Central Kansas Mental Health Center Chief Executive Officer Glenna Phillips told Dickinson County Commissioners she is seeking a 3% increase in local funding.
In 2026, Dickinson County provided $140,660. For 2027, CKMHC is requesting $144,880, which is the same 3% increase request that has been made to the other four counties in CKMHC’s service area.
Phillips made her budget request as part of a broader presentation that covered rising service demand, long-term Medicaid reimbursement stagnation, workforce shortages, and growing pressure on crisis and school-based care systems.
Phillips said the agency’s financial stability depends on maintaining reserves while navigating decades-long limits in public reimbursement rates.
“With a high amount of revenue that comes in, I am also required to have reserves,” she said.
“If our budget is 23 million, I have to be able to mandate the safety net requirement.”
She noted the organization’s annual budget sits at roughly $23 million and described behavioral health funding as increasingly strained by outdated reimbursement structures.
A central concern of the presentation was Medicaid reimbursement rates, which Phillips said have not kept pace with costs.
“Our Medicaid rate had not changed in 20 years,” she said.
That stagnation has created a financial lag in a system now required to deliver more intensive and immediate care.
“It’s kind of crazy, because it’s catching up for 20 years, so that’s why we invested in a building and say I need money because I have no more space for staff to provide for the county and I can’t get loans, she said.”
Phillips explained that the organization’s funding model is heavily tied to Medicaid cost studies and mandated reinvestment requirements, which create variability in annual revenue.
Medicaid dollars must be reinvested into Medicaid populations, limiting flexibility in how funds can be used.
While she emphasized that the organization is not fully funded by state and county sources, she said local investment remains essential to sustaining services.
“County support helps bridge a portion of that gap while leveraging additional state, federal, Medicaid, and insurance funding that brings behavioral health resources into Dickinson County,” she said.
“This demonstrates why community investment remains important and why county support continues to play a critical role in maintaining access to care.”
Rising demand and service costs
Phillips said the organization continues to see growth in demand across its five-county service area, alongside increasing complexity in care needs.
In the past year, CKMHC served 876 Dickinson County residents, provided 18,323 behavioral health services, and responded to 116 crisis situations.
“The cost of delivering those services significantly exceeded the amount collected through patient payments and third-party reimbursement sources,” she said.
It is not just the people who received the direct services that benefit from CKMHC.
A financially unstable mental health center creates risk not only for the organization but for hospitals, emergency departments, law enforcement agencies, schools, EMS providers, county jails, and the community as a whole, she said.
The services they provide extend across schools, crisis response, and community-based care, with costs rising as staffing and infrastructure expand.
Phillips said the organization has expanded its crisis response capabilities and reduced barriers to care, including same-day access.
“We now have same day access, persons call in, walk in, they’re seeing same day,” she said.
However, maintaining that level of responsiveness requires sustained financial investment and staffing capacity. Even with insurance and Medicaid reimbursements, the system relies on local support to remain viable.
Phillips said behavioral health services operate as a foundational public investment rather than a fully self-sustaining system.
“This is not simply anatomy source, but it’s a foundational investment that allows behavioral health systems to venture locally,” she said.
The agency is exploring long-term infrastructure needs, including a potential crisis stabilization unit to reduce reliance on emergency rooms and law enforcement.
“We can come together to create a crisis stabilization unit that officers and law enforcement can draw from individuals,” she said.
Phillips said the goal is to reduce strain on emergency systems while improving behavioral health outcomes.