? Kansas Medicaid providers have told federal officials that reimbursement cuts by the state are placing them under an added financial strain.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that providers for KanCare recipients told officials at a forum Tuesday that they worry the cuts will harm patient access to services. The forum was organized by the KanCare Advocates Network due to mounting frustration over a backlog of unprocessed Medicaid applications.

Gov. Sam Brownback’s administration cut KanCare provider reimbursement rates earlier this summer by 4 percent as part of measures to balance the budget. The cuts went into effect July 1 and save the state about $38 million a year.

Sean Gatewood with the KanCare Advocates Network says the program is in crisis.

Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services spokeswoman Angela de Rocha says most of the program’s 420,000 beneficiaries and the more than 52,000 enrolled in the children’s health insurance program are receiving the care they need.

Big Lakes Developmental Center director Lori Feldkamp said the facility in Manhattan stopped taking new admissions in May. According to Feldkamp, the center cannot find workers to fill all of its open positions.

Feldkamp said that most qualified workers are already employed and luring them from their current jobs takes money. She says some of those funds are taken away by reimbursement funds.

“Capacity and service access issues are only going to get worse and need to be addressed through an increase in reimbursement rates. Failure to do so will reduce service options to the point where there are none available,” Feldkamp said.

Jeremy Armstrong, CEO of Mitchell County Hospital in Beloit, said the facility will lose about $65,000 a year due to the cut. The facility has 17 Medicaid residents in its long-terms care unit.

“For larger organizations, that might not seem like a whole lot of money. For us, I can assure you, it’s a significant amount of money,” Armstrong said.

De Rocha said the state does not believe that the reimbursement cuts have any potential to harm patients.

Some lawmakers may try and have the cuts reversed when the Legislature reconvenes in January.