By Bryan Thompson
Kansas Public Radio

TOPEKA — Congress is working on legislative fixes to some of the problems that caused the recent scandal in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs health care system. Among other things, the bills would create a nationwide program patterned after one the agency has been testing in Kansas and a handful of other states.

The legislation would allow veterans who live far from VA medical centers to get care from local doctors. But U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., is raising concerns about the agency’s plans to end the pilot program before the national version of it is up and running.

Moran worries that Kansas veterans like Hugh Steadman will be abruptly cut off from needed health care services if the pilot program ends before the VA bill is passed and the agency is ready to implement it nationwide.

Steadman, who flew combat missions over Germany as a bombardier during World War II, lives in Great Bend. He used to have to drive two hours to the VA medical center in Wichita, a trip that was getting more difficult for him to make. Things became a little easier when the VA opened an outpatient clinic in Hays, but that’s still more than an hour’s drive each way.

“Well, it’s getting to be quite a problem, because I’m 89 years old now, and my kids don’t like me to drive out on the highways, and I think they’re probably right,” Steadman said.

But for the past year, Steadman’s driving time has been cut to just 10 minutes. That’s because a VA pilot project now pays for him to see a doctor in Great Bend. The project is called Access Received Closer to Home, or ARCH.

The VA launched the pilot program in Kansas and four other states in 2011, three years after Congress authorized it. Pratt was the Kansas test site, but things didn’t go well there.

“It failed pretty miserably,” said Vincent Wilczek, the chief financial officer of Pratt Regional Medical Center. Wilczek said primary care doctors in Pratt and the nearby communities signed up to do business with the VA but were quickly turned off by the process.

“They found it to be very burdensome, cumbersome to work with the VA, because it’s a very authorization-driven system,” he said. “And then some of the requirements they were requiring of the physicians were just very hard for local physicians to do.”

The providers in the Pratt area stopped participating in 2012. That could have ended the pilot project in Kansas, but it didn’t. Instead, Humana, which administers the program, reached out to providers in other communities.

That’s when St. Rose Ambulatory and Surgery Center in Great Bend got involved. One of the primary care providers there is Dr. James McReynolds. He said the VA bureaucracy takes a little getting used to, but he’s had no trouble getting authorization for necessary medical care.

The VA will authorize a certain number of visits, labs and/or X-rays for each patient, McReynolds said, but “it’s variable for each patient, and if you want more, you do have to request more.”

He was happy to participate in a program that made it possible for veterans to get care closer to home. And veterans in Kansas and the other participating states seemed to like it too.

Ninety percent of those surveyed by the VA said they would recommend it to other veterans. Steadman, the World War II veteran from Great Bend, agrees.

“I really like it. I sure do hate to see it quit. I’ve got several friends that go up there also, and it sure made it easy on us old-timers, where we don’t have to drive so far,” Steadman said.

Despite the veterans’ rave reviews of ARCH, the VA recently said it planned to end the pilot program. Testifying to a congressional committee in June, the VA’s Philip Matkovsky said the agency had the authority to extend the pilot program but wasn’t planning to do so.

“ARCH does expire as a contract. It was a firm-term contract with a base one year and then two option years, which expires, I believe, Sept. 30. And typically, unless the contracting officer can determine a compelling reason to extend that — and I’m not a contracting officer — we let contracts expire,” Matkovsky told the House Veterans Affairs Committee.

Sen. Moran strongly disagrees with that decision.

“ARCH comes about from legislation that I introduced as a House member. It has a lot to do with my background as a congressman from the First District of Kansas, a congressional district larger than the state of Illinois but with no VA hospital,” Moran said.

The Kansas Republican has been urging the VA for months to continue the program. He sees it as a bridge to the nationwide program authorized in the bill still working its way through Congress.

“The idea that I was pushing about services closer to home over the last four, five, six years is something that is now front-and-center in bipartisan legislation that is expected to pass Congress and be signed by the president. And yet we still have a Department of Veterans Affairs who, presumably, is reluctant to implement and pursue these programs in part, I think, because the VA’s funding, if they pay for services outside the VA, it’s less money that they’ve had to use within the VA,” Moran said.

Still, it appears that Moran may have won a partial victory. He said Acting VA Secretary Sloan Gibson has verbally agreed to keep the program in place, but only for veterans who already were being served by it. And even that less-than-ideal compromise isn’t a sure thing, given the VA’s recent track record. So Moran has asked Gibson to confirm that pledge in writing.

TOPEKA – Gov. Sam Brownback has ordered flags to be flown at half-staff from sun-up to sun-down Wednesday, in honor of former state Sen. Ross O. Doyen of Concordia

“Sen. Doyen spent his life serving his fellow citizens,” Brownback said. “He joined the United States Navy during World War II, right after graduating from high school, and served his country with distinction. Later, he brought that same commitment to his work in the legislature. Senator Doyen was a true Kansan, and we are grateful for his service. I extend my deepest sympathy to his family and friends and will keep them in my prayers.”

Doyen served in the United States Navy for 21 months in World War II, where he worked as an aircraft mechanic on C-54 transport planes. He began his political career in the Kansas House of Representatives 1959 and later was elected to the Kansas Senate in 1968.

He served as president of the Kansas Senate from 1975 to 1984.

DETROIT (AP) — Ford is recalling 100,566 vehicles in North America for various safety defects.

The company announced the six separate recalls Tuesday. No injuries related to the defects have been reported.

The largest recall, of 92,022 vehicles, affects the 2013 and 2014 Taurus, Lincoln MKS, and Police Interceptor sedans, the Flex and Lincoln MKT crossovers, the 2012-2014 Edge and 2014 Lincoln MKX. Ford says the right-hand halfshaft, which is part of the axle, may disengage over time, making the vehicles inoperable.

Ford is recalling 5,264 2011-2014 F59 commercial stripped chassis because corrosion could lead to a fire risk. It’s also recalling 2,124 Escape SUVs from the 2014 model year because their panoramic glass roofs might leak or fall out.

Ford will notify owners and dealers will repair the vehicles for free.

ERICA WERNER, Associated Press
JIM KUHNHENN, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Associated Press has learned that President Barack Obama is asking Congress for $3.8 billion to confront the influx of minors from Central America. The figure also includes extra money for fighting wildfires in the West.

JOPLIN, Mo. (AP) — Prosecutors have dropped a second-degree murder charge in the death of a Carthage man who was killed with a machete.

The charge against 47-year-old Juan Mendoza was dropped Monday and he was released from the Jasper County jail, where he had been held since May 2012.

The Joplin Globe reports 43-year-old Mario Gonzalez was found hacked to death in April 2012 near a camp on a river in north Carthage.

The murder charge could be refiled if new evidence is found

EMPORIA, Kan. (AP) — Snack cakes have been good for Emporia.

The northeast Kansas town has seen jobs return and millions of dollars in investments since its Hostess Brands plant reopened last year and expanded this year.

The Kansas City Star reports the company that makes Twinkies, Donettes and other cake products added $30 million in improvements to the plant. A ribbon cutting is planned Friday to celebrate a new warehouse, and a Twinkie festival is scheduled Saturday.

The plant was closed and 500 jobs were lost during a labor dispute in 2012. The Emporia plant was one of four Hostess bakeries reopened last year when a partnership group bought the company’s assets.

About 330 non-union workers are currently employed by the plant and another 50 jobs are likely to be added.

CUSTER, S.D. (AP) — A Fourth of July hot dog eating contest in South Dakota turned tragic when a contestant choked to death.

Custer County Sheriff Rick Wheeler tells the Rapid City Journal  that 47-year-old Walter Eagle Tail, of Custer, died Thursday at a hospital after attempts to save him failed at the scene.

The Custer Chamber of Commerce sponsored the contest. The group canceled a pie-eating contest scheduled for Friday.

Chamber Executive Director Dave Ressler says the group is “at a loss for words.”

Speed-eating competitions are popular over the Fourth of July weekend. Eight-time champion Joey “Jaws” Chestnut managed to eat 61 hot dogs in 10 minutes at the annual Coney Island contest on Friday, eight short of the record 69 he swallowed in the 2013 competition.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — An annual paddle boat race on the Missouri River will be postponed until August because of high water on the river.

The MR340 race on the Missouri River between Kansas City, Kansas, and St. Charles, Missouri was scheduled to begin Tuesday. Organizers announced Monday that the race will be held Aug. 12-15.

More than 600 people had signed up to be paddle canoes and kayaks across the state, with the race expected to end Wednesday or Thursday.

The Kansas City Star reports  several areas of the river are expected to be above flood stage this week, which makes the river run faster and submerges sandbars and other obstacles.

LEAWOOD, Kan. (AP) — After a plea from a 9-year-old boy, a Kansas City suburb will temporarily allow residents to have small, free lending libraries in their yards.

The Leawood City Council on Monday night unanimously approved a temporary moratorium that allows “Little Free Library” structures in residents’ yards. The moratorium, effective Tuesday, will last until Oct. 20.

The action came after the city received national attention when it required 9-year-old Spencer Collins to remove his library. The small box on stilts was full of books, which residents could read and replace for free.

The Kansas City Star reports
the city must wait 60 to 90 days and hold public hearings before it can permanently change its ordinances. It plans to survey Leawood homeowners associations to gauge public opinions on the libraries.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A storm that swept through Missouri left thousands without power across the state early Tuesday.

No major injuries have been reported. The National Weather Service received reports of wind gusts between 60 and 75 mph.

And Ameren Missouri said about 22,000 people lost power early Tuesday in the St. Louis area and in central and north-central Missouri, with more than 15,000 customers of Columbia Water and Light without power.

The National Weather Service said some windows were broken out of stores in Hannibal and two power poles caught fire when winds whipped the lines in Sedalia.

 Strong winds that blew through central and northeast Kansas left trees down and created power outages but no serious injuries have been reported.

Winds reaching more than 60 mph, accompanied by rain and hail hit the state late Monday and early Tuesday.

Westar reported up to 25,000 customers without power after the storm but that number had been reduced to about 6,000 early Tuesday. Power outages were reported in Shawnee, Wyandotte, Leavenworth, Douglas, Riley and Geary counties.

The Kansas Department of Transportation closed a section of U.S. 24 in Riley County Monday night because of downed power lines. The department said the road was expected to reopen Tuesday morning but warned drivers to find alternate routes for the morning commute.