PITTSBURG, KS.--- Each year, roughly 25,000 patients pass through the doors of the Community Health Center of Southeast Kansas .
"There is plenty of demand for our services," states Douglas Stuckey, Community Health Center of Southeast Kansas, Chief Financial Officer.
With looming financial issues at the federal and state levels, Community Health Center of Southeast Kansas Chief Financial Officer, Douglas Stuckey says that number may be going up.
"That would just mean longer wait times for our patients," states Stuckey.
On the federal level, the problem is the fiscal cliff, a combination of tax hikes and funding cuts that are set to take effect on January 1st.
"We get about a 3rd of our money from the federal government, and we get another 15 to 18% that flow through the State of Kansas in the form of Medicaid payments," says Stuckey.
On the state level, a lack of revenue is a problem several agencies like the Community Health Center may have to contend with.
"If we have high unemployment, we will be needing to add people to Medicaid," states Julie Menghini, Kansas State Representative.
State representative Julie Menghini says health care and education make up about 90% of the state budget, and with a projected shortfall of nearly $300 million between now and the end of this coming June, those areas could see cuts.
"These would be cuts on top of the cuts that most of these entities sustained over the last few years as a result of the recession," states Menghini.
Stuckey says administrators at the Community Health Center have been keeping an eye on both issues. He doesn't expect any layoffs, but says they may have to tighten their belts in other ways.
"We might have to scale back and not have as many evening hours, or as large a staff available for our patients," states Stuckey.
The news doesn't get much better for the State of Kansas after June of this year. The projected budget shortfall for the fiscal year beginning on July 1st of 2013 currently sits at just under $900 million.
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