OSAWATOMIE — A state mental health official says that the moratorium on admissions to Osawatomie State Hospital won’t likely be lifted as originally scheduled. The state had expected to end the moratorium by mid-November. The Kansas Health Institute News Service reports that renovation work demanded by federal regulators is mostly done. However Ted Jester, assistant director of the mental health services for the Kansas Dept. for Aging and Disability Services told mental health professionals this week that negotiations with federal inspectors has taken longer than expected, KHI reports. The state imposed the moratorium and began making changes at the hospital after federal inspectors noted severe patient overcrowding, dangerous conditions and the hospital didn’t have enough staff and threatened to cut off Medicaid funds to the state. The moratorium has resulted in more mentally-ill people in area jails and has had local law and medical officials form a crisis intervention team that has been scrambling to handle large number of cases involving mental health crises.
Thursday, Oct. 29, 10 p.m.
