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The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) this week published the revised Minnesota Food Code. The revised food code is effective Jan. 1, 2019. 

While Congress enacted five of the 12 appropriations bills before the Oct. 1, 2019 fiscal year, they were unable to reach agreement on the spending bill that included funding for affordable housing programs. A continuing resolution signed last week by President Trump will keep HUD and some other federal programs funded through Dec. 7. 

A senior housing state of the market, development, design and construction trends, and capital market strategies and solutions are three of the featured topics at the 12^th Annual Senior Housing Summit on Oct. 25. The summit will also examine future trends impacting the senior housing industry in what is sure to be an informative, provocative discussion. 

The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) recently announced two staff changes: 

There have been several upgrades to AgingServicesJobs.Org. View this webinar to learn more. 

Mark Thomas, CEO Emeritus of the Ebenezer Society, received the rare and prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award during last month’s Annual Meeting & Leadership Forum. 

The Minnesota Board on Aging and Minnesota Department of Health will host a free webinar on Oct. 18 on how section Q of the MDS is used to target state resources towards assisting those nursing home residents who wish to return to a community setting.  

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! 

Guardian Pharmacy hosted its 7^th Annual Legislative Roundtable Discussion in St. Cloud yesterday. The event drew eight area lawmakers and more than 50 providers of aging services from care centers, housing with services and adult foster care from central Minnesota. 

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. 

The Corporation for National and Community Services is seeking grant applications for projects that address critical community needs by mobilizing volunteers age 55, including projects targeted at intergenerational programming, elder justice, easing social isolation and give respite to informal caregivers. 

As we near election day in Minnesota, candidates for political office may be reaching out to nursing homes and assisted living settings to get access to their buildings for door knocking or lit-dropping. We want to reminder providers that Minnesota law makes clear that candidates should only be denied access to multiple unit dwellings in limited settings.  

As we reported in August, new Skilled Nursing Facilities (SNF) PPS rates took effect for the year that began on Monday, Oct. 1. In addition to the updated base rates, Oct. 1 is also the first year of implementation of Value-Based Purchasing. 

The webinar on the newest upgrades to AgingServicesJobs.Org takes place this Friday at 10 a.m. Sign up today! 

What if you could increase your total number of new hires by 46 percent in one year by strategically using digital media? Mother of Mercy in Albany dedicated time and grant funds to achieve those results—and a 30 percent increase in total applications. 

For the first time in LeadingAge Minnesota history, the Board of Directors will be led by three female leaders. Nancy Stratman, Erin Hilligan and Barbara Klick were elected as Chair, Chair-Elect and Secretary-Treasurer by unanimous support at last week’s Annual Business Meeting. 

A new webinar from LeadingAge national will help care center members get ready for the changes to the Minimum Data Set (MDS) that take effect Oct. 1.  

John Korzendorfer, Marilyn Oelfke, and Dallas Reese, three distinguished leaders in aging services, were named Lifetime Honorary Members during last week’s Annual Meeting and Leadership Forum. 

Managed care plans that contract with the federal government under Medicare or Medicaid must provide information to their enrollees about whether providers have conducted cultural competence training for their staff as well as the languages in which they can communicate. LeadingAge Minnesota members should anticipate seeing questions from their managed care plans. 

A special moment took place during last week’s Annual Meeting and Leadership Forum when LeadingAge Minnesota members recognized, honored and celebrated Heidi Simpson, who marks her 40^th anniversary with our Association in October.   

Click the EASY BUTTON by signing up for the OnTrack Nursing Assistant Training program today! 

The U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) will hold a Preservation of Pre-1974 Section 202 Direct Loan Properties webinar on Tuesday, Oct. 9.    

A recent report by the AARP Public Policy Institute provides valuable data on the population receiving aging services and the ways in which these services are provided, broken out by state. 

A recent webinar from the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) highlighting the preliminary findings of the Adult Day Services Study is now available to download. 

Christine Bakke, CEO/Administrator, Madonna Towers and Rob Lahammer, Executive Director of Customer Engagement, Employee Engagement and Advocacy, Presbyterian Homes and Services were the recipients of this year’s Spirit of Advocacy award. The awards were announced at last week’s Annual Meeting and Leadership Forum. 

LeadingAge Minnesota recently mailed out complimentary copies of the 2018 compensation reports for nursing facilities and senior housing providers to members who participated in those surveys. Copies of those reports are now available for purchase by members who did not participate. 

The annual update to the RAI Manual has been released and contains some substantive changes for care center members. The updates are effective Oct. 1, so members will want to review these changes and make the necessary adjustments to their coding and transmission policies and practices.   

Click the EASY BUTTON by signing up for the OnTrack Nursing Assistant Training program today! 

Medication management continues to be a frequently cited tag for Comprehensive Home Care surveys. Four of the 19 medication tags are in the top 10 most frequently cited almost 50 percent of the time. The October Assisted Living/Home Care Nurse Leader Network (ALNET) meetings will focus on medication management and provide information and resources to help you remain in compliance. 

The Minnesota Department of Health has announced that Michelle Larson will serve as the interim Director for the Health Regulation Division through December 2018.