McKisntry, whose Blue Devils led 35-34.

But the Scotties gained control with a 25-15 third quarter. Down by as many as 11 points, the Blue Devils closed to 54-50 only to have Highland respond with a pair of 3-pointers to go up 65-53.

“I felt Highland came out in the third quarter more energized than we did and as the half wore on, we grew tired and weren’t able to slow them down,” McKinstry said. “That’s on me. It’s my job as the head coach to put the team in position to succeed and tonight we were exposed as out of shape and unprepared.”

The one bright point for the Blue Devils was the play of freshman guard Brooklyn Wagler of Shawnee Mission Northwest. A perfect 8-of-8 from the field, Wagler had career highs of 23 points and 12 rebounds.

“Brooklyn was fantastic,” McKinstry said. “As the game wore on, she was one of only a few of our players who was able to maintain the energy level that was needed.”

Sophomore Cheyenne North also had a double double for the Blue Devils with 12 pints and 12 rebounds while Sierra Roberts added 12 points and Erin Anderson nine points and five steals. Szonja Vukov led Highland with 22 points, 10 rebounds, nine assists and seven steals.

Alan Hoskins is the sports information director at KCKCC.

Budget plan includes changes to KanCare prescriptions, end of ‘health homes’ program

Budget Director Shawn Sullivan talks with reporters after presenting the governor’s budget plan Wednesday to legislators. (Photo by Stephen Koranda/Kansas Public Radio)

by Megan Hart, KHI News Service

Gov. Sam Brownback’s administration on Wednesday unveiled a budget proposal that would require new KanCare patients to try less-expensive drugs first and end a pilot program to improve the health of Kansans with severe mental illnesses.

In a presentation to members of the House and Senate committees that control spending, Budget Director Shawn Sullivan outlined how Brownback planned to cover a projected $190 million shortfall in the fiscal year 2017 budget. The proposal relies on a series of revenue transfers and $105.7 million in spending reductions to balance the budget and generate an ending balance of nearly $88 million.

About $24 million of the proposed reductions would come from the prescription drug change and elimination of the “health home” program for Kansans with severe mental health illnesses.

Another $14.4 million would come from other changes related to health care, on top of $11.6 million in reduced costs from Medicare Part B the state expects, for a total of about $50 million in lower health care spending in fiscal year 2017.

The proposal estimated the state could save $10.6 million by allowing the three managed care organizations that administer Medicaid in Kansas by requiring providers follow a “step therapy” program when prescribing drugs. Doctors and patients would have to document that low-cost drugs didn’t work before prescribing more expensive alternatives.

The proposed change wouldn’t affect current KanCare recipients, Sullivan said. It would apply only to those who enroll after it’s implemented.

The legislative KanCare oversight committee had recommended in December that the managed care organizations be allowed to use step therapy. The Legislature must approve a change to state law before the policy can be implemented, and Sullivan told lawmakers Wednesday he expected to have a bill to show them soon.

Rick Cagan, executive director of the Kansas chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, said step therapy is a particular concern for people who take medications for a serious mental illness. A medication may be effective for one person with depression but not another, meaning that some people would have to wait longer to try the medications their doctors think would be most likely to help them, he said.

“This is a cookie-cutter approach which is going to exacerbate people’s illnesses, lengthen their recoveries and put them at unnecessary risk,” he said. “Individual prescribers need to have the full range of options.”

The health home change would save about $13.4 million by ending a pilot program designed to improve the health outcomes of KanCare recipients with “severe and persistent” mental illnesses by better coordinating their care, Sullivan said. A study found that the program improved the health of those who participated in the program, but not significanlty more than non-participants, he said.

“The improvements of outcomes they’ve had has been similar to a control group,” he said.

Sara Belfry, spokeswoman for the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, said the control group included KanCare recipients who were eligible for the health homes based on their diagnoses but who chose to opt out. Having the same diagnoses allowed for an “apples-to-apples” comparison based on their health care utilization, including acute care and home and community-based services, she said.

The federal government paid for 90 percent of the cost of the health homes for the first two years, Belfry said, but that rate is due to fall to 56 percent. The state would have had to pay about $13 million annually to continue the health home program starting in August, she said.

The nonprofit KHI News Service is an editorially independent initiative of the Kansas Health Institute and a partner in the Heartland Health Monitor reporting collaboration. All stories and photos may be republished at no cost with proper attribution and a link back to KHI.org when a story is reposted online.

– See more at http://www.khi.org/news/article/budget-plan-includes-changes-to-kancare-prescriptions-end-of-health-homes-p#sthash.Uq3rQJ0t.dpuf

Temperatures to reach 50s today

Weather warms up Thursday. (National Weather Service graphic)

Mild temperatures today will be followed by much colder weather for the weekend, the National Weather Service said.

Wind chill values between 0 and 15 below are possible Sunday morning across areas mainly north of I-70, according to the weather service.

Light snow is possible Saturday night and early Sunday, especially across northern Missouri and extreme northeast Kansas, the weather service said. At this time, snow is not in the forecast for Wyandotte County. Any snow accumulation should be under an inch.

Today’s temperature may reach 54 degrees in Wyandotte County, the weather service said. There will be sunny skies and a south southwest wind of 11 to 15 mph with gusts as high as 22 mph.

Tonight, it will be partly cloudy with a low around 33, according to the weather service. A south southwest wind of 8 to 13 will become west northwest after midnight.

Friday, it will be partly sunny with a high near 37, the weather service said. A northwest wind of 10 to 15 mph will gust to 22 mph.

Friday night, expect a low of 19, the weather service said, and north northwest winds of 8 to 10 mph.

On Saturday, skies will be mostly sunny with a high near 30, according to the weather service. A north northwest wind will be 8 to 10 mph.

Saturday night, the low will be around 12, the weather service said.

Sunday, skies will be mostly sunny with a high near 18, the weather service said. The low will be around 6 Sunday night.

On Monday, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, skies will be mostly sunny with a high near 26, according to the weather service. Monday night, the low will be around 18.