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TOPEKA -- State officials have been asked to study ways to save money at the state-owned Kansas Neurological Institute, including possibly converting the facility for residents with severe developmental disabilities to a residential housing development for the disabled, a top legislator said.

Rep. David Crum, R-Augusta, stressed Tuesday that discussions about the institute's future are only in preliminary stages as his House committee looks to reduce the state's backlog of home- and community-based Medicaid waivers, The Topeka Capital-Journal reported.

Crum, chairman of the House Social Services Budget Committee, said the Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services has been asked to provide recommendations by the time the Legislature reconvenes after a two-day break in March.

The institute's future has been unclear since Gov. Sam Brownback proposed last year that it be closed to save the state money. State lawmakers rejected the proposal to close the institute, which has about 155 residents.

The Kansas Health Institute, an independent organization that provides information on health issues to lawmakers, reported last week that Crum said one possible way to save money would be to end the institute's in-home medical and dental care and refer residents to private doctors and dentists.

"That's a possibility, but we didn't specifically target that," Crum said Tuesday during the committee's meeting. He also talked about the institute possibly looking into converting the institute into residential housing.

Rep. Annie Kuether, D-Topeka, said many parents and guardians of Kansas Neurological Institute residents have told her they have trouble getting services outside of the facility.

"A lot of dentists don't take patients with Medicaid," Kuether said. "They're not going to touch them."

Gary Deeter, whose daughter Eileen lives at the institute, said the facility's around-the-clock medical care is one of its strongest attributes. He said his daughter was hospitalized three weeks ago after an institute caregiver quickly noticed she was having trouble breathing.

"They have what I would call a medical unit that she can go to rather than going to the hospital," Deeter said. "Both of those have served her very well. Had those not been available, by the time they'd decided she's bad enough to go to the hospital, she would have been in much worse condition."

Crum's committee signed off last week on Gov. Sam Brownback's budget proposal that would provide $28.6 million for the Kansas Neurological Institute, of which $10.3 million will be from the state general fund. It next goes before the House Appropriations Committee.

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Information from: The Topeka Capital-Journal, http://www.cjonline.com

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