LARNED ? A psychiatric hospital in west-central Kansas challenged with staffing troubles and leadership turnover has implemented stringent spending controls after burning through more than 60 percent of its annual budget in six months.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that as of Dec. 31, Larned State Hospital had spent at least $34.2 million of its $57 million budget for the fiscal year ending June 30.

Contract labor costs drove the faster-than-budgeted spending, according to Angela de Rocha, spokeswoman for the Kansas Department of Aging and Disability Services, which oversees the hospital.

Larned State Hospital is struggling with staffing levels as workers are often mandated to work overtime hours.

The hospital has cut down on spending, increased auditor review of purchases and prohibited non-urgent expenditures. A Jan. 15 memorandum to the hospital’s administrators and program directors outlined the restrictions.

The department said the spending rate and memo had been extensively discussed at a House Social Services Budget Committee hearing. But members of the committee said they don’t remember either the memo or the issue.

The memo said that the hospital must reduce expenditures for unnecessary goods and services during the current fiscal year. Every purchase requisition, order, invoice and voucher for transactions above $2,500 must now be reviewed and approved by auditors.

Additionally, all purchases now require justifications that revolve around either a patient or staff safety issue, or a treatment issue, and a plan for financing must be listed. The memo said that upgrades and repairs to equipment that isn’t critical won’t be approved.