TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — An attorney for a Kansas doctor has told the state’s medical board that it should allow her to regain her license despite finding that she kept inadequate records for young patients she referred for late-term abortions.

Attorney Bob Eye said Thursday that the State Board of Healing Arts has no evidence that any of the patients Dr. Ann Kristin Neuhaus of Nortonville saw for mental health exams in 2003 were injured.

Her exams for 11 patients aged 10 to 18 allowed them to obtain abortions from the late Dr. George Tiller of Wichita.

Board attorney Reese Hays argued Neuhaus has shown she can’t be rehabilitated. The board sanctioned her in 1999 and 2001 over record-keeping issues.

The board plans to issue a written ruling by Jan. 9.

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TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas board is considering whether to continue banning a doctor from practicing medicine after scrutinizing her referrals of young patients for late-term abortions and finding that she kept inadequate records.

The State Board of Healing Arts is conducting a hearing Thursday morning in the case of Dr. Ann Kristin Neuhaus of Nortonville.

She successfully challenged a 2012 board ruling that she conducted substandard mental health exams in 2003 for 11 patients aged 10 to 18. Her opinions about patients’ mental problems allowed the late Dr. George Tiller’s clinic in Wichita to terminate their pregnancies.

A Shawnee County District Court judge earlier this year overturned the board’s revocation of Neuhaus’ license but agreed that she kept inadequate records. The judge sent her case back to the board.

JEFFERSON CITY (AP) – Missouri lawmakers are vowing an aggressive investigation into why Gov. Jay Nixon did not use National Guard troops to prevent angry crowds from burning and looting businesses in Ferguson when a grand jury decision was announced in the police shooting of Michael Brown.

A House and Senate investigative committee met for the first time Thursday and pledged to use subpoenas, if necessary, to compel members of Nixon’s administration to testify and turn over documents.

A grand jury decided Nov. 24 not to indict Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson, who is white, for fatally shooting the black 18-year-old in August. After the announcement, some protesters set fire to businesses and vehicles.

Nixon had activated the National Guard before the announcement. But troops were not stationed in front of the Ferguson businesses.

LENEXA – Two people were injured in an accident just before 7 a.m. on Thursday in Johnson County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2007 Ford Focus driven by Steven Robert Adams, 20, Kansas City, Mo., was southbound on Interstate 35 at U.S. 69 in Lenexa.

The driver lost control due to the wet roadway, slid into the next lane and was struck by a semi.

The semi driven by Abdi Hersi Karshe, 30, Columbus, OH., also struck a 2013 Ford Econoline van driven by Edward E. Walker, 64, Overland Park.

A private vehicle transported Adams to Overland Park Regional Medical Center for treatment. Walker was also transported to Overland Park Regional. Karshe was not injured.
The KHP reported Adams was not wearing a seat belt.

By KHI NEWS SERVICE

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Health Care Foundation of Greater Kansas City (HCF) has awarded 31 nonprofit organizations in Kansas and Missouri more than $4 million in safety net funding to improve access to health care.

“HCF is proud to support these organizations who are working to implement models of service delivery for physical and oral health that increase access and hold the promise of delivering better health, better health care and lowered costs through improved quality,” said Dr. Bridget McCandless, HCF president and CEO.

More information about grant recipients and programs follows:

• Baptist-Trinity Lutheran Legacy Foundation, $75,000. To provide short-term, emergency medical assistance to low-income, underinsured and uninsured individuals.

• Cancer Action Inc., $85,000. To provide patient services, guidance, emotional support and education to cancer patients living in the Kansas City metropolitan area.

• Cass Community Health Foundation, $111,853. To support a full-time and part-time dentist that will provide oral health services to Medicaid and low-income, uninsured children.

• Children’s Mercy Hospital, $100,000. To support clinical staff who provide comprehensive care for children with complex, chronic health care needs.

• Community Health Center of Southeast Kansas Inc., $170,000. To support the provision of primary medical, dental and support services to the low-income, uninsured and underserved of Allen County the Iola Clinic.

• Cornerstones of Care, $150,000. To provide nurse case management services for children in foster care in Cass County and to provide psychotropic medication review and consultation for the nurse case management programs in Cass and Jackson counties in Missouri.

• Duchesne Clinic, $225,000. To provide bilingual, primary health care, chronic disease management, preventive care, patients education, medication assistance and care coordination for the uninsured in Wyandotte County.

• El Centro Inc., $133,613. To support the health navigation program in Wyandotte and Johnson counties for underinsured and uninsured people.

• Jewish Family Services, $54,547. To expand older adult care management services, including funding for a care manager, direct client assistance for out-of-pocket medical expenses and a United Way 211 older adult specialist.

• Jewish Vocational Service, $45,000. To support the position of the refugee health care coordinator who assists new refugees in navigating their care.

• Kansas City CARE Clinic, $300,000. To support the general medicine and oral health programs of the Kansas City CARE Clinic.

• Kansas University Endowment Association, $60,176. To expand services available through the KU Department of Family Medicine-affiliated clinic at Wyandotte High School in Kansas City, Kan., using telemedicine systems and equipment.

• Kansas University Endowment Association, $35,800. To support JayDoc Free Clinic, which provides care for the poor and underserved of Wyandotte County.

• KU Health Partners Inc., $100,000. To support ongoing operations of Silver City Health Center as a nurse-managed, patient-centered medical home for the medically underserved in Kansas City, Kan.

• Legal Aid of Western Missouri, $113,010. To advocate for low-income individuals and families who have been improperly denied insurance in the Missouri marketplace under the Affordable Care Act , or who have been improperly denied coverage by their ACA insurance plan for specific medical treatment. Program staff will also help residents access MO Healthnet.

• Mattie Rhodes Center, $83,732. To support a community health advocate, a community health worker and on-site health screenings, in partnership with Samuel U. Rodgers Health Center.

• Migrant Farmworkers Assistance Fund, $92,658. To provide medical case management to underserved and uninsured migrant and seasonal farmworkers in rural Lafayette County, Mo.

• ReDiscover, $200,000. To support the demand for health care home services for uninsured clients by providing startup salary support for clinical and medical directors.

• reStart, Inc., $93,810. To provide care coordination and health benefits advocacy to homeless men and women in the adult emergency shelter program.

• Riverview Health Services Inc., $155,021. To sustain and expand services that increase access to health care for the uninsured and underinsured by providing referrals to safety net clinics; medication and medical supplies; and chronic disease education and self-management support.

• Saint Luke’s Hospital of Kansas City, $200,000. To support the care coordination program that uses community health workers to engage with patients with multiple barriers to care.

• Saint Luke’s Hospital of Kansas City, $100,000. To support radiation therapy for uninsured cancer patients referred to Saint Luke’s from Truman Medical Center.

• Samuel U. Rodgers Health Center Foundation Inc., $100,000. To ensure that pregnant indigent minority women have access to quality prenatal care.

• Samuel U. Rodgers Health Center, $200,000. The support a partnership among Samuel U. Rodgers Health Center, Truman Medical Centers and Housing Authority of Kansas City to address access to health care for public housing residents in Chouteau Courts and Riverview Gardens.

• Seton Center Family and Health Services, $250,000. To provide professional staffing, needy funds, equipment, and program support for oral health care for the uninsured and vulnerable.

• Southwest Boulevard Family Health Care Services of Greater Kansas City, $250,000. To sustain safety net health care services — including primary care, dentistry, and supportive services — in Wyandotte County.

• Swope Health Services, $50,000. To retain a full-time dentist and a full-time dental assistant to serve 7,200 low-income, uninsured and underinsured residents of the Kansas City metropolitan area, and add a care coordinator who will assist 300 patients with chronic illnesses in accessing the integrated dental and medical services they need.

• Synergy Services Inc., $114,000. To support key staff positions at Synergy’s Homeless Youth Campus onsite health clinic and a portion of the medical and dental partners’ contracts.

• Truman Medical Center Charitable Foundation, $96,956. To support a licensed master social worker to improve perinatal mental health outcomes for 125 women and their families through screening, care coordination, and provider and consumer awareness.

• Turner House Clinic Inc., $225,000. To provide coordinated and integrated primary medical care, chronic care and preventive oral health care for uninsured and underserved children in Wyandotte County.

• West Central Missouri Community Action Agency, $115,000. To provide reproductive health services and STD testing and treatment to low-income and/or uninsured people.

The safety net grants are the final round of HCF funding in 2014. For more information on applying for 2015 HCF grants, visit www.hcfgkc.org.

HCF was created in 2002 as part of the Hospital Corporation of America’s purchase of Health Midwest. It began grantmaking in 2005 for its service area of Kansas City, Mo.; Cass, Jackson and Lafayette counties in Missouri; and Allen, Johnson and Wyandotte counties in Kansas.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Corporation Commission and natural gas companies are working together to find a way to replace aging gas pipes in a less expensive way.

Kansas natural gas companies currently add a fee, called the gas service reliability surcharge, to customers’ bills to cover projects required by safety regulations or related public works projects.

But the Legislature-approved charge doesn’t cover preventative work like replacing old cast iron and steel pipes before they break. Officials say that kind of work is cheaper and causes less disruption than an emergency pipe repair.

Commissioner Pat Apple tells The Topeka Capital-Journal  that amending the GSRS to pay for pipe-replacement work requires legislative approval. But commissioners say they think they can set up a separate process without sending it to the Legislature.

INDEPENDENCE, Mo. (AP) — Independence officials are considering constructing the state’s largest solar farm as part of a continuing push to expand the city’s use of renewable energy.

In July, the city set a goal of having Independence Power and Light producing at least 10 percent of its power from renewable energy by 2018 and 15 percent by 2021. City Manager Robert Heacock says companies from around the country interested in building the solar farm have contacted the city.

The Independence Examiner reports that interest prompted the city to extend its deadline to submit proposals to Dec. 23. Heacock says he thinks the city could reach its 10 percent goal by 2016 or 2017.
The plan is to use land in northeast Independence for a solar farm that would produce about 10 megawatts.

LONDON (AP) — Swiss researchers have suspended the testing of one of the leading Ebola vaccine candidates after some volunteers reported unexpected side effects.

In a statement issued on Thursday, the Hopitaux Universitaires de Geneve said the trial had been suspended “as a precautionary measure.” The study involving 59 people began in November.

Researchers reported four cases of mild joint pain in the hands and feet in people who got the shot 10 to 15 days earlier. Officials will stop giving the vaccine next week to get more data and liaise with others who are testing the vaccine in the U.S., Canada, Germany and Gabon.

The vaccine was developed by the Canadian government and is licensed to two U.S. companies, NewLink and Merck

The trial is scheduled to resume in January in Geneva.

BRANSON, Mo. (AP) — Branson police say a person is in custody after a woman was found dead at a hotel.
The woman’s body was found Wednesday afternoon at Westwood Inn on Shepherd of the Hills Expressway.

The Springfield News-Leader reports Sgt. Daniel Kingsbury would not release information on the cause of death or say whether it was a homicide. But Kingsbury said a suspect was taken into custody and he doesn’t expect more arrests in the case.
The woman’s identity has not been released.