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New and emerging nurse leaders in skilled nursing care centers, assisted living, or home care settings will gain a solid understanding of the foundational elements that make up the nurse leader’s role by attending LeadingAge Minnesota’s Nurse Leadership Program.

The 2026 Institute & Expo – Change Makers – is Feb. 11-12 in St. Paul. Join us for two days of nonstop education for everyone on your team, plus the largest aging services expo in the region, special events, and valuable connections with peers.

Thank you to everyone who joined us for the launch of the LALD Professionals Network last month! We’re excited to continue the conversation and invite you to attend our next meeting on Tuesday, January 27 at 2:00 p.m.

As we near the end of January, we’d like to share a quick reminder that 2026 LeadingAge Minnesota membership invoices are coming due. Thank you for being part of our community and for your continued investment in our shared work.

Join DHS and Minnesota Networking in Education and Assistive Technology (MN-NEAT) for the webinar, “Assistive Technology for Aging Adults,” on Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026.

We hope you get to meet Kelly at LeadingAge Minnesota’s 2026 Institute next month! In the meantime, here are five things to know about our new director of assisted living services:

The LeadingAge Minnesota Foundation is excited to announce our Tenth Annual Silent Auction, which will take place as part of the 2026 Institute. All proceeds from the Silent Auction go to the Gayle Kvenvold Commitment to Caregivers Fund to benefit dedicated caregivers throughout Minnesota.

DHS announced this week that, in addition to the provider enrollment freeze for what they have deemed 13 high-risk categories, all claims submitted for services within these categories will be suspended pending pre-payment review. DHS also confirmed high-risk providers will be subject to an off-cycle revalidation process.

The 2026 Institute & Expo – Change Makers – is Feb. 11-12 in St. Paul. Join us for two days of nonstop education for everyone on your team, plus the largest aging services expo in the region, special events, and valuable connections with peers.

Schwickert’s Tecta America, a trusted leader in the roofing & mechanical services industries, proudly celebrates its 120th anniversary this year. This marks more than a century of commitment to the customer, delivering quality work, and impacting local communities.

Vista Prairie Communities is pleased to announce the promotion of Lacie Lampman to Executive Director of Vista Prairie at Ridgeway.

LeadingAge Minnesota is collecting artwork created by older adults for display during our third annual art exhibit the week of Day at the Capitol. This is an opportunity to highlight creativity, talent, and lived experience from communities across the state for legislators and policy leaders.

Applications for the 2026 Leadership Academy are now open through March 9. This nine-month, cohort-based program (May–November) provides high-impact, mission-aligned leadership development for emerging and mid-level leaders in aging services.

Is this your year to secure new grant funding? We’ve just updated our members-only Grant Grid with five new funding opportunities and now is a great time to take a look.

Join us for an unforgettable evening celebrating the people who make aging services extraordinary.

Yesterday, Jan. 14, the U.S. State Department announced a pause on immigrant visa processing for applicants from 75 countries, a change that may affect some employment-based green card cases used by long-term care providers to recruit international health care professionals. The pause is scheduled to take effect on Jan. 21.

CMS has recently moved nursing home survey and certification data into its new cloud-based system, iQIES (Internet Quality Improvement and Evaluation System). While this modernization is intended to improve data quality and reliability, the transition has resulted in data discrepancies that may be visible on Nursing Home Care Compare.

Late last year, health insurer UCARE announced that due to mounting financial losses they would be shutting down operations.  They are now officially in court ordered “rehabilitation” which has put MDH in charge of all UCARE operations.

As the state continues to battle both substantiated and alleged claims of Medicaid fraud, DHS has announced a freeze on new provider enrollments in 13 categories of Medicaid-funded services as part of efforts to strengthen program integrity and address Medicaid fraud.

Due to IT issues at DHS, the annual nursing home cost report for the report year ending September 30, 2025, is not yet available on the Nursing Facility Provider Portal. Given that the due date of February 1 is coming up, DHS is implementing an alternative process for collecting the data this year.

Late last week, federal officials indicated that they may withhold up to $515 million in quarterly matching funds for Minnesota’s Medicaid program amid fraud investigations.

Federal Fair Housing laws can be complex—especially when you’re navigating accommodation requests in independent and assisted living communities.

The 2026 Institute & Expo – Change Makers – is Feb. 11-12 in St. Paul. Join us for two days of nonstop education for everyone on your team, plus the largest aging services expo in the region, special events, and valuable connections with peers.

Applications for the 2026 Leadership Academy are open through March 9. Leadership Academy is one of our flagship leadership programs with over 500 alumni.

In 2024, Vista Prairie Communities expanded the use of the Minnesota Resident Quality of Life and Family Satisfaction Surveys to three of their assisted living communities in Wisconsin and Iowa in partnership with Vital Research.

The LeadingAge Minnesota Foundation is excited to announce our Tenth Annual Silent Auction which will take place as part of the 2026 Institute. All proceeds from the Silent Auction go to the Gayle Kvenvold Commitment to Caregivers Fund to benefit dedicated caregivers throughout Minnesota.

The Workplace Violence Prevention Playbook is the ninth in a series of workforce technology solution playbooks designed to assist you in identifying technology solutions to help address the workforce crisis.

Workforce challenges continue to be a defining issue for aging services providers—and this year’s Institute theme, Change Makers, highlights solutions that are reshaping the future.

The 2024 Minnesota Legislature directed DHS to implement Minn. Stat. §256S.191, which allows people age 65 and older to access to budget exceptions when they discharge from a hospital with high care needs.

DHS this week provided updates regarding claims processing related to their November announcement of the State contracting with Optum, a third-party vendor, to conduct prepayment reviews of the 14 high-risk Medicaid services named in the executive order issued by Governor Walz.