All News

Leadingage President and CEO Katie Smith Sloan has responded to concerns raised by Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR), a ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, on whether seniors and their families have accurate and complete information about the quality of nursing homes. 

If you are a Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) provider not yet compliant with the HCBS Settings Rule, two new assurance templates from the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) will help you meet attestation requirements and get in compliance with the new standards. 

Three new reports explore the characteristics and migration routes of foreign-born workers and the benefits and challenges associated with an expanding foreign-born workforce in the field of aging services. 

After a year of collecting stakeholder input, the U.S. House Committee on Ways and Means has issued the Medicare Red Tape Relief report.  

National Adult Day Services Week takes place Sept. 16-22 and is a wonderful opportunity to highlight the important work Adult Day Providers do every day.  This year, we have developed a public awareness theme focused on the Four I’s of care: 

The Stars Among Us Award program is open for the 2019 recognition awards and we want to know, Who’s YOUR Rich? 

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently published a final rule with the new Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF) PPS rates effective for the year starting Oct. 1. We have calculated the base SNF rates for all regions of Minnesota. 

High voter turnout on primary night led to a few surprises and many potential “firsts” in Minnesota election history. 

The U.S.  Housing & Urban Development Department (HUD) has suspended use of the CNA e-Tool for PRAC budgeting purposes. Until further notice, PRAC projects needing to submit a rent increase should follow previous guidance in HUD Handbook 4350.1, Chapter 7: Processing Budgeted Rent Increases. 

LeadingAge Minnesota members can now register for a free webinar for that will help care centers get ready for the new payment model that will replace RUGs. Patient-Driven Payment Model (PDPM) for SNFs is Set to Go: Now What? takes place Wednesday, Aug. 22 from 10:30 – 11:30 a.m. 

The Office of Health Facility Complaints (OHFC) has cleared the backlog of maltreatment cases for elders, vulnerable adults and their families from 2017 and continues to successfully complete initial reviews for all reports within two days. 

Registered Nurse hourly rates increased by 3.1 percent while Licensed Practical Nurse rates increased by 2.43 percent, according to the 2018-2019 Nursing Home Salary and Benefits Report published by Hospital & Healthcare Compensation in cooperation with LeadingAge.  

Effective July 1, 2018, the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) Home Care and Assisted Living Program discontinued mailing paper copies of survey results to state licensed only home care providers and began emailing the results to the agent on record. This change does not apply to Medicare certified home health agencies.

The U.S.  Housing & Urban Development Department (HUD) has released three new Service Coordination resources and tools: 

Do you want to help identify and recruit future LeadingAge Minnesota board members? If you are a LeadingAge Minnesota voting member and are interested in standing for election to next year’s Nominating Committee, contact Nancy Garrett no later than Friday, Aug. 31. 

The 2018 Annual Meeting & Leadership Forum is Sept. 18-21 at Madden’s in Brainerd and the Early Bird Registration Deadline is one week from today – Friday, Aug. 17. Register here before next Friday and save $50 on your full conference registration fee. 

The Minnesota Department of Human Services will be updating its Statewide Transition Plan for the Home and Community-Based Settings (HCBS) Rule and putting it out for public comment on Sept. 10. 

The Stars Among Us Award program is open for the 2019 recognition awards and we want to know about the amazing board members that help lead your organization. 

LeadingAge Minnesota’s Assisted Living Certificate Program begins Sept. 26 and space is running out. 

LeadingAge has provided new guidance that summarizes the Fair Housing Act (FHA) and Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The guidance should help members answer the following questions: 

We have received several questions this week about the Mandatory Consultation process that is required to be conducted prior to executing a lease in a Housing with Services Registered Setting. The questions primarily focus on who is required to go through Mandatory Consultation and a better understanding of why this is required. 

In finalizing its proposal to implement the new Patient-Driven Payment Model (PDPM) effective Oct. 1, 2019, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is sending a strong signal - it is time for change. In a new blog post, Brian Ellsworth, Vice President of Public Policy & Payment Transformation at Health Dimensions Group, shares what has changed, what is staying the same and what providers can do to prepare. 

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) reminds all nursing facilities that the deadline for submission of Payroll Based Journal (PBJ) data for the period April 1 –June 30, 2018, is Aug. 14. Timely and accurate submission of data is especially important, because CMS now uses PBJ data to calculate staffing measures in Nursing Home Compare and the Five-Star Quality Rating System.  

The new AgingServicesJobs.Org platform launched two months ago, with 77 jobs posted to date! If you’d like to try posting a job today, email Jenna Kellerman – the first 10 members to email Jenna will get a free promo code to post their next open position. 

Cultural Consultants is a service supported by the Minnesota Board on Aging that provides cultural expertise and professional services to providers across Minnesota. The consultants have been specially trained in recognizing and understanding signs of memory loss as well as offering resources to support family, friends and neighbors who are caregiving. 

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will host a Special Open Door Forum on Wednesday, Aug. 15 to educate opioid prescribers on federal resources and strategies to combat the opioid epidemic. 

New bipartisan legislation has been introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives that would allow qualified physician group practices to furnish telehealth services in skilled nursing facilities under the Medicare program. 

The Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) is working on a couple of studies funded by legislation passed in 2017 that authorized the beginning of a process for updating Elderly Waiver rates. One of those studies has a focus on Adult Day Services, including how it is licensed and paid for in other states. 

The Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) is contracting with Navigant Consulting for a review of the rates and availability of transportation services for Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) waiver clients. That study has two works groups advising DHS and Navigant, one looking at rates and one looking at access.  

Don’t wait! Nominations for the LeadingAge Minnesota Board of Directors and Honorary Lifetime Memberships are due by Friday, Aug. 10.