photo by: LMH Health

LMH Health, 325 Maine St., is pictured in May 2021.

The LMH Health Board of Trustees is taking a new approach to advocating for hospital-friendly legislation at the state level.

During a brief special meeting on Wednesday, the board approved a letter template that voices support for Gov. Laura Kelly’s proposed Medicaid expansion plan. Board chair Pat Miller said the letter was prepared by an advocacy committee, which was initiated as LMH Health responds to “a lot of financial pressures.”

“… We felt that it was important for the trustees to be able to make representations on behalf of LMH about how important some legislative changes are to LMH and other hospitals,” Miller told the board.

Miller said copies of the letter would be sent individually to Kansas legislators the board feels “should hear” about how Medicaid expansion will benefit LMH Health. The letter requests that the recipients accept a forthcoming invitation from LMH Health CEO Russ Johnson to discuss “the very real financial impact that Medicaid expansion would have on LMH’s ability to remain an independent community hospital,” then contact other hospital CEOs afterward to learn more about their financial challenges.

The letter also asks that lawmakers recognize that Kelly’s proposal requires Kansas hospitals to pay the state’s share of Medicaid’s cost-matching requirement, and increased federal funds will “more than” offset LMH’s contribution to the state’s matching requirement.

Miller said that at the board’s regular meeting later this month, it will consider establishing authority for the advocacy committee to communicate independently with lawmakers about other legislative issues pertaining to the hospital.