Sedgwick County commissioners have voted to provide funding to help the KU School of Medicine with a program that will train new child and adolescent psychiatrists to serve mental health needs in this area.
Deputy County Manager Tim Kaufman said national figures show Sedgwick County with a severe shortage of child psychiatric professionals. He said Kansas is tied for 33rd in the nation with 10 psychiatrists per 100,000 youth, and most of them practice in the northeast part of the state. Kaufman said Sedgwick County has about 5 psychiatrists per 100,000 youth. He said the average age of a child and adolescent psychiatrist is 54, and there is a critical need for new psychiatrists in this field.
The KU School of Medicine wants to start a two-year fellowship program in 2023 that would provide a higher level of training for up to four psychiatrists a year. The fellows would work with up to 500 patients a year, and one proposed training site would be the COMCARE children’s program. When they complete the program, most fellows would remain in this area or in Kansas, and they would be able to treat hundreds to thousands of children each year in in-patient and out-patient settings.
It’s expected to cost $3.8 million to operate the program over a ten-year period, and in that time it would become fully accredited to be eligible for federal funding. Sedgwick County was asked to provide $380,000 for a one-year cost of the program.
Commission Chairman David Dennis says this is a workforce issue and the county needs to have the workforce to provide services, and it’s critically important to support programs like this. He said this fits within the mission of Sedgwick County. Commissioner Jim Howell raised concerns about the county providing the funding, noting that the Board of Regents and the Kansas Legislature have not contributed to the program at this point. He said he supports mental health services, but this is an issue that should be taken to the Legislature.
Commissioners voted 6-1, with Howell voting no, to approve the funding.
