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The Administration for Community Living (ACL) has awarded a supplemental grant for $70,000 to the National Ombudsman Resource Center (NORC) to address two critical issues in long-term care settings: involuntary discharges and opioids. 

Have you ever considered how copyright law applies when movies are shown in your setting? You probably should, as motion picture showings held within communal areas on the property require a public performance license to comply with Title 17 of the U.S. Copyright Act. Before you pop in that DVD or download a film for your next movie night, read this advice: 

As we have previously reported, the updated Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF) PPS rates took effect for the year that began on Oct. 1. Since our last article, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a correction to the rates that impacted the wage index for some regions. The only Minnesota regions affected by this correction are Duluth and Rochester, and both by only pennies a day. 

Allina Health and Presbyterian Homes & Services (PHS) announced their newly formed collaboration in Genevive effective Jan. 1, 2019. Genevive is a geriatric medical practice and care management organization providing comprehensive care for 5,500 older adults throughout the Twin Cities and greater Minnesota. 

A majority of Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) are feeling more optimistic about their ability to compete but some have expressed concerns about the impact Medicare Advantage plans will have on payment, according to a new study released by Ziegler. 

Applications for the HCBS Scholarship Grant are due by Friday, Oct. 19. Are you interested in applying? Get more information on how to write a successful application! Click here to listen to a recent webinar and here to access a slide deck from Lina Jau, Grant Manager, and Craig Baarson, Reimbursement Fiscal Analyst, with the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH). 

Health care workforce shortage. Competition for wages. Retention issues. Employee morale. These are some of the top regional workforce issues that will be the focus on in the Northeast Regional Health Care Summit 2.

The Dec. 6 Quality Conference will feature a general session about how to design physical environments for aging persons. Learn evidence-based design and research findings that can help inform design decisions. 

A bill that would end the mandatory nurse aide training lock-out and allow nursing homes to regain their nursing assistant training authority as soon as deficiencies have been corrected needs more support in Congress. We need your help! Read on to learn how you can urge your U.S. Representative to co-sponsor and advance this bill. 

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has issued guidance for Housing Trust Fund (HTF) grantees and the first report on the status of initial trust fund commitments in 2016. 

A new course is underway at Buffalo High School (BHS) bringing together the student’s young lives with those of older adults in the community. CIS Introduction to Gerontology is the study of aging and that’s just what students are experiencing in and out of the classroom.  

The Trump Administration is considering ways to strengthen enforcement of rules that require immigrants to demonstrate that they will not take advantage of public assistance programs after entering the United States. 

A recent webinar on a series of upgrades to AgingServicesJobs.Org is now available. View the webinar to learn more. 

Two new webinars have been added to LeadingAge Minnesota’s on-demand training library as part of a core knowledge series of topics that are essential and fundamental for senior housing managers to know to operate legally. 

Medicare Open Enrollment for 2019 coverage begins Monday, Oct. 15 and runs through Dec. 7, 2018.  The Medicare Annual Enrollment Period is when seniors can choose to enroll or switch to a new Medicare plan for 2019, including a Medicare Advantage plan or Medicare Part D prescription drug plan.  

LeadingAge has updated the Medicare Part A Skilled Nursing Facility Prospective Payment System (PPS) calculator and the Medicare Part B therapy rate calculator to help members assess and estimate the impact of final payment changes for FY 2019, which began on Oct. 1, 2018. 

Registration is now open for a full-day of regulatory education, designed for care centers, Minnesota Department of Health surveyors, and Ombudsman staff to attend jointly. 

Housing with Services registered settings with a memory care unit are required to provide information about their services as described in MN Statute 325F.72. The following information answers frequently asked questions as to who is required to disclose the information and what is included in that disclosure: 

Congress marked the beginning of fiscal year 2019 on Oct. 1 by passing the Departments of Defense, Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education appropriations bill, which covers many home- and community-based services programs. This was the first Labor-Health and Human Services appropriation to be enacted in over a decade. 

A basic overview of the Elderly Waiver (EW) program will be offered by the Minnesota Department of Human Services via video conference on Nov. 5. 

Health care workforce shortage. Competition for wages. Retention issues. Employee morale. These are some of the top regional workforce issues that will be discussed at the Northeast Regional Health Care Summit 2 in Mountain Iron on Nov. 9 from 12:30 – 4 p.m. 

Is your current continuum of services and supports up to the task of serving future consumers? LeadingAge Director of Residential Communities Steve Maag offers advice on how to find out. 

The Skilled Nursing Facility Quality Reporting Program and Payroll-Based Journal are the featured topics of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Skilled Nursing Facilities/Long Term Care Open Door Forum this Thursday, Oct. 11 at 1 p.m. The full agenda includes: 

John Westphal, Chief Advisor at Outcome Engenuity LLC will open the Dec. 6 Quality Conference with a keynote presentation, Applying Principles of Highly Reliable Organizations to Aging Services. 

Challenge: Can we get 50 LeadingAge Minnesota members to become Senior Living Works Ambassadors? It’s free and easy and could change the landscape of recruiting staff into older adult services in Minnesota. 

Grief and Hope in Life’s Intersections: Multiple Responses to Dying and Grieving People is a full day workshop offered by the Minnesota Network of Hospice & Palliative Care on Friday, Nov. 16. 

The OnTrack Nursing Assistant Training program has hit another milestone – our 200^th student! In fact, we have surpassed that milestone, bringing in our 207^th student in early October. 

This week marks yet another milestone in LeadingAge Minnesota history. Heidi Simpson, Vice President of Education, is celebrating her 40^th anniversary. 

Attend the Quality Conference this December and learn how to apply the concepts and principles of Highly Reliable Organizations from other high consequence industries to our work in aging services. 

The United States Department of Labor (DOL) has published a proposed rule in the Federal Register (“Expanding Employment, Training, and Apprenticeship Opportunities for 16 and 17 Year Olds in Health Care Occupations Under the Fair Labor Standards Act”) to address an issue that has troubled LeadingAge Minnesota members for years.