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President Donald Trump signed two Executive Orders last month that will interest LeadingAge members. The first is focused on reducing and removing regulatory burdens that raise the cost of housing development. The second relates to price transparency in health care, but does not apply to aging services providers.  

The U.S. House approved a bill that increases overall HUD funding by 7%, rejecting the White House’s request to cut thr HUD budget by 18% for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1. For HUD’s Section 202 Housing for the Elderly account, the bill increases funding by almost 19% compared to fiscal year 2019.

Registration is open for a two-day Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF) Quality Reporting Program (QRP) Train-the-Trainer event for providers on Aug.13 and 14. The training, which is primarily intended for those responsible for training staff at care centers, includes:   

A new requirement effective Aug. 1 requires providers to document that they have checked the Minnesota Health Care Programs (MHCP) Excluded Group Providers and Excluded Individual Providers each month.  

Did you take the Safe Care for Seniors pledge and find yourself asking “now what?” Get that answer and more at our final in-person Safe Care for Seniors workshop on Monday, Aug. 5 in Saint Paul. Register Today!   

The deadline for the annual salary survey, which is a joint project of LeadingAge Minnesota, Care Providers of Minnesota, and the Healthcare Human Resources Association of Minnesota, has been extended until the end of July for those members who have not returned it yet. 

Despite a continued trend of improved financial performance in care centers that started in 2016, new data from the Nursing Facility Financial Indicators survey makes clear that providers continue to face significant financial challenges.   

Registration is now open for the 2019 Annual Meeting & Leadership Forum, Sept. 17-20 at Madden’s in Brainerd. Fresh off a year of significant disruption and challenge and a historic legislative session, Annual Meeting is the place where leaders with vision will gather to form community, assess our challenges and opportunities and to formulate strategies to navigate the future. 

Look to LeadingAge Minnesota for your training needs to prepare for the Oct.1 implementation of Patient-Driven Payment Model (PDPM), the new Medicare Part A payment classification system. Don’t miss these opportunities:  

The popular Assisted Living Certificate Program kicks off the fall series on August 6. This six-part program is a comprehensive series for assisted living/housing-with-services managers and home care nurse managers to build essential skills and knowledge required for these essential leadership positions.  

Housing, Assisted Living, Home Care and Adult Day providers take note, the early bird registration deadline for the first annual Connect Conference is July 22 – less than three weeks away. 

Stay Interviews are a great way to connect with staff. These structured conversations can help leaders touch base with new staff to ensure the onboarding process is a positive experience and also be used with long-standing staff to find out what your organization does well. What keeps loyal staff coming back each day?  

The Minnesota Historical Society has developed several offerings for adults with dementia and their caregivers. Resources, tools and community engagement opportunities for residents and clients of care centers, assisted living, and Adult Day Service include:  

Anxiety is one of the leading causes of hospital readmissions and crosses many diagnoses. A new toolkit developed on behalf of the Lake Superior Quality Improvement Network (QIN) will help transitional care units and home care agencies prepare staff to mitigate anxiety symptoms and offer integrated therapy programs to alleviate anxiety and improve outcomes.  

LeadingAge national has launched new tools to enhance and expand our aging advocate network.   

For long-term care infection preventions, sometimes the hardest part of Antibiotic Stewardship is just getting started. Minnesota One Health Antibiotic Stewardship Collaborative has posted new resources and tools to support Antibiotic Stewardship in Long-Term Care on the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) website.  

A new proposed rule from U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) seeks to eliminate nondiscrimination protections in health care and aging services settings for LGBT people and those with limited English proficiency. LeadingAge Minnesota opposes the proposed rule’s removal of these protections.  

Growing demand for adult day services is putting new expectations on providers, including a need to serve people with more medical needs -- and providers, including those in Minnesota, are rising to the challenge.  

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is shifting the way in which it works with community providers to expand the provider network and improve customer service for veterans and timeliness of payment for providers. 

Over the past eight months, a diverse group of stakeholders from across the state have created a pathway of drug diversion prevention safety interventions based on learnings from drug diversion cases reported to the State and review of current research and practices. The result of this collaborative process will be unveiled at our Drug Diversion Prevention Seminar on Aug. 13 in Saint Paul.  

AgingServicesJOBS.Org is a cutting-edge employment marketplace that matches employers with job-seekers based on skills, interests and job requirements. Effective June 30, the rate to post a job was adjusted as the generous financial support from the LeadingAge Minnesota Foundation that allowed members to post jobs for one year at a discounted rate came to an end as planned.   

Minnesota Hospital Association (MHA) President and CEO Lawrence “Lorry” J. Massa, M.S., FACHE, has announced that he will retire in September 2019. Massa has led the association, which represents 141 hospitals and health systems, for nearly 11 years.  

Watch your email next week for the 2019 Annual Meeting and Leadership Forum materials and registration. The annual leadership conference is Sept. 17-20 at Madden’s Resort in Brainerd

Promote engagement and interactive learning by hosting a learning circle with a variety of teams in your organization.  

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is continuing its effort to improve how states monitor health and welfare in Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS). This effort, which includes technical assistance to select states, is part of the federal government’s overall health care fraud and abuse control program that was featured in a recent report.   

If you are a Skilled Nursing Facility and have not selected an indicator for the 2019 Quality Improvement Incentive Payment (QIIP), time is running out! The deadline for submission of your selected quality improvement topic is 11:59 p.m. on July 1.  

Have you ordered your Safe Care for Seniors pins? Don’t wait. Time is running out. LeadingAge MN is placing its final pin order. We need to receive all pin requests by Friday, July 12. Send your pin request to Jodi Boyne at jboyne@leadingagemn.org. 

The first annual Connect Conference for senior housing, assisted living, home care and adult day on Aug. 20-21 will bring together providers across the Home and Community-Based Services continuum to learn and discuss the issues that span their respective service settings in an engaging, interactive venue. One featured session is Preparing for the Boomer Consumer.   

The House passed its first fiscal year 2020 appropriations bills last week. The $985 billion package includes funding for Older Americans Act (OAA) programs that will help millions of low-income seniors and people with disabilities.  

The Elder Care and Vulnerable Protection Act of 2019 will bring forward the next generation of assisted living and changes in vulnerable adult protection for all providers of aging services. As we’ve been traveling the state and fielding calls and emails, we know you have questions, concerns and ideas on the challenges and opportunities presented by the new regulations. We are here…at your side…ready to help.