The increasing need for psychiatric care among Americans prompts Kansas Governor Laura Kelly to take action.

 Kelly has issued an executive order to establish the South Central Regional Psychiatric Hospital Advisory Panel.  The 14-member panel is tasked with gathering public input and making recommendations on the operation, location, and workforce development needs of the proposed 50-bed psychiatric hospital in south central and south eastern Kansas. The panel will examine how a state hospital would fit into existing or planned services in the region and identify existing resources, gaps in services, and opportunities to improve access to mental health services. Kansas currently operates state psychiatric hospitals in Osawatomie in northeast Kansas and Larned in western Kansas. A regional hospital in south central Kansas will address the shortage of in-patient mental health beds in this part of the state and allow patients to remain closer to home and family while receiving care. It will also lessen jail overcrowding by shortening the wait time for inmates pending evaluations or treatment. The advisory panel will provide an interim report to the Governor and the Sedgwick County Commission by January 15 with a final report due in June.