Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services Secretary Rochelle Chronister announced today the agency has renewed its contract with a Virginia company that has assisted the state in obtaining millions of dollars in federal funds available to pay for social service programs.

The contract with Maximus, based in McLean, Va., has been renewed for one year.

In the first year of its contract with Kansas, Maximus assisted SRS in obtaining $24.6 million in Medicaid federal funds for health related special education services. These federal funds, covering amounts available to Kansas over the past two years, will be distributed to public special education centers in Kansas.

An additional $1.8 million in IV-E federal funds for foster care services in Kansas have also been obtained through the work of Maximus. This funding will be used by SRS in its foster care program. Staff from each of the 12 SRS Area offices across the state assisted in this effort.

Secretary Chronister said the work Maximus has done for the state has been helpful, both to SRS and to the Department of Education. She said the company has experience in and knowledge of intricate federal regulations concerning Medicaid. Medicaid is the health care program for low income people and people with disabilities which is paid for through a combination of state and federal funding. Different formulas are used in determining federal and state cost shares for Medicaid-funded programs.

While Chronister said SRS has done a commendable job as an agency in maximizing federal reimbursement to the state, Maximus was able to concentrate solely on this mission.

"They invested a lot of focused resources to this," she said.

Dale Dennis, deputy commissioner of education, said Maximus was able to streamline the process by which school districts obtain federal funding under Medicaid for special education.

"The funding will be immensely helpful to schools this year, as well as in the 1997-98 school year," he said. "They used a sampling technique the federal government approved which saved a considerable amount of paperwork."

Under the contract, Maximus is paid 9 percent of the amount of federal funds recovered. During the next year, Maximus is expected to concentrate on obtaining federal funding available to state institutions.

Page Last Updated: May 29, 2001