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The Assisted Living Licensure Sampler is a curated selection of 11 sessions from the Institute related to Assisted Living Licensure (ALL) and is available for purchase.

AARP Minnesota's state director, Will Phillips, is pursuing a new leadership opportunity as the regional vice president for the AARP West Region, effective June 28. To fill his position, AARP Minnesota is seeking a new state director.

LeadingAge Minnesota is now taking orders for the much in demand assisted living manual, The Essential Guide to Assisted Living in Minnesota.

CMS has extended a regulatory flexibility relating to emergency preparedness exercises.

Under CMS regulations, nursing facilities are required to conduct two emergency preparedness testing exercises annually – with exercises alternating between full-scale functional exercises and exercises of choice (mock drill, table-top exercise, workshop).

Under assisted living licensure, everyone who resides in the licensed assisted living setting is a resident by definition. We continue to work through the implications of the definition of your requirements as an assisted living provider, but several components are known.

The legacy pathway for the Licensed Assisted Living Director (LALD) sunsets at the end of the month, and applications are due by 11:59 p.m. on June 30. If you don't hit the apply by then, you’ll need to meet the new Assisted Living Director or Assisted Living Director in Residence requirements that begin on July 1. Application verifications such as transcripts, resumes, official employment verifications can be sent in AFTER July 1 if needed.

As lawmakers work to complete their work to agree upon a two-year budget before July 1, legislative leaders announced an agreement to allocate $250 million for Hero Pay bonuses for frontline workers during the pandemic.

The 2021 virtual Institute included more than 100 educational sessions, all of which are available for viewing and earning CEUs through July 31.

Learn about important new requirements for clinical departments related to the new assisted living license. On June 29 and 30, a two-part virtual webinar series, Assisted Living Licensure Clinical Workshop, provides nurses an in-depth review of the clinical requirements for the assisted living license.

LeadingAge Minnesota's Connect Conference for Senior Housing, Assisted Living, and Home Care is scheduled for Oct. 27-28 at the Earle Brown Heritage Center in Brooklyn Center.

A curated selection of Assisted Living Licensure sessions from the Institute has been packaged as a sampler that organizations may purchase to share with staff. The sampler includes 11 sessions which may be purchased individually or as a package.

Our fifth annual LeadingAge Minnesota Foundation Silent Auction is rapidly approaching and will occur this year as part of the 2021 Foundation Golf Tournament rather than our usual Institute event. Can we count on you to help us make this year's auction a success? Our goal is to raise $10,000, and all proceeds from the Silent Auction are used to provide educational scholarships to eligible caregivers and other employees of our member organizations.

The US Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) on June 10 issued an emergency temporary standard (ETS) to protect healthcare workers from contracting coronavirus.

One of the new minimum requirements for assisted living licensees under 144G.41, Subdivision 1 is to utilize a person-centered planning and service delivery process. While each resident is currently assessed and participates in developing their service plan, there is a specific definition for this new assisted living requirement.

On Monday, June 14, Governor Walz called a special session to finalize and pass a two-year state budget. At the outset of the special session, only a few committees had publicly announced their joint agreements with the remaining budget areas having until June 30 to finalize unresolved details to avoid a state government shutdown. Here is what you need to know about what is happening at the capitol this week:

The Minnesota Board on Aging has moved the state policy for pre-admission screenings for nursing facility admission to the Senior LinkAge Line website. The document on this site, which replaces two previous bulletins (19-25-02 and 19-25-03), will be updated regularly as pre-admission screening and level of care policies change.

While we advocate for a legislative appropriation to support the moratorium exceptions program in the current special session, we want to remind members that there is currently a round open with close to a million in Medicaid funding available.

With Assisted Living Licensure taking effect on Aug. 1 of this year, those settings that provide customized living services under the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) waiver programs need to take action to ensure continued waiver payment.

Featuring Dr. Alyson VanAhn from Associated Clinic of Psychology

Do you know some of the quickest ways to get resilience have to do with giving a tiny bit yourself? Research shows that gratitude and acts of kindness not only impact others positively, but they give you a boost of goodness, sometimes for months. Goodness here means energy, reduced stress, improved overall well-being, including physical and mental health!

Late Friday, the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) put out long-awaited guidance with specific timelines for reporting on the use of PRF dollars received by providers. The guidance addresses both how long providers have to use funds and when the use of the funds must be reported. The first reporting period opens on July 1 and must be completed by Sept. 30 and covers funds received before June 30, 2020. Those funds must be used by June 30 of this year, but funds received later have future deadlines for use.

The Board of Executives for Long-term Services and Supports (BELTSS) has received over 2400 applications from those eligible for licensing under the legacy licensing opportunities. The deadline to apply via the legacy path is June 30.

Minnesota legislators announced on Monday an agreement to end Gov. Tim Walz's eviction moratorium over the next three-and-a-half months. The eviction moratorium has been in place since March 2020, when the governor used executive powers to ban evictions except in extreme circumstances. The agreement still needs to be approved by legislators, but the vote could occur later this week. The bipartisan deal creates a phased eviction moratorium off-ramp, with some protections lasting into June 2022. Governor Walz has said he will rescind the moratorium once a legislative solution is passed.

In the event of a state government shutdown, the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) will cease payments to providers of Medicaid services. Per the statutory obligation, DHS will begin to inform Medicaid providers, including aging services providers who serve Medicaid clients, via letters that will be sent out as early as this week.

LeadingAge, AHCA, and AMDA are jointly collaborating with the federal COVID response team to hold a live event, “Update on the Use of Monoclonal Antibody (mAB) Therapies for COVID-19: A Review of New Treatments and At-Risk Populations.” The event is set for June 15 at 2 p.m. CDT.

he Minnesota Department of Human Services, in partnership with the University of Minnesota and Minnesota Leadership Council on Aging, is presenting a free community forum entitled FOUNDATIONS FOR CHANGE: Evaluating Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Home and Community Based Services on Thursday, June 17 from 9 a.m. – 12 p.m.

There are new requirements for clinical departments related to the new assisted living license. On June 29 and 30, a two-part virtual webinar series, Assisted Living Licensure Clinical Workshop, provides nurses an in-depth review of the requirements for clinical departments related to the new assisted living license.

The 2021 virtual Institute may be over, but the content is available for viewing and earning CEUs through July 31.

One conference attendee had this to say: “I do appreciate being able to watch courses I wanted to see but couldn't be in two places, and the extra CEUs will be great, too!”

This month, Benedictine will appoint three new senior vice presidents into key roles within the organization. Sister Joan Marie Stelman has been appointed senior vice president for mission integration; Laura Campbell has been appointed as senior vice president for people development; and Gift Matemba-Mutasa will join Benedictine as senior vice president for marketing.

Last week, LeadingAge’s Senior Vice President of Research, Robyn Stone, joined Mathematica’s Center for Studying Disability Policy and other panelists for a webinar on strengthening the direct care workforce post-COVID.

After 15 months of social distancing, LeadingAge Minnesota members are ready to gather again for an afternoon of outdoor fun and fundraising. The 2021 Golf Tournament and 5k Run/Walk will be held on Tuesday, Aug. 3 at Prestwick Golf Club in Woodbury. This year, we’ve added an alternate activity for non-golfers with the 5k Run/Walk.