News

District Meetings start next week. Register now to attend your local meeting. Experience interactive and engaging conversations with your peers while you:

Beginning June 5, onsite surveys and investigations will include an electronic provider feedback form to help provide information for the Minnesota Department of Health’s (MDH) continuous improvement.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will discontinue the nursing home staff vaccination mandate in early August.

Register now to attend your local District Meeting in June. Experience interactive and engaging conversations with your peers while you:

• Learn about innovative programs
• Brainstorm to help inform how fines from Minnesota Department of Health surveys of care centers and assisted living buildings will be used
• Respond to the newly available results of this year’s member survey to help inform the LeadingAge Minnesota Board of Directors’ work

As of Monday at midnight, the Minnesota Legislature has adjourned the 2023 legislative session. After months of tireless advocacy by seniors, their families, and their caregivers, we are proud to report that we have left the session with historic investments in aging services that will help ensure access to care for Minnesota seniors and support caregivers with the wages they deserve.

As part of a care center financial relief package approved at the end of the legislative session, a Value-Based Reimbursement (VBR) rate add-on of $12.35 per resident day was enacted. This rate add-on is effective starting July 1, 2023, and ends on Dec. 31, 2024. The rate add-on is not restricted to any particular use, so it will allow providers to address some of the impacts that inflation has had in various areas over the last couple of years.

The Minnesota Legislature has created a Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) workforce development grant program to attract and retain direct care workers who provide HCBS services for people with disabilities and/or older adults.  Workers include those employed in assisted living, adult day services, home care, and other HCBS settings.

New information released over the last week directs each nursing home and assisted living in conducting a COVID-19 facility assessment to determine whether a broader source control practice is needed. LeadingAge Minnesota has created a sample COVID-19 facility assessment to aid in implementing the new practices.

The Human Services Conference Committee closed the conference report on Wednesday with far-reaching implications for senior care. The report, which will proceed to each legislative chamber for final passage, includes mixed outcomes for aging services providers.

A proposal to create a regulatory Nursing Home Workforce Standards Board within the Department of Labor is poised to advance this session. The measure recently included in the Jobs and Labor Omnibus Conference Report will allow the Governor to appoint a nine-person commission to adopt rules establishing minimum nursing home compensation standards for nursing home workers.

The Legislature is required to adjourn by May 22. With less than two weeks remaining, LeadingAge Minnesota and its members continue to advocate for funding that will help ensure seniors have access to the care they need when and where they need it

The Dining Robotics Playbook is the second in a series of workforce technology solution playbooks designed to help you identify technology solutions to address the workforce crisis.  Dining robotics can improve efficiency and convenience by reducing step count during food delivery and table bussing and enabling staff to remain in the dining room and be available to residents.

Investing in the professional development of the aging services workforce is more important now than it has ever been. The LeadingAge Minnesota Foundation is excited to offer educational scholarships to eligible caregivers and other employees of our member organizations for 2023.

Executive orders are a tool to direct action to set policy guidance and for an administration’s executive branch agencies.  President Biden’s executive order released last week provided several topics and concepts for different federal agencies to effectuate.  You can read the analysis of the executive order here. 

On Tuesday, the Minnesota House of Representatives passed SF2934, the House Human Services Omnibus Bill, on a 70-60 vote. The budget bill spends $1.3 billion over the next biennium on services for people needing home and community care, substance use disorder access, disability services and aging services.  As previewed last month, the House position makes essential investments that LeadingAge Minnesota has been advocating for but lacks any ongoing funding for nursing home workers.

A new survey of nursing home and assisted living providers conducted by the Long-Term Care Imperative shows that the challenges faced by providers are continuing. Lack of adequate state funding to support higher wages for Minnesota’s long-term care workforce has pushed nursing homes and assisted living settings deeper into financial distress, resulting in diminished access and fewer care options for Minnesota’s seniors and families.

On April 19, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released simplified vaccine recommendations. The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) met yesterday to discuss updated COVID-19 vaccine changes after the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) amended emergency use authorizations (EUA) for Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech products earlier this week.

The Biden Administration outlined several new plans ostensibly targeted at supporting care workers and family caregivers. Continuing a framework set out early in the Biden campaign, the strategy targets caregivers and workers in childcare, aging services, and services for people with disabilities.

On Tuesday, the Minnesota Senate passed SF 2934, the Human Services Omnibus Finance Bill, on a strong bipartisan vote (63-4). The bill makes critical long-term care investments and policy changes to build upon over the final five weeks of the session.

The Biden Administration outlined several new plans ostensibly targeted at supporting care workers and family caregivers. Continuing a framework set out early in the Biden campaign, the strategy targets caregivers and workers in childcare, aging services, and services for people with disabilities.