Something is amiss with KanCare, Kansas’ managed care system, warn advocates. While the state’s personal assistance waiting list has shrunk by 1,500 — presumably a good thing — the number of people receiving services has also shrunk.

“Think about that: That’s very counterintuitive,” says Rocky Nichols, executive director of the Disability Rights Center of Kansas, to the KHI news service. “If your waiting list numbers are going down, the number of people being served ought to be going up. We’re seeing something unprecedented happen. And this has been happening now, and we’ve been sounding this alarm, for a couple years.”

State officials say KanCare inherited an outdated waiting list and while they claim hundreds of new enrollees are receiving services, they also claim the total number of people receiving services is dropping through natural attrition. But since the state won’t share its data, this can’t be independently verified.

“Overall it’s really hard to tell how KanCare has been working out because the state has data and information related to goals, accomplishments and so on that I don’t have access to,” says Mike Oxford, the executive director of the Topeka Independent Living Resource Center, says the state has been less than transparent.

After advocates shared their concerns about KanCare with officials from the National Council on Disability on July 7, the Department of Justice has agreed to investigate. Meanwhile advocates remain concerned people who need services are now going without.