The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) last week convened approximately 40 stakeholders including providers, consumers, regulators, payors and other interested persons to discuss how to move forward in reaching consensus with respect to policy reforms to address abuse and neglect of vulnerable adults.  

Despite significant efforts to pass a comprehensive package of reforms in the 2018 legislative session, final passage of the legislation was stalled after Governor Dayton vetoed a larger omnibus bill.  

With just months before the start of the 2019 legislative session, it will be important for stakeholders to continue to talk through issues and ideas to identify areas of agreement and better understand where there are points of disagreement.  

To create a space for collaboration across stakeholders, MDH has recommended the following a work groups:

• Licensure approaches for Assisted Living
• Assisted Living Report Card
• Certification of Dementia Care Units
• Prevention strategies to improve quality and safety in care settings and communities
• Consumer rights
• Electronic monitoring in care settings

Each workgroup has an appointed convener, but the workgroups are open to anyone interested in participating. The workgroups are self-organizing and are not officially appointed by the administration. MDH has indicated that it will create a webpage where interested stakeholders can track and monitor the activities and progress of hte workgroups.  

If you are interested in participating in any of the workgroups, contact Kari Thurlow. Staff from LeadingAge Minnesota will also be participating in all the workgroups and will keep members up-to-date with respect to the progress of this work.