lysis center began this week, city officials said.

City Manager Dave Martin said Thursday the Kansas Department of Health and Environment has started an inspection of the Fresenius Medical Care Dialysis Service center located at 2526 S. Main St., which, due to lack of an appropriate inspection, has not been able to serve patients with Medicaid or Medicare, which are federal programs.

The facility has been operating since late 2014 after construction on the new facility was completed but has only been serving patients with private insurance.

"It has been open to patients not covered by Medicare or Medicaid," Martin said. "It's been open but under a survey, it has to get inspected to serve (patients with Medicare or Medicaid.)"

Martin said KDHE officials have said the certification inspection had been moved up on the priority list.

"We were notified by KDHE they had moved it up," he said. "I'm not sure how long it takes and the exact process. If it passed a survey, Medicaid and Medicare patients can start going there."

Martin said he has been told a survey takes two weeks to complete.

Martin explained the reasons behind the delay in the center's inspection, citing financial and personnel issues as factors in the delay.

"There are four tiers of dialysis centers being inspected across the U.S.," he said. "We fell in tier 3 and it wasn't considered, maybe because of the location with a (dialysis) center in Pittsburg. It was not a priority center to be looked at.

"There are two factors behind it in getting inspected. Because of government cutbacks there were not enough people, and for them to be inspected, you have to have a lot of medical knowledge ... they were not able to get enough inspectors."

Martin said he appreciates all of the support from local, state and federal government officials, as well as local citizens, in getting the inspection moved up the priority list.

"People have been driving past it to go out of town to other facilities," he said.

Martin said city commissioners and others have written letters and he has personally taken phone calls on the issue.

"I appreciate all the calls from everyone," he said.

Martin said he has been told that if the center passes the survey, it could be open "toward the end of the year or early next year."

During a February city commission meeting, Martin said he had recently spoke with Pam Henderson, a representative for U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran, and Moran had been working on getting certification inspection completed for the center. Martin also thanked Kansas Senators Caryn Tyson and Jacob LaTurner for their assistance in support of the issue.

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