Topeka ? A new group charged with reducing Kansas health care costs began its work Wednesday.

Lt. Gov. John Moore, who will lead the Health Care Cost Containment Commission, said the increasing expense of medical care “is presenting a crisis.”

State officials say Kansans spend about $12 billion per year on health care, about $3 billion of which is for administration and paperwork.

The commission will study ways to reduce those administrative costs, Moore said. Nationally, administrative costs in health care have increased 37 percent over the past four years, he said.

“We will seek opportunities to simplify the health care administration system to help patients and providers,” he said.

Much of the increase is due to the lack of standard procedures from insurance plan to insurance plan, Moore said. And more needs to be done to increase hospital efficiency, he said.

Moore also said a major problem was that 40 percent to 45 percent of claims for health insurance payments were initially rejected, and then three-fourths of those were accepted upon further review.

The Health Care Cost Containment Commission is made up of executives from the health care and insurance industries, physicians, and representatives of labor and business.

The commission was launched as part of an initiative by Gov. Kathleen Sebelius and Insurance Commissioner Sandy Praeger.

One part of the proposal would increase the cigarette tax by 50 cents per pack to expand health care insurance to thousands of Kansans who currently are not covered.