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The 2019 Dementia Care Certificate Program is newly updated and meets Minnesota’s current mandatory dementia care training requirements for home care, Housing with Services/Assisted Living staff and care center staff. This certificate series will not be repeated in 2019 – register now to ensure completion by the end of the year. T

As an Infection Preventionist in a long-term care setting, how do you keep up to date with the changes in infection control and the regulatory requirements?  The answer is to attend our new “Effectiveness and Core Components for Infection Preventionists in SNFs” Certificate Program, Sept. 4 -5 at the North Metro Event Center in Shoreview.  

The power of positive thinking! Mike Robbins, author of Focus on the Good Stuff: The Power of Appreciation, says positive acknowledgement is “a crucial aspect of our being able to celebrate, appreciate, and express gratitude for the people around us.” He offers five ways to positively acknowledge others:  

The rate to post a job on the AgingServicesJOBS.Org, a cutting-edge employment marketplace that matches employers with job-seekers based on skills, interests and job requirements, has changed. 

A recent article in Senior Housing News highlights that the “dots aren’t being connected” in senior living to get innovation past the pilot stage to make a true impact. 

eMenuCHOICE, a leading dining management and point of sale (POS) application for senior living communities, added five new clients in July. The following communities have chosen eMenuCHOICE to support their dining service management needs:

The National Council on Aging has denounced a new inadmissibility rule that could force immigrant seniors to choose between paying for long-term care support and losing their immigration status.  

Registration is open for the Minnesota Health Care Engineers Association (MHCEA) Fall Conference and Vendor Show that takes place Sept. 11-13 at Grand Casino Hinckley. 

Minnesota seniors and people with disabilities soon will have more help finding and keeping housing, thanks to new services coming to the state’s Medicaid program next year. 

Does our staff know how to access a resident’s DNR status in an emergency or what to do – without delay – when they find a resident unresponsive? Are they confident to take those next important steps? Join us Oct. 8 for a Virtual Workshop that will explore those questions and more, as we provide a new systematic approach called Rapid Evaluation Teams to help improve your organization’s process for staff to call for and receive support to rapidly evaluate and address an urgent or concerning situation.  

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Central Office recently shared survey guidance relating to a couple of transfer/discharge documentation issues.  

Under regulations enacted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) hazardous waste pharmaceuticals may not be sewered (flushed or poured down a drain) for disposal after Aug. 21, 2019. 

The final installment of the 2019 Dementia Care Certificate Program is now open for registration; we have more details and registration information on our new Infection Preventionist Certificate Program, and you won't want to miss an October webinar on how to create the buyer experience that will drive occupancy. Get up to speed on these great programs:

The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) this week issued an update that addresses changes to the Home Care Bill of Rights that went into effect Aug. 1. MDH is working on updating each version of the Home Care Bill of Rights with the changes and will post them on its website when they are available. In the meantime, MDH is directing providers to the following notice to Home Care Providers to guide distribution of the new Bill of Rights language: 

Are you ready to comply with the new retaliation protections that went into effect on Aug. 1? Join our free webinar tomorrow (Aug. 15) to learn how these protections apply to residents and staff in care centers and assisted living/housing with services and how you can stay in compliance  

Our first annual Connect Conference, Aug. 20-21 in Brooklyn Center, is near capacity with more than 450 people attending from the home- and community-based services continuum. 

Friday, Aug. 16 is the deadline for both early bird registration and application for scholarships for the Annual Meeting a& Leadership Forum. Thursday, Aug. 15 is the deadline to cancel Madden’s lodging reservations and receive a partial refund. 

Long term care providers in Minnesota have a lot on their plates. As much as you may want to build your workforce pipeline by starting a Nursing Assistant Training Program, it may feel like more work than you can add to your plate.  

Mentor programs offer an important opportunity for staff to develop positive relationships, interact with friends at work, receive the peer support needed to succeed in a job, and increase meaning and purpose in their day. Beyond that, mentor programs have been proven to positively impact team member retention and satisfaction in all departments.  

In last week’s Advantage, we featured a story on new guidance for heightened scrutiny review of newly-constructed presumptively institutional settings under the Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) Settings rule. This week we are sharing additional detail from the Bulletin on how new construction settings required to undergo heightened scrutiny can qualify for Medicaid (waiver) reimbursement and providing examples of reimbursement pathways for new construction settings.  

The release of guidance implementing Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) for PRAC, expected earlier this spring or summer, is still delayed and may not be issued until early fall.  

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has issued additional updates to the State Operations Manual Appendix Q, including guidance to surveyors on citing immediate jeopardy.  

The Minnesota Department of Health is soliciting grant proposals from providers of adult day care, home care and housing with services to provide educational scholarships for their employees. Find the HCBS Program detail, application, and forms on the MDH website here.  

People with hearing loss can learn more about assistive technology, communications access and other issues at a new website launched this week by the Minnesota Department of Human Services.   

Governor Tim Walz has named Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota President Jodi Harpstead as the new commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS).  

Quality improvement projects developed by Health Support Specialists from Avera Marshall, Three Links, Traverse Care Center and Regent at Burnsville were recently selected as the winners of the ICan Innovation Contest.   

As we reported earlier this summer, Livanta replaced KEPRO as the Beneficiary and Family Centered Care (BFCC) Quality Improvement Organization (QIO) for Minnesota effective June 8, 2019. The purpose of the BFCC-QIO is to conduct quality of care reviews, beneficiary complaint reviews, and discharge and termination of service appeals in various Medicare provider settings. Livanta requires a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) from providers.  To complete a new MOA and read frequently asked questions (FAQs), click here. 

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will share information on fiscal year 2020 skilled nursing facility payment policies during a Skilled Nursing Facilities (SNF)/Long Term Care Open Door Forum this Thursday, Aug. 8, at 1 p.m.  

At the request of the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is now publishing a list of nursing homes in each state that are candidates for “Special Focus Facility” (SFF) status. For many years CMS has published a list of facilities that currently hold SFF designation, and that monthly publication now includes the names of facilities at risk of being designated.  

The Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) has posted for public comment the third round of evidentiary packages for Home and Community Based Services (HCBS) settings. This batch includes settings that have been identified as Prong 3 and includes Adult Day, Customized Living and Foster Care providers.