Southeast Mental Health board suspends CEO for 90 days

(Editor's note: Linn County Commissioner Jim Johnson and Tisha Coleman are representatives to the Southeast Kansas Mental Center (SEKMHC) board of directors. The Linn County Commission cut all funding to SEKMHC for 2026, which which serves five other counties. Johnson recently attempted to have Coleman removed from the board.)

By Tim Stauffer and Susan Lynn

The Iola Register

Nathan Fawson, CEO of Southeast Kansas Mental Health Center, was suspended from his position Monday, Jan. 26, by the organization’s board of directors. Board member Mike Blaufuss said Fawson has been suspended for 90 days with pay.

Doug Wright, who currently serves as Chief Operating Officer, has been appointed interim CEO. Blaufuss also serves as an Anderson County commissioner.

The announcement came via a memo sent Monday to all employees. SEKMHC board member and co-chair Dana Spencer, of Garnett, confirmed the memo’s contents but noted it was not meant for the public. “I’m not at liberty to comment on anything further at this time,” Spencer said Wednesday.

Wright also offered no comment when reached by phone. Fawson did not respond to a request for comment.

Fawson’s suspension comes at a tumultuous time for the organization. Fred Works, an Iola attorney who had advised SEKMHC for decades, was removed from his role in December. Also up in the air is the future of the mental health center’s primary care services provided by Ashley Clinic, which SEKMHC acquired in July 2023 from a Chanute-based group of physicians.

Board member Richard Zahn, Iola, appointed last June to one of Allen County’s two seats, told the Register that SEKMHC’s board is working with Neosho Memorial Regional Medical Center administrators to “provide collaborative care” in regard to Ashley Clinic.

Zahn confirmed all Ashley Clinic surgery-based practices have been transitioned outside of SEKMHC. “That happened either last month, or early this month,” Zahn said.

The providers “were all offered alternatives, and I think all of them have found medical practice homes. They’ve certainly all been offered one,” Zahn said.

A 120-day notice period for a medical practice transition was in place, Zahn said, but he did not elaborate on the possible sale of Ashley Clinic.

Efforts to reach Wendy Brazil, CEO of Neosho Memorial Regional Medical Center were unsuccessful. Ashley Clinic and Neosho Memorial are located next to each other in Chanute with the clinic’s providers using the hospital.

Ashley Clinic also has locations in Iola, Humboldt and Yates Center as well as a dental clinic in Yates Center.

“All I can say is that we’re supportive of the mental health piece, and believe me, we will protect patients and do what’s best for them,” said Zahn.

Fawson testifies before House committee

Fawson’s suspension comes a week after he testified in the Kansas House Health and Human Services Committee on Jan. 20. For over an hour, Fawson answered questions related to SEKMHC’s purchase of Ashley Clinic, executive pay, and the Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic, or CCBHC, model.

SEKMHC received provisional CCBHC certification in 2022 and full certification

in 2024. In 2021, Kansas codified the CCBHC model into law with the goal of expanding access, integrating care, and improving treatment. There are at least 26 CCBHCs certified in Kansas.

Representative Doug Blex noted SEKMHC had recently dismissed surgeons and urologists.

“Why were they dismissed?” Blex asked Fawson. “I’m assuming they were making you a profit.”

“I would re-term that to be us transitioning those services from our organization to our neighboring local hospital,” answered Fawson. “We had ongoing communications with them about how those services could better serve the community and could be better supported by the local hospital.”

Blex asked, “You’re praising Southeast Kansas Mental Health Center for being a total care, one-stop shop, and yet now you’re saying you’re transferring that to the hospital. And I’m hearing that Ashley Clinic is for sale. Is that the case?”

Fawson responding by noting that SEKMHC’s goal is to provide for “whole person care, whether it’s in the form of delivering all those services or care-coordinating with others that do.”

Fawson noted the nonprofit is struggling to figure out how to sustain providing its primary care services.”Having had our CCBHC rate significantly cut, we’re now faced with the challenge of how to financially sustain those services into the future,” he said.

Fawson mentioned that SEKMHC has applied to also become a federally qualified health center, or FQHC. (Federally qualified health centers are community-based clinics that receive federal funding.) “Under the FQHC treatment and funding model for primary care, those med-

ical services are better supported,” Fawson said.

Fawson asked to justify salary structure

Rep. Fred Gardner and others repeatedly asked Fawson to explain the organization’s salary structure. For the last year, executive pay has been a source of controversy for SEKMHC, notably among county commissions in SEKMHC’s six-county service area, with all but one

county pulling virtually all financial support for the organization.

According to SEKMHC’s IRS form 990 for 2024, Fawson received $685,147 in compensation and $203,952 in benefits. Together, Fawson, Wright, and Chief Financial Officer Job Springer received $1.6 million in salary and over $522,000 in benefits in 2024.

Fawson’s pay and benefits have more than quadrupled since 2020. SEKMHC reported more than $66 million in revenue in 2024, with a net income of over $11.5 million. Executive compensation was 4% of the nonprofit’s total expenses.

“It’s clear that the salaries paid to the CEO, COO and CFO are about three to four times what

others in the state are getting. Can you explain to the committee how that is a competitive salary schedule for Kansas?” asked Gardner.

“I fall back on the organization that analyzed our salaries and recommended that they be at that 50th percentile range, which we then adjusted to,” Fawson replied.

He was referring to a 2021 wage analysis provided by The Hebets Co., a Phoenix-based consulting firm. SEKMHC’s board implemented the recommendations provided by analysis.

Later in the hearing, Fawson told committee members, “We’ve had a reduction in pay since those 990s were published.”

Rep. Will Carpenter, who chairs the Health and Human Services Committee, peppered Fawson with questions about the legal and financial structure of SEKMHC’s purchase of Ashley Clinic.

“Are you aware that operating services outside the certified scope of a CCBHC can place the entire certification at risk?” Carpenter asked Fawson.

“Sure,” Fawson responded.

“Have you conducted an internal legal or compliance review assessing whether Ashley

Clinic exceeds CCBHC authority?” Carpenter followed.

“We’re always reviewing our authority bounds and role responsibilities, so I would say yes,” answered Fawson. “We have legal counsel who has guided us through our treatment model and policy development as well.”

The SEKMHC obtained outside legal counsel when it adopted the CCBHC model.

Carpenter seemed open to the idea of SEKMHC’s approach to integrated care, but questioned the organization’s legal ability to do so.

“I think we all agree with integrated care. I think it’s great. I think it’s more about whether you have the authority to provide that integrated care in Ashley Clinic.”

House members question CCBHC status

At least two members of the committee, however, seemed to question the very concept of CCBHCs, which seek to provide access to coordinated comprehensive behavioral health care.

CCBHCs are required to serve all who request care for mental health or substance use, no matter their ability to pay, age or residence.

“It’s mostly taxpayer dollars that are paying for all this, whether it’s federal, state, whatever

it may be,” said Rep. Allen Reavis. “From a taxpayer standpoint, are we getting the bang for our buck, or is there a better way?”

Rep. Ron Bryce, vice-chair of the committee, said, “If my calculations are correct, and you can

correct me, but we’re spending about $1,200 per year per person, not per patient, for everyone in the six counties in order to cover the costs. So if we’re spending something in that range, that seems extraordinary. What are the metrics?”

Fawson took pains while testifying to note the improvements in SEKMHC’s ability to provide services since becoming a CCBHC in 2022. Whereas wait times used to be three or four weeks for therapy, same-day appointments are now available. Patients who used to wait months for psychiatric appointments now wait just days.

The organization has grown by leaps and bounds, noted Fawsom. “In 2020 we employed just over 200 individuals. Today, we employ over 500, and we’ve done so by way of our commitment to achieving the nine core expected services as a CCBHC. We’ve also achieved that by way of adjusting our wages to be competitive.”

Fawson also highlighted the extreme need for services in six of the sickest and poorest counties in Kansas, noting that poverty rates range from 11% to 16%, median household income is around $23,000 below the national average, and about 13% of residents are uninsured.

In 2020, Kansas ranked dead last in the U.S. for its delivery of mental health care. Now, it’s ranked 22nd.

SEKMHC, said Fawson, has expanded to provide 24/7 crisis care, school-based services, supportive employment and more. He said that in 2025 alone, the nonprofit provided care

to nearly 25,000 individuals.

If SEKMHC were to lose its CCBHC designation, either by narrowing its mission or by action from the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services, a significant amount of the nonprofit’s funding for those services would be at risk.

The hearing ended on an ominous note.

“So what if you’re not able to turn Ashley Clinic into an FQHC?” Rep. Carpenter asked Fawson.

“We may have to discontinue the delivery of those primary care services,” said Fawson.

This article was republished with permission of The Iola Register.