Southeast Kansas Mental Health Center (SEKMHC) is selling Ashley Clinic to Neosho Memorial Regional Medical Center (NMRMC) in Chanute.
NMRMC will assume ownership of Ashley Clinic on May 26. SEKMHC board members David Lee and Richard Zahn confirmed the sale. Board attorney Jacob Bielenberg acknowledged the transaction but said he “cannot comment on the financial details or status until a final agreement is in place.”
NMRMC CEO Wendy Brazil did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
The move represents a stunning reversal for the mental health center, which acquired Ashley Clinic in June 2023. It also follows a Feb. 11 board vote to sell Yates Center Dental for $375,000. SEKMHC purchased the practice in February 2025.
Ashley Clinic currently operates a clinic in Iola at 401 S. Washington. That location, which opened in February 2024, is currently staffed by Dr. Tim Spears and Leigh Scharff, a nurse practictioner.
Ashley Clinic also maintains three locations in Humboldt. They include a specialty clinic at 111 S. 9th St. staffed by Lori Bancroft, PMHNP-BC, who provides psychiatric care, a pharmacy at 204 S. 9th, and a clinic inside the new Cubs Community Care Center.
USD 258 partnered with the Southeast Kansas Mental Health Center/Ashley Clinic and Allen Community College for a grant of nearly $5 million to build the multi-purpose health and community center. It opened last October.
In addition, Ashley Clinic has a Yates Center clinic. The location’s provider, nurse practitioner Justin Roach, joined in February 2025 and offers primary care. He is leaving in May for a position based in Emporia, according to its office.
Neosho Memorial has yet to spell out its plans for the clinics in Iola, Yates Center and Humboldt as well as Ashley Clinic’s presence in area nursing homes.
Ashley Clinic’s main office is in Chanute. In 2024, the Register reported the health system had 101 employees.
What’s next for current staff, as well as Dr. Dave M. Guernsey, director of Family Medicine for SEKMHC, is unclear.
Guernsey was Ashley Clinic’s president before it was sold to SEKMHC. In an email, Bielenberg said he “will not comment on the employment status of any SEKMHC personnel while such matters are pending,” adding, “I am confident SEKMHC will have a press release or other information it is willing to share” when the Ashley Clinic transition is complete.
THE TRANSITION away from providing integrated care, which seeks to meet the needs of a patient’s mental and physical health, represents nearly a complete about-face from SEKMHC’s stated goal of whole-person care.
Since becoming a Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic (CCBHC) in 2022, SEKMHC rapidly expanded its services to offer what then-CEO Nathan Fawson called a “continuity of care where all providers can work as a team to help people achieve better health outcomes.”
CCBHCs are required — either directly or through formal partnerships — to provide nine key services. Those include crisis services, targeted case management and outpatient primary care screening and monitoring.
The sale of Yates Center Dental and Ashley Clinic raises questions about the future of SEKMHC and its financial standing.