TOPEKA – Governor Laura Kelly and Secretary Laura Howard announced today that the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services has partnered with a Minnesota-based supply company to launch an online order portal available to adult care homes across the state to procure personal protective equipment (PPE) and infection control supplies during the COVID-19 public health emergency.
“Our state’s adult care homes have been working diligently throughout the pandemic to control the spread of COVID-19 and keep residents and caregivers safe, but these safety measures become more difficult to implement without the proper protective equipment,” Governor Laura Kelly said. “I want to thank the SPARK Taskforce and the State Finance Council for making this new partnership possible, and for assisting my administration’s commitment to distributing critical resources to the facilities across Kansas that need them most.”
“We have heard from many facilities over the last eight months that finding the necessary PPE supplies to operate safely and efficiently has been one of the ongoing challenges during the pandemic,” Secretary Howard said. “The funds allocated to us from Governor Kelly’s SPARK committee allowed us to take what we hope will be a giant step forward in alleviating this challenge for our dedicated Kansas caregivers.”
KDADS received $10 million on October 1 from the Strengthening People and Revitalizing Kansas (SPARK) Committee and approved by the State Finance Council to help provide PPE and infection control supplies to adult care homes that are not federally regulated for participation in the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Title 18 or Title 19 program. Adult care homes in Kansas that qualify for this earmarked SPARK funding include:
- Adult Day Care (ADC)
- Assisted Living (ALF)
- Boarding Care Home (BCH)
- Home Plus (HP)
- Intermediate Care Facility / Intellectually and Developmentally Disabled (ICF/IDD)
- Residential Health Care Facilities
- Nursing Facilities who do not participate in the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Title 18 or Title 19 program
KDADS entered an agreement with SOURCE 309 Powered by American Solutions for Business, to connect adult care homes with suppliers of PPE through a dedicated KDADS portal focused on critical supplies and rapid fulfillment of orders to adult care homes. SOURCE 309 assembled a list of selected PPE supplies that meet the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) safety recommendations. The products available can be found at https://online.fliphtml5.com/hldlw/axug/.
KDADS has assigned a budget of approximately $575 per qualified bed per facility to each adult care home with qualifying beds. Facilities can use the budget to purchase PPE supplies through the portal and do not need to provide any additional funds. KDADS will review incoming orders and may make changes to orders to fit within a facility’s budget and to ensure SPARK funds are allocated to purchase PPE.
SOURCE 309 will combine group incoming orders to drive down prices and make individual orders cost-effective for members of this program. The target is to ship individual PPE orders 7 to 20 business days after an order has been submitted. Due to demand and market volatility, some items in an order may arrive faster than others and, if market conditions change, some hard-to-get items like nitrile gloves and N95 masks could see extended delivery dates. PPE supplies in the portal may also change based on availability.
If a facility has an emergency need for supplies, they should continue to reach out to their local emergency management officials.
KDADS’ expectation is that adult care homes will also be able to use the State of Kansas master contract (state use contract) to purchase PPE and other COVID-19 related supplies using their own resources. Approved vendors can be found at https://admin.ks.gov/offices/procurement-and-contracts/additional-files-for-procurement-contracts/personalprotectiveequipmentrelatedsuppliescontracts.
These two mechanisms help KDADS meet the requirement in HB 2016 passed by the 2020 Legislature to “provide personal protective equipment to adult care homes in Kansas.” KDADS was authorized $38.4 million for Skilled Nursing Facilities from SPARK and approved by the State Finance Council. In all, 309 Nursing Facilities have agreed to accountability mechanisms for SPARK funding and $33.8 million has been sent to nursing facilities. Facilities can use those resources to meet COVID-19 needs and expenses, including acquiring PPE or other supplies from their suppliers or the Department of Administration website. The $10 million related to qualifying facilities for PPE purchases are in addition to the other resources nursing facilities have received to help with costs related to COVID-19.
If facilities have problems or questions regarding the KDADS process for ordering PPE, contact KDADS.reopening@ks.gov.
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