Governor speaks to business leaders

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Opinion column

by Murrel Bland

Gov. Sam Brownback came to Kansas, City, Kan., Friday, July 15, to speak to members of the Congressional Forum, a committee of the Chamber of Commerce. About 75 persons, mostly community business leaders, attended and heard the state’s chief executive speak on a wide range of subjects.

Gov. Brownback, a conservative Republican, had high praise for the economic development efforts in Wyandotte County, particularly in the western area.

The governor cited the recent ground breaking for the $62 million U.S. Soccer training complex just east of 98th Street and Parallel Parkway and the $310.5 million Amazon distribution center to be built just south of the Turner Diagonal near Riverview Avenue. Both are expected to be completed late next year.

The soccer complex will be a venue for training not only players, but also coaches and referees from all over the world. The governor said it could be the site for training the U.S. men’s team to win its first World Cup. He mentioned that the U.S. Women’s team has won its World Cup three times in 1991, 1999 and 2015; that drew applause from the women in the audience.

The governor praised Community College President Doris Givens for the school’s willingness to establish a warehouse-training program for employees of the Amazon center.

The recent legislative session was a difficult one, the governor said, as state tax revenue continues to fall sort of projections. This has caused deep cuts in various state programs, including those in the areas of higher education and healthcare. The state had to sell $900 million in bonds to break even at the end of the fiscal year June 30. The state’s credit rating has been downgraded.

The governor’s critics, including moderate Republicans and Democrats, have complained that his tax elimination for limited liability corporations (LLCs) has forced the legislature to increase sales tax–one of the highest in the nation. He did say that he would consider legislation that would eliminate the tax on food, particularly for those with limited incomes.

He said tax collections are down because the three major business groups in Kansas—agriculture, aviation and gas and oil—are hurting. He dismissed the suggestion that he might approved legislation to reinstate the income taxes for LLCs. He said that states with no income tax continue to grow.

The governor’s critics have said that states with no income tax have strong tourism trades such as Florida and Wyoming; Kansas does not have mountains and or seashores. Gov. Brownback agreed that more money needs to be spent on Kansas tourism.

The governor praised state legislators in general and the four who attended the forum. Those present included state Representatives Pam Horton Curtis and Tom Burroughs and state Senators David Haley and Steve Fitzgerald. All are Democrats except for Fitzgerald, who is a conservative Republican. The governor said these legislators serve for very little money and are very dedicated.

The governor put in a plug for his plan to bring the American Royal to Wyandotte County. He has proposed to use the sales tax revenue bonds to finance a new location for the Royal. He said the American Royal could also be a center for genetic research on farm animals.

There has been speculation that one location for the American Royal could be Wyandotte County Park, Bonner Springs, across the street from the National Agricultural Center and Hall of Fame.

Murrel Bland is the former editor of The Wyandotte West and The Piper Press. He is the executive Director of Business West.

Report sees slight improvement in Kansas health system performance

by Bryan Thompson, KHI News Service

A review of health system performance nationwide shows some improvement in Kansas — but not much.

The report, released Thursday by the nonprofit Commonwealth Fund, covers three dozen indicators of access, quality, cost and health outcomes.

Most of the data used for the report is from 2011 to 2014, which is the first year the Affordable Care Act provided subsidized health insurance through the online marketplace for citizens who were not insured through an employer.

The report concludes that the ACA is largely responsible for many of the health system improvements as more people gained insurance and were able to obtain and better afford needed health care.

“Largely because of the ACA’s coverage expansions, the percentage of working-age adults without health insurance fell in nearly all local areas — dropping by four percentage points or more in 189 local areas between 2012 and 2014,” the report said. “In addition, 155 local areas saw substantial reductions in 30-day readmission rates for Medicare beneficiaries, coinciding with the ACA’s penalties for hospitals that have high readmission rates.”

Like the rest of the country, Kansas saw more measures improving than declining — but most of the state’s measures showed little or no change.

Doug McCarthy, co-author of the report, said Kansas is doing better than average in providing patient-centered care in hospitals, preventing pressure sores in nursing home residents and limiting readmission to hospitals from nursing homes. He sees room for improvement in access to care.

McCarthy said the researchers found that states where Medicaid eligibility was expanded had greater improvement in access to care than states without expansion, including Kansas and Missouri.

“In fact, we looked at communities where there’s a large proportion of individuals who are living on a low income, and those areas in particular did much better — about twice as much improvement there — as similar kinds of communities with a large low-income population in states that didn’t expand Medicaid,” he said.

But improving access to care goes beyond making sure people have insurance, McCarthy said.

“You have, I think, 50,000 more individuals covered through the marketplace in Kansas,” he said. “There’s still a lot of opportunity for local areas to help those individuals get connected to a primary care medical home and ensure they know how to navigate the health system, especially if they have cultural or linguistic barriers.”

The Kansas suicide rate worsened, McCarthy said, and its obesity and infant mortality rates remain worse than the national average.

The Kansas City region, including parts of Kansas and Missouri, had no indicators where health system performance worsened. That region had improved insurance rates for both children and adults. It also improved on several health care quality indicators for people with Medicare.

Overall, the Kansas City region ranked 172nd out of the 306 “hospital referral regions” the report compared. The Topeka region, which includes most of northeast Kansas outside the Kansas City area, ranked 124th. Almost all of the rest of Kansas is included in the Wichita region, which was 184th overall.

The 2016 report is a follow-up to a similar report issued in 2012. Statistics on each of the indicators from both time periods were compared to determine whether performance had improved, worsened or stayed about the same.
Report highlights include:

• The 2016 scorecard finds substantial differences among local health care systems, with those in Hawaii, the Upper Midwest, New England and the San Francisco area generally performing better than those in the South and West.

• Overall, health care systems in communities with large low-income populations generally do not perform as well as those in wealthier communities. People in poor communities are more likely to go without needed medical care because of the cost, receive a high-risk prescription drug and die early from treatable causes.

“Many communities are showing signs of getting healthier, and that is encouraging,” said Commonwealth Fund President David Blumenthal. “It shows that with the right policies and actions we can make our health care system work for all of us.”

The report calls on the nation to invest more to address social determinants of health — including income, nutrition and environmental conditions — and improve access to mental and behavioral health services.

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.

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Topeka woman pleads guilty to conspiracy in interstate sex trafficking case

A Topeka woman pleaded guilty Monday to conspiring to operate an interstate sex trafficking business, Acting U.S. Attorney Tom Beall said.

Shannon Nelson, 23, Topeka, Kan., pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy. In her plea, she admitted conspiring with co-defendants to operate a Topeka-based prostitution business. At times, as many as 20 females were working as prostitutes for the organization. The leader of the organization rented houses where some of the prostitutes were allowed to live. The organization used Web sites, social media and cell phones to advertise sexual services and to keep track of prostitutes.

Nelson admitted she worked for co-defendant Frank Boswell as a commercial sex worker. She became a trusted member of Boswell’s organization and lived in one of Boswell’s houses. She posted advertisements for herself and other women on a Web site offering sexual services. She used cell phones to communicate with Boswell and others in the course of operating the prostitution business.

Federal agents encountered her July 15, 2015, at a Motel 6 in Omaha where she and other women had gone to engage in prostitution.

Sentencing is set for Oct. 24. She faces a penalty of up to five years in federal prison and a fine up to $250,000 on each count.

Co-defendant Frank Boswell, 42, Topeka, Kan., is awaiting trial. Co-defendant Rachel Flenniken, 34, Topeka, Kan., is set for sentencing Oct. 17. Co-defendant Sean P. Hall, 46, Topeka, Kan., is set for sentencing Oct. 3.

Beall commended the Topeka Police Department, Homeland Security Investigations, the FBI and Assistant U.S. Attorney Christine Kenney for their work on the case.