Kansas takes control of 15 troubled private nursing homes

Kansas takes control of 15 troubled private nursing homes

KANSAS CITY, Kan. - Kansas is taking over 15 private nursing homes after the owner and operator defaulted on payments to vendors and failed to meet payroll.

Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services Secretary Tim Keck will oversee operations of the Skyline Health Care LLC homes. Court documents show the facilities have nearly 850 residents and 950 employees.

The New Jersey-based owner previously acknowledged that Skyline had insufficient funds to pay utilities and food services vendors, KCUR-FM reported.

Keck said Florida-based Mission Health has assumed day-to-day oversight of the homes. Mission already operates 14 skilled nursing facilities in Kansas.

"They have done a really good job of getting things organized and back to some level of certainty in the last week or so," Keck said.

The move comes after Nebraska officials took over 21 nursing homes and 10 assisted living facilities operated by Skyline last month.

Keck said the next step is to find a new owner.

"It may or may not be Mission Health," Keck said. "I don't know if they will be interested in it or not. We have heard from several people that they are interested in some or all of the facilities."

Mission Health has operated in Kansas since mid-2015, when it took over facilities that had become insolvent.

Police: More than 6 people at home when man shot

WICHITA - Wichita police say more than six people were in a home when a 40-year-old man was shot and killed.

Police say Emmitt Lee Olson died in the shooting Tuesday afternoon in the city's Planeview neighborhood.

Lt. Todd Ojile says a witness who called to report the shooting was gone when officers arrived.

The Wichita Eagle reports neighbors told police people came and went from the house at all times of the day and night. Ojile says officers previously have been to the house, were drugs are frequently used.

Ojile says investigators didn't know what prompted the shooting.

Former Kansas sheriff's detective pleads guilty to theft

LARNED - A former Pawnee County Sheriff's detective has admitted to stealing from the department, where his brother is sheriff.

The Hays Post reports 43-year-old Jeffrey Allen King of Larned pleaded guilty Monday to three felonies for thefts that occurred between Jan. 9, 2015, and Oct. 13, 2017.

A total of $20,318 was stolen from the sheriff's department.

King is the brother of Pawnee County Sheriff Scott King.

Jeffrey King resigned from the department in February.

His sentencing was scheduled for May 25.

Colorado Springs hospital receives top trauma care status

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - A Colorado Springs hospital has become the only medical facility outside the Denver area to be designated with the state's highest trauma care status.

The Gazette reports UCHealth Memorial Hospital Central announced Tuesday that its trauma center has received level-one status, which only three other Colorado hospitals have.

Hospital CEO Joel Yuhas says the designation means that the hospital can care for patients with the most serious injuries. It also means fewer patients in the region will need to be transported to Denver for trauma care.

Trauma medical director Thomas Schroeppel says the hospital can take in patients "as far as a helicopter could fly." The hospital's medical staff has already treated patients from Kansas, New Mexico and across southern Colorado.