TOPEKA — Five meetings scheduled across Kansas to gather public input on Medicaid services were canceled after state officials opted instead to gather reaction through letters, telephone or email messages.

About 200,000 letters are being mailed this week to explain Gov. Sam Brownback’s decision to impose a 4 percent reduction on some groups that provide Medicaid services to patients. The letters also will discuss alternative ways for residents to express their feelings about KanCare, the state’s privately run Medicaid program.

The meetings were scheduled Aug. 22-26 in Topeka, Wichita, Pittsburg, Dodge City and Overland Park.

The cancellations come after a contentious hearing before the House and Senate oversight committee on KanCare in early August, when lawmakers, service providers and customers strongly criticized state officials for problems with Medicaid services, The Topeka Capital-Journal reported. They complained about the impact of the cost reductions, a large backlog of Medicaid applications, slow reimbursements and a high number of claim denials.

Sen. Laura Kelly, a Democrat from Topeka, said the five meetings would have gathered valuable information from some of the 375,000 disabled, poor and elderly Kansas residents receiving Medicaid. She suspects the meetings were called off because of the reaction at the oversight committee meeting. She said Brownback’s administration knows the state’s current budget problems will make it difficult to reverse the 4 percent cuts.

At that legislative meeting, Rep. Dan Hawkins, a Wichita Republican who chairs the oversight committee, called the provider payment reductions “devastating” and said he would propose a bill to restore the appropriation.

The letters from the state suggest consumers email comments to KanCareReductions@kdheks.gov or contact the three private companies providing Medicaid in the state, Sunflower, Amerigroup and United.

“If consumers have a comment or complaint, we want them to tell us,” said Angela De Rocha, spokeswoman for the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services. “We could reach more people with the letters.”

De Rocha noted the funding rollback didn’t apply to critical-access hospitals, home- and community-based service providers, federally qualified health centers and hospice organizations, as well as the state’s mental hospitals.