LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — A Louisville clinic for adults with special needs is being forced to downsize because of Medicaid funding cuts.
Lee Specialty Clinic has helped thousands of people for about a decade. It serves people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
However, staff members tell WDRB more than a thousand patients won't have access to this specialized care after July 15.
"We're going to suffer," Amy Cutter said.
Cutter's daughter, Kennedie, has Autism and Primrose Syndrome, a genetic disorder. She said finding proper care for Kennedie was a challenge before she discovered Lee Specialty Clinic in 2020.
"Most doctors don't want to care for a child that may hit them or have some breakdown," Cutter said. "They don't have the behavior supports there."
The clinic is a safe space for people with special needs. They can get medical or dental care, different kinds of therapy and more under one roof.
"You feel welcome," she said. "You feel understood, and that's very important for our community."
Kennedie visits Lee Specialty Clinic at least once a week. Sometimes she rides bikes and works on communicating using an iPad.
It's part of her routine and brings tears to her mother's eyes.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and Kentucky Cabinet Health and Family Services fund this clinic. However, it's facing millions of dollars in budget cuts.
A spokesperson with the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services sent WDRB the following statement:
Team Kentucky believes healthcare is a basic human right that all of our people deserve access to.
While the Lee Specialty Clinic will continue providing services to residents at Bingham Gardens Intermediate Care Facility (ICF), its outpatient services will unfortunately be scaled back significantly due to the cruel and senseless budget cuts enacted by the state legislature. The Governor is currently taking steps to prevent the worst, and his administration repeatedly warned the General Assembly about the painful impacts of these cuts, but the state is now forced to bear the outcome of these shortsighted decisions and the chronic defunding from the federal government.
Despite the growing need for services for Kentuckians with complex mental health and developmental disabilities, the General Assembly reduced the Department for Behavioral Health, Developmental, and Intellectual Disabilities’ (DBHDID) budget by 4% in State Fiscal Year (SFY) 2027 and 7% in SFY28, forcing a $4.5 million total reduction for the Lee Specialty Clinic, which serves both the residents of Bingham Gardens Intermediate Care Facility and those with intellectual disabilities in the community. The clinic’s outpatient services will remain open with the budget bill appropriation of $720,000 in FY27 and $697,500 in FY28, but significantly fewer Kentuckians will be served beginning in FY27. A one-time allocation is being provided to extend the transition timeline for patients and staff.
The Cabinet is actively working with the provider contracted to operate Lee Specialty Clinic, IDD Health, to evaluate the potential for future sustainability. Team Kentucky remains committed to protecting mental health and disability support services within the resources it has been allocated and recognizes the critical roles these services play in the communities we serve.
"These children need this," Cutter said. "It's just a huge, huge loss for the community."
Staff members said most employees received their 30 day notice of termination on Thursday, June 11.
"Just knowing that we're possibly on the route to lose this is disgusting and devastating to say the least," Ashlea Murphy said. "I think we'll be able to keep each department open, but it's going to be smaller. With less resources, we're not going to be able to accommodate to the needs of the community."
Murphy is a medical assistant at the clinic. She said eight employees will stay on board.
She also said patients haven't gotten discharge letters yet, but more than a thousand will lose access.
"We don't know what patients are staying and which are going to be discharged," she said. "There's no process in place for that yet."
Staff and parents now plea for more funding to pour in as they face the potential loss of this lifeline.
"We don't have anything else," Cutter said. "This funding is essential for our community."
Copyright 2026 WDRB Media. All Rights Reserved.
