photo by: Josie Heimsoth/Journal-World

Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center, is pictured Tuesday, February 25, 2025.

There are some signs of financial improvement at the Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center, with new reason to believe that a state agency will provide a “considerable” boost of funding as soon as next month.

But there are also continuing signs of financial trouble, the nonprofit’s Finance Committee was told at a meeting on Wednesday. The organization has delayed paying a large amount of bills from vendors due to a shortage of cash, the committee was told.

Bert Nash CEO Patrick Schmitz for several weeks has said he thinks Bert Nash would qualify for additional funding from the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services. On Wednesday, Schmitz told the committee that he heard that Bert Nash will in fact be getting some additional funding. He added that the state will announce the amount of support after July 1, when the next fiscal year starts for the state.

“It will be a considerable amount to help us through as we continue to adjust service delivery and how we do it as well as to kind of catch up on the impact of providing care to so many individuals in our community that have no insurance or have insurance that doesn’t pay well or who are in crisis,” Schmitz said. The amount would be in addition to the approximately $2 million the state provides Bert Nash for a mental health contract, Schmitz told the group.

With no dollar amount announced, however, it is difficult to ascertain how much it will help Bert Nash’s finances. Committee members on Wednesday were told the organization ended May with enough cash on hand to cover 1.6 months of operating expenses.

While the situation is still “not great,” according to Stephanie Shelley, the organization’s director of finance, it marks an improvement from April — when available cash was only enough to cover less than three days of expenses.

Specifically, for the month of May, there was a deficit of $229,941 — where Bert Nash received around $3.2 million in revenue and had $3.5 million in expenses. However, Shelley said the loss is actually closer to $435,000 if the invoices the organization is holding are factored into it. Shelley said there have been a large number of deferred payments in invoices because of the cash flow, and the organization has to make payroll every two weeks.

“We do have a massive spreadsheet that we work off of and thanks to our accounts payable person, she has a good handle on all those invoices. She has it all organized,” Shelley said. “We just try to look at their net terms on the invoice to see when they’re actually due, whereas, a year or two ago, we were paying invoices as soon as we received them.”

But overall, Shelley said the year-to-date loss currently sits at $697,000. “Again, if you factor in additional expenses that haven’t been paid, our net loss is really closer to $900,000,” she said.

That puts Bert Nash on pace for an annual loss of about $2.1 million, which is slightly higher than the $2 million estimate Bert Nash provided as part of its April financial report. However, additional state funding could narrow that projected loss considerably.

Wednesday’s meeting also included inquiries from committee members about the status of one of Bert Nash’s senior financial executives. At the meeting, the Journal-World learned Mike Meigs, senior director of finance and administration at Bert Nash, would be leaving the organization. Meigs — who has been with the organization for almost seven years — was responsible for implementing the fiscal policies and operations for the $40 million nonprofit, according to his LinkedIn profile.

During the meeting, it was acknowledged that a memo was shared with Bert Nash board members that had not yet been disclosed to other staff as of Wednesday. David Ambler, a member of the committee and former board member, inquired about whether Meigs’ departure had been made public.

“When you sent us a notice about Meigs leaving the staff, you indicated it was confidential until you had another memo prepared,” Ambler said. “Has that memo been shared? Because I don’t think I received one.”

Carrie Combs, director of the executive administration at Bert Nash, said that announcement would be confidential until it could be shared with the rest of staff. CEO Schmitz said staff departures are not normally widely publicized.

“That is not something Bert Nash typically sends out to the world, when there is a departure, so we were practicing in the manner that we always have,” Schmitz said at the meeting.

Schmitz on Thursday confirmed to the Journal-World that Meigs is no longer with the organization, but said confidentiality laws protect the privacy of individual employees and prevent Bert Nash from sharing additional details about his departure.

“We remain steadfast in our mission and dedicated to strengthening the systems that support our care for the Douglas County community,” Schmitz said via email. “We will begin assessing next steps for a permanent replacement for this critical leadership role.”

Committee members also were told that Bert Nash’s management team is carefully watching the number of clients the organization serves. There are indications that clients are sticking with Bert Nash, despite the cutback in the number of staff members, which may create some longer wait times.

“What we did earlier was a consolidation of positions without terminating the clients,” Schmitz said of staff reductions that were announced in May.

But Bert Nash leaders also couldn’t rule out that client numbers would decline. The number of clients in June is down from May totals, but it is difficult to know whether that is the result of the beginning of the summer season or a sign that some clients are leaving the organization.

For example, the WRAP program – which is in partnership with Lawrence Public Schools and other Douglas County schools — has not been providing services because school is out.

Tim Nolte, clinical and business operations analyst at Bert Nash, said in June there are roughly 100 fewer billable services per business day at this point in time. It wasn’t immediately clear how the preliminary June numbers compared to June numbers from a year ago.