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Superior Health Quality Alliance is offering a free nine-part emergency preparedness series on Thursdays from noon to 1 p.m.

How nurses communicate with their teams, especially the direct care team, can make a difference in resident care outcomes and team culture. Join us for a quick learning byte on Wednesday, Feb. 15, from noon – 12:30 p.m. for the Nurse Lunch and Learn: Communication and Conversations with Direct Care Staff.

Attend the Leadership Intensive at the 2023 Institute to discover and practice five proven strategies to ignite innovation in your organization and apply it to practical challenges.

Learn best practices for preparing for your next survey at the 2023 Institute & Expo. In addition to the survey-focused sessions below, many of the 21 state agency update sessions include survey findings, areas for improvement, and preparation resources. 

We still seek volunteers to host sessions at the 2023 Institute & Expo.

Select a session or two you plan to attend and volunteer to be the session host. Concurrent session host is a volunteer role that requires no previous experience, no public speaking, no significant time commitments, involves minimal training, and provides an opportunity to make a personal connection with expert faculty.

LeadingAge Minnesota is accepting applications for the 2023 Leadership Academy.

About Leadership Academy

Become the leader you are meant to be. During a year-long program, Leadership Academy fellows learn and apply ideas, tools, principles, and theory to strengthen their leadership and foster an organizational culture to lead in normal and not-so-normal times.

Would you value being in a supportive cohort of Assisted Living Directors, Licensed Nursing Home Administrators, Nurse Leaders, and Medical Directors from across the state to explore challenging issues? If you're open to a candid discussion of your knowledge, questions, and experiences working with older adults, read on!

The Veterans' Administration (VA) released new rates for CY 2023 that are effective for care delivered on and after Feb. 1. Nationally, adult day services (ADS) rates increased by 7%, then adjusted by the location's wage index. In about ten locations, VA medical centers (VAMC) asked the VA to freeze CY 2022 rates for CY 2023, and these requests were approved; most of the locations were in Northern California.

According to recent news from the White House, the federal Department of Labor (DOL) Wage and Hour Division's proposed overtime rule will now be published in May. The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking was initially slated for April 2022 but then delayed to October that year. The May goal represents a second delay.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) tasked its Vaccine and other Related Biologicals Advisory Committee (VRBPAC) to review proposals related to COVID-19 vaccines. Items scheduled for review include changing the primary vaccine doses to the bivalent vaccine and whether the composition and schedule for booster doses should be adjusted.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released tools to assist nursing homes in implementing enhanced barrier precautions. The resources include an EBP webinar and PowerPoint handout, an EBP pre-implementation tool, an observation tool, an observation tool summary, and several different letter templates, all available on the website.

The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) in-facility vaccine clinics are available through Feb. 15.

These clinics have supplies of both the primary series vaccine and bivalent boosters. Residents and staff are eligible.

Providers enrolled or seeking enrollment with the State Department of Human Services (DHS) as home and community-based service providers, including waiver-paid customized living or adult day services, must include evidence of two specific trainings.

LeadingAge Minnesota, with our partners in the Long-Term Care Imperative, conducted a statewide public opinion poll to support our legislative agenda in 2023. The poll results affirm and refine the key messages we use and help us target supporters who advocated alongside us throughout the legislative session.

We are thrilled to announce that LeadingAge Minnesota has been awarded over $400,000 to launch a statewide campaign to recruit new caregivers.

This week Governor Tim Walz released his budget proposal, a mixed bag for long-term care providers. While it acknowledges and takes steps to address the underfunding of the Elderly Waiver (EW) program, it does nothing meaningful to address the staffing shortages and resulting access problems in the care center sector.

How nurses communicate with their teams, especially the direct care team, can make a difference in resident care outcomes and team culture. Join us for a quick learning byte on Wednesday, Feb. 15, from noon – 12:30 p.m. for the Nurse Lunch and Learn: Communication and Conversations with Direct Care Staff.

The 2023 Institute & Expo has a wide variety of educational programs designed to meet the continuing education approval criteria for various licensing organizations, including:

LeadingAge, our national partner, is hosting a special edition of the Nursing Home Network on Friday, Jan. 20, at noon CST. They are soliciting feedback on the recently-proposed rules governing Medicare Advantage and Special Needs Plans practices and policies.

A recent federal court case regarding a wrongful death claim is a good reminder for all providers: check the expiration dates on your insurance policies.

Changes to Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) civil penalty amounts based on cost-of-living adjustments for 2023 went into effect on Jan. 17.

On Jan. 17, CMS survey staff leaders notified our national partners at LeadingAge that they are automating parts of the process for creating and sending letters to nursing homes for imposed Civil Monetary Penalties (CMPs). There is no underlying CMP policy change being made.

The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) recently reminded assisted living providers to customize all pre-written sample policies to avoid correction orders.

On Jan. 18, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced two initiatives in quality and safety oversight memo 23-05-NH in response to the Biden-Harris administration effort to improve nursing home transparency, safety, and quality. CMS intends to conduct offsite nursing home audits to determine if the nursing home correctly coded diagnoses for residents using antipsychotic medication. CMS will change how citations under dispute are posted.

In pursuit of our advocacy efforts this year, the Long-Term Care Imperative has created a one-page handout that clearly defines aging services' challenges and outlines the legislative solutions to address them. We encourage you to download and familiarize yourself with our 2023 Legislative Handout.

This morning, Governor Tim Walz released a preview of his proposed budget addressing Minnesota's workforce challenges. This preview covers a variety of sectors and includes some investments benefitting aging services.

Explore hundreds of service and product options in the exhibit hall to help make your work easier. Our exhibitors always look forward to seeing you in person. Preview our exhibitor list and plan to spend some time connecting with them.

The 2022 Leadership Academy cohort of fellows recently completed their program year and will graduate at the 2023 Institute & Expo. Participants design and lead an Action Learning Project (ALP) as part of their coursework.

Volunteer at Institute by hosting a session you're planning to attend.

Select a session or two you plan to attend and volunteer to be the session host. Your help is needed to make the Institute run smoothly.

Over 20 LeadingAge Minnesota skilled nursing facilities are piloting an employee engagement solution to improve employee retention through data-driven action.