{"id":446345,"date":"2026-01-30T01:44:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-30T01:44:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/446345\/"},"modified":"2026-01-30T01:44:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-30T01:44:09","slug":"shakeup-at-sekmhc-the-iola-register","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/446345\/","title":{"rendered":"Shakeup at SEKMHC – The Iola Register"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Nathan Fawson<\/p>\n

Nathan Fawson, CEO of Southeast Kansas Mental Health Center, was suspended from his position Monday by the organization\u2019s board of directors.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Board member Mike Blaufuss said Fawson has been suspended for 90 days with pay. Dr. Doug Wright, who currently serves as Chief Operating Officer, has been appointed interim CEO. Blaufuss also serves as an Anderson County commissioner.<\/p>\n

The announcement came via a memo sent Monday to all employees. SEKMHC board member and co-chair Dana Spencer, of Garnett, confirmed the memo\u2019s contents but noted it was not meant for the public. \u201cI\u2019m not at liberty to comment on anything further at this time,\u201d Spencer said Wednesday. Wright also offered no comment when reached by phone. Fawson did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

Fawson\u2019s suspension comes at a tumultuous time for the organization. In a separate action, the board also terminated its relationship with long-time legal counsel Fred Works in December, a move unrelated to Fawson\u2019s suspension but one that further underscores the level of internal upheaval facing the organization.\"\"Doug Wright<\/p>\n

Also up in the air is the future of the mental health center\u2019s primary care services provided by Ashley Clinic, which SEKMHC acquired in July 2023<\/a> from a Chanute-based group of physicians.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Board member Richard Zahn, Iola, appointed last June<\/a> to one of Allen County\u2019s two seats, told the Register Thursday that SEKMHC\u2019s board is working with Neosho Memorial Regional Medical Center administrators to \u201cprovide collaborative care\u201d in regard to Ashley Clinic.<\/p>\n

Zahn confirmed all Ashley Clinic surgery-based practices have been transitioned outside of SEKMHC. \u201cThat happened either last month, or early this month,\u201d Zahn said.<\/p>\n

The providers \u201cwere all offered alternatives, and I think all of them have found medical practice homes. They\u2019ve certainly all been offered one,\u201d 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.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s providers using the hospital.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ashley Clinic also has locations in Iola, Humboldt and Yates Center as well as a dental clinic in Yates Center.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAll I can say is that we\u2019re supportive of the mental health piece, and believe me, we will protect patients and do what\u2019s best for them,\u201d said Zahn.<\/p>\n

FAWSON\u2019s suspension comes a week after he testified<\/a> in the Kansas House Health and Human Services Committee. For over an hour, Fawson answered questions related to SEKMHC\u2019s purchase of Ashley Clinic, executive pay, and the Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic, or CCBHC, model.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Representative Doug Blex noted SEKMHC had recently dismissed surgeons and urologists. \u201cWhy were they dismissed?\u201d Blex asked Fawson. \u201cI\u2019m assuming they were making you a profit.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI would re-term that to be us transitioning those services from our organization to our neighboring local hospital,\u201d answered Fawson. \u201cWe had ongoing communications with them about how those services could better serve the community and could be better supported by the local hospital.\u201d<\/p>\n

Blex asked, \u201cYou\u2019re praising Southeast Kansas Mental Health Center for being a total care, one-stop shop, and yet now you\u2019re saying you\u2019re transferring that to the hospital. And I\u2019m hearing that Ashley Clinic is for sale. Is that the case?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nathan Fawson Nathan Fawson, CEO of Southeast Kansas Mental Health Center, was suspended from his position Monday by…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":446346,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[64,63,137,514,515],"class_list":{"0":"post-446345","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mental-health","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-mental-health","12":"tag-mentalhealth"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/446345","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=446345"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/446345\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/446346"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=446345"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=446345"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=446345"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}