Author: A. Ant, CADC-II, Licensing & Accreditation Expert
Disclaimer: This content is provided for general informational purposes only and should not be construed as legal, regulatory, or licensing advice. Requirements change frequently. Consult qualified professionals for guidance specific to your situation.
A private group starting an outpatient mental health program in Kansas usually goes looking for a clinic license on the KDADS Behavioral Health Licensing page, finds a heading called “Mental Health Clinics,” and opens it expecting an application. What KDADS has posted there is the text of K.S.A. 65-211, the statute that lets counties establish mental health clinics and joint boards of mental health. Those county clinics count as community mental health centers under K.S.A. 39-2002, and K.A.R. 30-60-5 allows only one CMHC license per designated service area. So the outpatient license Kansas writes rules for belongs to a county-anchored system, and we found no KDADS rule that licenses a privately owned therapy or psychiatric practice.
Outpatient Mental Health Models in Kansas
Each row draws on the statute or rule named in it, except the private practice row, which reflects our reading of a gap in those sources.
| Model | State status | Governing text | Practical note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Community mental health center | KDADS license, capped at one for each designated service area | K.A.R. 30-60, 30-61, K.S.A. 39-2001 and following | License lasts up to two years, renewal at least 45 days before expiration |
| Affiliated community mental health center | KDADS license | K.A.R. 30-60-5 | A second license type the article recognizes alongside the CMHC |
| County mental health clinic | Counts as a CMHC | K.S.A. 65-211, K.S.A. 39-2002 | Established by counties, which is the content of KDADS’s “Mental Health Clinics” link |
| Certified community behavioral health clinic (CCBHC) | KDADS certification of an already licensed provider | K.S.A. 39-2019 | Only CMHCs can be certified before February 1, 2027, and qualified nonprofit providers after that date |
| Private therapy or psychiatric practice | No KDADS rule licensing it found | Clinicians’ own licenses, and possibly K.S.A. 39-2006 | Ask KDADS in writing, see the next section |
| Practice that adds a substance use program | KDADS SUD license unless excluded | K.S.A. 65-4012, K.S.A. 59-29b46 | $100 per location, outpatient and IOP modalities |
The CCBHC line is the one with a date on it. K.S.A. 39-2019, amended in 2024, tells KDADS to set up “a process for certification of and funding for” these clinics and limits certification to CMHCs until February 1, 2027. That status rides on top of a license and is tied to funding, which sits outside licensing and outside our work.
The Provider Clause in K.S.A. 39-2006
This section is our interpretation. KDADS has not published a position on it that we could find.
K.S.A. 39-2006 makes it unlawful to “be a provider of services within this state, except upon obtaining a license” from the secretary. K.S.A. 39-2002 defines a provider as “a person, partnership or corporation employing or contracting with appropriately credentialed persons that provide behavioral health, excluding substance use disorder services for purposes of this act.” Read alone, that wording could reach a group practice that employs licensed therapists. Licensing detail under the act lives in rules, though, and we found no rule that sets licensing standards for private outpatient practices, no application form for one on the KDADS page, and no fee. The licenses KDADS does issue under the act are for centers, psychiatric hospitals, crisis intervention centers and residential care facilities.
We would not call that a safe harbor. Before a group practice signs a lease, a short letter to KDADS Behavioral Health Licensing describing the ownership, the services and the clinicians, with a request for a written answer on whether 39-2006 applies, costs little and settles the question for that model. Behavioral Health Services Licensing Manager Wendy Jacobs is listed on current KDADS forms at 785.596.3161 and Wendy.Jacobs@ks.gov.
How CMHC Licensing Works
For readers working inside the CMHC system, K.A.R. 30-60-6 caps a license at two years, requires the renewal application at least 45 days before the current license expires, and lets KDADS survey an applicant once the application arrives. KDADS can give a center found out of compliance a provisional license lasting six months at most, and K.A.R. 30-60-6(h) allows successive provisional licenses. The center must submit a corrective action plan within 30 days of KDADS’s written request, and findings can be contested within 15 days. Accreditation helps at renewal. Under K.S.A. 39-2008, CMHC programs previously licensed by KDADS and accredited by CARF, The Joint Commission or another KDADS-approved accreditor “shall be granted a license renewal based on such accreditation,” while KDADS still inspects for standards the accreditor does not cover. A center that loses that accreditation must notify KDADS immediately (K.S.A. 39-2013). We found no license fee in K.A.R. 30-60. The article also has its own sections on establishing a new center, which by our reading are written around county designation rather than private applicants.
When a Therapy Practice Needs a Substance Use License
Kansas writes this line into a definition. The SUD license in K.S.A. 65-4012 applies to a “treatment facility,” and the definition in K.S.A. 59-29b46 (in its version effective January 1, 2026) leaves out a professional licensed by the Behavioral Sciences Regulatory Board to diagnose and treat mental disorders at the independent level, or a physician, who treats people with substance problems in the usual course of practice but is “not primarily engaged” in that work. A licensed therapist who sees some clients with alcohol or drug problems alongside a general caseload is outside the SUD license on that reading. A practice that builds a defined outpatient or intensive outpatient addiction program is a different matter, and should expect to file a New Program Application with KDADS, pay $100 per location and meet the 2006 Standards. Kansas Drug and Alcohol Outpatient Treatment Licensing covers that filing.
Ketamine and Spravato in a Kansas Outpatient Practice
No Kansas statute or rule speaks to ketamine in an office. Everything below is our own reading of Kansas statutes and rules on pharmacy registration, APRN practice, drug monitoring and corporate ownership, together with federal drug rules.
We found no Kansas facility license for an office that offers ketamine or Spravato, so the compliance work runs through the prescriber and the drug. Ketamine sits in federal Schedule III (21 CFR 1308.13(c)(7)). Because 21 CFR 1301.12 says “A separate registration is required for each principal place of business or professional practice” where controlled substances are dispensed, two offices stocking ketamine mean two DEA registrations. Kansas adds a yearly Board of Pharmacy registration for anyone dispensing controlled substances under K.S.A. 65-4116, though a Board of Healing Arts licensee is excused from it for the practice location. The same section exempts a “mid-level practitioner” without defining the term on the page we read, so an APRN-led office should confirm its status with the Board of Pharmacy.
APRNs can carry this service in Kansas. Since the permanent rules of October 14, 2022, K.A.R. 60-11-101 has told each APRN it may make “independent decisions,” medical decisions included, and neither that rule nor 60-11-104a contains collaborative agreement or protocol language. K.S.A. 65-1130 lets an APRN prescribe, procure and administer drugs consistent with role and population focus, controlled substances included under state and federal law. Attorney General Opinion 2026-7 (March 23, 2026), which is advisory rather than binding, concludes that APRNs and PAs need a Kansas license to prescribe in Kansas. On that reading, a prescriber licensed only in another state should not be the one carrying this service.
K-TRACS reporting is built around dispensing, and the K.S.A. 65-1682 definition it quotes carves out a practitioner “who administers such a substance,” so ketamine given on site is generally not reported there. K-TRACS answers questions at pmpadmin@ks.gov and 785-296-6547. On nursing, the Board of Nursing’s 2014 position statement lets an RN give intravenous agents for moderate sedation on a physician’s order once trained and competent, but it names no drug, and ketamine appears in none of the Board statements we located. Ask the Board before an RN runs infusions. Spravato is “only available through a restricted program called the SPRAVATO Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS),” and the label requires at least two hours of monitoring after each dose, so plan a room and a staff member for that window.
Ownership is where Kansas is firm. Early Detection Center, Inc. v. Wilson, 248 Kan. 869 (1991), held that a general corporation with lay shareholders cannot provide medical services, and K.S.A. 17-2712 lets a professional corporation issue shares only to licensed qualified persons. K.S.A. 17-2707 lists the professions that can form one, physicians, registered nurses, physician assistants, psychologists, clinical social work specialists and clinical professional counselors among them, while addiction counselors are not on that list. The ketamine section of Kansas Drug and Alcohol Outpatient Treatment Licensing walks through how a clinic is set up around those rules.
Staffing a Kansas Outpatient Mental Health Practice
Kansas counselor pay tracks the country closely. The BLS May 2025 OEWS release puts the state median for substance abuse, behavioral disorder and mental health counselors at $59,470 ($44,370 at the 25th percentile, $73,630 at the 75th), next to $59,350 nationally. Two full-time clinicians at the Kansas median run about $118,940 a year in base pay by our math, before benefits or a supervising lead. A practice that plans its hiring around supervision can keep that line well under control. If it runs an addiction track, it can hire LACs or LMACs who are logging the 3,000 supervised hours the LCAC requires, have an LCAC supervise them, and pay them at pre-LCAC rates, which commonly cuts that portion of payroll by 40 to 60 percent against an all-LCAC team. Keep in mind that the BSRB’s LCAC reciprocity packet describes the LAC as a level that does not allow for the diagnosis of substance use disorders, so the supervisor carries that piece. Mental health therapists climb their own licensure ladders, which deserve a separate look. Should medications enter the picture, a single RN supervising LPN work that falls inside LPN scope keeps nursing cheaper than staffing RNs alone. Your final hiring list follows from the services you launch first.
What Catches Kansas Outpatient Practices Off Guard
Most surprises come from scope drift. A general practice adds an addiction group, then a second, then an intensive outpatient schedule, and somewhere along the way stops being a clinician who is not primarily engaged in substance use treatment. The other recurring one is assuming the 39-2006 provider question has been answered for them because nobody has asked, when a written KDADS response is the only thing that actually answers it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does a private therapy practice need a KDADS license in Kansas?
Not under any rule we could find. K.S.A. 39-2006 does require a license to be a provider of services, and the definition of provider in K.S.A. 39-2002 is broad, but KDADS has no rule, application form or fee aimed at private outpatient therapy or psychiatric practices. That is our reading, so ask KDADS Behavioral Health Licensing for a written answer on your model.
Can a private company open a new community mental health center in Kansas?
Generally not in the way it could open a clinic in other states. K.A.R. 30-60-5 allows only one CMHC license per designated service area, and county-established clinics under K.S.A. 65-211 count as CMHCs. A license lasts up to two years under K.A.R. 30-60-6, and previously licensed accredited CMHCs get renewal based on accreditation under K.S.A. 39-2008.
When does a Kansas therapy practice need a substance use license?
When it runs a treatment facility under K.S.A. 65-4012. The definition in K.S.A. 59-29b46 leaves out independent-level BSRB clinicians and physicians whose practice includes some clients with substance problems without being mainly devoted to them. A practice that builds a defined outpatient or IOP addiction program should expect to file a KDADS New Program Application and pay $100 per location.
Unsure whether your Kansas practice model needs a KDADS license at all? Let’s look at it together.
Sources
- KDADS Behavioral Health Licensing (CMHC section, Mental Health Clinics link): Behavioral Health Licensing and Mental Health Clinics (K.S.A. 65-211) (checked October 16, 2026)
- KDADS, CMHC Regulations 30-60 and 30-61 and CMHC/CCBHC renewal application: CMHC Regulations and CMHC Renewal Application (checked October 16, 2026)
- K.A.R. 30-60-5 and 30-60-6: 30-60-5 and 30-60-6 (checked October 16, 2026)
- K.A.R. 30-60-1 (scope), via Justia mirror: 30-60-1 (checked October 16, 2026)
- K.S.A. 39-2002, 39-2006, 39-2008: 39-2002, 39-2006, 39-2008 (checked October 16, 2026)
- K.S.A. 39-2013: 39-2013 (checked October 16, 2026)
- K.S.A. 39-2019 (CCBHCs), via Justia mirror: 39-2019 (checked October 16, 2026)
- K.S.A. 65-4012 and 59-29b46: 65-4012 and 59-29b46 (checked October 16, 2026)
- KDADS, New Program Application Packet (SUD): Application Packet (checked October 16, 2026)
- KDADS, private psychiatric hospital application (current licensing manager contact): PPH Application for New Facility (checked October 16, 2026)
- 21 CFR 1308.13(c)(7) and 21 CFR 1301.12, via Cornell LII: Schedule III and Separate registration for each location (checked October 16, 2026)
- K.S.A. 65-4116 (Board of Pharmacy registration) and 65-1130 (APRN prescribing): 65-4116 and 65-1130 (checked October 16, 2026)
- K.A.R. 60-11-101 and 60-11-104a: 60-11-101 and 60-11-104a (checked October 16, 2026)
- Kansas Attorney General Opinion 2026-7: AG Opinion 2026-7 (PDF) (checked October 16, 2026)
- K-TRACS, reporting requirements: Reporting to K-TRACS (checked October 16, 2026)
- Kansas State Board of Nursing, IV conscious sedation position statement (2014): Position statement (PDF) (checked October 16, 2026)
- U.S. FDA, Spravato label (revised 09/2026): Spravato label (PDF) (checked October 16, 2026)
- Early Detection Center, Inc. v. Wilson, 248 Kan. 869 (1991), via OpenJurist mirror: Opinion (checked October 16, 2026)
- K.S.A. 17-2707 and 17-2712 (professional corporations): 17-2707 and 17-2712 (checked October 16, 2026)
- BSRB, addiction counselors and LCAC reciprocity packet: Addiction Counselors and LCAC packet, and K.S.A. 65-6610 via Justia mirror: 65-6610 (checked October 16, 2026)
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS May 2025, Kansas, SOC 21-1018: Kansas OEWS and national estimates (checked October 16, 2026)
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