All News

Make plans to attend the Aug. 12-13 virtual Billing University for Care Centers. This is the go-to event for billing office staff to stay up to date on the latest developments in payments for long-term care services. 

In this week’s COVID-19 Resource Round-Up, we feature new tools and resources to help you understand, design and implement the new Essential Caregiver designation in your community. 

The U.S. Housing & Urban Development Department (HUD) released a memo last week outlining plans to allocate the $10 million in Service Coordinator funding approved by the CARES Act at the end of March. The funds will support approximately 1,600 properties with grant-funded Service Coordinator programs. The agency said they plan to issue guidance for budget-funded Service Coordination and other COVID-related expenses soon.  

A monthly call is now available for HUD provider members to join others in our region for news and discussion.  Minnesota joins with LeadingAge Illinois, Missouri, and Indiana for these meetings which are scheduled for the third Thursday of each month at noon. 

The Advance Beneficiary Notice of Noncoverage (ABN), Form CMS-R-131, and instructions have been approved by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for renewal.  The use of the renewed form with the expiration date of 06/30/2023 will be mandatory on Aug. 31, 2020.

The Metropolitan Area Agency on Aging (MAAA) is pleased to announce a new funding opportunity for services to address the impact of COVID-19 and the civil unrest in Minneapolis, St. Paul, and surrounding communities. Services must meet specifications of one of the following titles of the Older Americans Act: 

The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) last week released new guidance that allows the designation of an Essential Caregiver for residents of nursing homes and assisted living. This guidance represents the next interim step in encouraging safe and responsible visitation during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

On July 14, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued new guidance for states with respect to the home and community-based services (HCBS) Settings Rule. Citing the COVID-19 pandemic, CMS is extending key deadlines for compliance with the Settings Rule, including the final compliance deadline that is now March 17, 2023. 

The Long-Term Care Imperative has recently finished a special analysis of occupancy data for the first half of 2020. As anticipated, the results show that the spread of COVID-19 had a major negative impact on care center occupancy in the second quarter.  However, the impact varied by region and did not hit every provider at all. 

This year’s Connect Conference (Aug. 19-20) features a line-up of timely topics for assisted living, senior housing and home care providers. Join us – virtually! – to hear about the latest developments in the roll out of assisted living licensure, the path to becoming a licensed assisted living director, and how COVID-19 is changing our field. 

As we continue to push for a clear, cogent testing strategy and reimbursement process from the State of Minnesota, we know you are faced with many decisions when it comes testing residents and staff. Our new COVID-19 “Whole House” Testing Decision Guide is a workflow process designed to help you consider what approach is best for your setting. It includes links to key resources to guide your decision and implement your plan. Resources include:

Project for Pride in Living (PPL), a nonprofit organization in Minneapolis is looking for employer partners who are interested in working together to customize a NEW training opportunity to help fill CNA positions within long-term care settings in the Twin Cities metro area. 

The $1.2 billion in financial support provided by the Emergency Housing Assistance for Older Adults Act (S. 4177, H.R. 6873) must be included in Congress’ next COVID-19 relief package. Ask your members of Congress to help the more than 700,000 older adults in HUD-assisted housing. S. 4177 and H.R. 6873 would provide key relief for affordable senior housing communities navigating the impacts of the coronavirus crisis, including: 

Organizations that participate in the Medicare or Medicaid programs are prohibited from employing or contracting with a person or vendor on the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Office of Inspector General (OIG), List of Excluded Individuals/Entities (LEIE). 

The Minnesota Health Care Engineers Association (MHCEA) annual Fall Conference is cancelled this year due to on-going COVID-19 considerations.   

The Board of Examiners for Nursing Home Administrators (BENHA) officially changed its name July. The statutory change in the board’s name to the Board of Executives for Long-Term Services and Supports (BELTSS) reflects the changing paradigm of long-term care services and the planned July 1, 2021 new licensure category for Licensed Assisted Living Directors. 

The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) recently provided LeadingAge Minnesota with statements of deficiencies from 120 focused infection control surveys of Minnesota nursing homes conducted during April and May 2020. To assist members in preparing for future surveys, we have prepared a new resource: Focused Infection Control Surveys in Nursing Homes - Deficient Practices Commonly Cited by the Minnesota Department of Health. 

The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) continues to work on recommendations for nursing homes and housing with services/assisted living settings to modify general visitation, but there still is not a firm timeline for release of those recommendations. 

The Minnesota Department of Human Services  (DHS) has published reopening guidance for Adult Day Centers. The guidance indicates that providers may resume in person services on July 1 upon meeting new requirements.  Providers may also continue offering services remotely via Alternative Adult Day Services.  

In a policy memo on June 25, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced temporary changes to the 5-star rating system on Nursing Home Compare. These changes include freezing pieces of the staffing and quality measures domains, as well as the immediate end to the payroll-based journal (PBJ) staffing submission waiver. 

As usual, we have emailed an occupancy survey to all care centers to complete. However, these are not usual times so we are going to approach reporting the results quite differently. We are asking for responses ASAP so we can do a couple of reports of the results starting with one before the end of July. 

It’s a sign of the times. Due to the continued social distancing guidance and diligence in protecting the people who serve our older adults, we have made the decision to convert all remaining education and conferences to online virtual events this year.

Stratis Health is conducting occasional brief surveys to capture snapshots of the expanding telehealth use in Minnesota. This telehealth snapshot focuses on telehealth policies, specifically the Medicare 1135 waiver. 

In its outdoor visitation guidance, MDH states that “pets must be under the control of the visitor bringing them in.” We have received a few questions as to whether residents may pet and hold the animal. MDH said residents can do so, if desired. 

In this week’s COVID-19 Resource Round-Up, we feature new tools that will help nursing homes enhance infection control, guide providers in testing, and ideas and guidance on how to engage residents during a time of social distancing and visitor restrictions.   

Telehealth has been embraced by senior living providers during COVID-19 and changes in federal policy and flexibilities from insurance have made it easier to implement and pay for it. Accompanying this positive progression is the operational demands it has placed on providers and the continued lack of reimbursement.

The Advance Beneficiary Notice of Noncoverage (ABN), Form CMS-R-131, and instructions have been approved by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for renewal. The use of the renewed form with the expiration date of June 30, 2023 will be mandatory on Aug. 31, 2020.   

Maintaining an accurate OSHA log of recordable work-related injuries and illnesses is an important skill that benefits employers, workers, safety professionals and government agencies. The Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry has announced free introductory-level training seminars about OSHA recordkeeping requirements, including recording COVID-19: 

Members have raised questions this week about background studies, so we wanted to share an update about what we know:   

The Minnesota Department of Human Services will host a July 13 webinar to Waiver Reimagine, a process designed to make system-level improvements to Minnesota’s disability waiver programs.