David Anderson was appointed as the agency’s Aging Services Commissioner effective February 19, 2024.Anderson is a licensed behavioral health provider who spent the last 36 years at High Plains Mental Health Center in Hays, starting as a service provider and later holding various leadership positions. He has also been an adjunct faculty member at Fort Hays State University's psychology department for many years.
Over the years, Anderson has served on numerous statewide committees and boards. He was appointed by Governor Laura Kelly in 2019 to serve on the Behavioral Sciences Regulatory Board, where he currently serves as vice chair.
“David Anderson comes to KDADS with more than three decades of experience in behavioral health services, building community partnerships, and leading effective teams,” KDADS Secretary Laura Howard said. “We look to him to work with various community partners to create shared goals and outcomes.”
Anderson grew up in Winfield, Kansas, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in psychology from Southwestern College. He moved to western Kansas in 1985 to attend Fort Hays State University, where he earned a master’s degree in clinical psychology.
Aging Services administers a variety of community-based programs for the aging population through contracts and grants of state and federal funds. The programs administered include Older Americans Act, congregate and home-delivered meals, caregiver programs, in-home services, Senior Care Act services, and the Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE).
Aging Services oversees and implements grants that assist individuals who are aging or have a disability under Senior Health Insurance Counseling for Kansas (SHICK), Senior Medicare Patrol (SMP), and Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act (MIPPA). The SHICK program assists individuals with questions related to Medicare. The SMP program educates the community about reporting Medicare/Medicaid and health-care fraud and abuse, and how to identify and report scams. The MIPPA program allocates funding for increased outreach to Medicare beneficiaries, the bulk of which is targeted at coordinating, educating and enrolling low-income Medicare beneficiaries and the free Medicare Preventive services.