News

Older Americans Month is just around the corner (May), and LeadingAge Minnesota is proud to introduce our new Celebrate Aging apparel and merchandise collection—created to honor the impact, wisdom, and contributions of older adults, as well as the dedicated professionals who serve them every day.

We are excited to announce a new, coordinated Emergency Preparedness Training Series designed to support assisted living providers, while also welcoming and encouraging participation from nursing homes. This initiative represents a significant step forward in supporting your organization’s compliance with Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) Appendix Z requirements while strengthening real-world readiness.

This Friday, the legislature will reach its finance deadline, a benchmark that means any bill with fiscal impact must be out of committees and on its way to eventual floor votes. Unlike other years, leadership and the Governor's office did not agree to budget targets for each jurisdiction area.

As Older Americans Month approaches this May, LeadingAge Minnesota is proud to introduce our new Celebrate Aging apparel and merchandise collection—created to honor the impact, wisdom, and contributions of older adults, as well as the dedicated professionals who serve them every day.

MDH recently notified nursing homes that submitted proposals in the current moratorium exceptions round of their approval status. All five proposals were approved, representing a total annual state cost of just under $1.1 million.

Mark your calendars for two of LeadingAge Minnesota’s signature events this summer and fall, designed to support both operational excellence and strategic leadership across aging services.

LeadingAge Minnesota is pleased to share the release of our 2025 Annual Report—a reflection of a year defined by challenge, resilience, and meaningful progress for aging services across our state. Yes, we know…it’s April 2026. But as you’ll see, the work captured in this report is well worth the look back.

In a response to concerns about possible increases in eviction filings related to Operation Metro Surge, the St. Paul City Council recently approved a temporary 60-day pre-eviction filing notice ordinance on a unanimous 7-0 vote.

A couple weeks ago, Governor Walz released his supplemental budget proposal, which would make significant cuts to Minnesota’s long-term care system—putting seniors and their caregivers at serious risk during an already critical time.

We’re hearing from providers across Minnesota about a shared challenge: strong, committed nursing assistant (CNAs) learners who struggle—not because they can’t do the work, but because training materials don’t fully support how they learn. That’s why OnTrack has expanded support for multilingual learners in CNA programs.

Falls with Major Injury (FMI) has long been one of the most closely watched quality measures in long-term care. It directly affects public reporting, survey scrutiny, and Five-Star Quality Ratings. However, a major shift is underway in how this measure is calculated.

Each year, The Long-Term Care Imperative conducts a Workforce and Financial Conditions survey to gauge key metrics for the aging services sector.

Members have asked practical questions about how to respond if immigration enforcement activity occurs near their communities. LeadingAge Minnesota has expanded its guidance with new FAQs and an updated resource page, bringing all tools together in one place.

“Just because we are older, and live in an assisted living, doesn’t mean that we should have fewer freedoms than anyone else.”

On Tuesday, March 17, Governor Walz announced his supplemental budget recommendations. Despite the improved state budget forecast that came out a little over two weeks ago, the new budget proposal includes significant cuts to long-term care, in an effort to “control the growth of spending in those programs,” as the Governor continues to assert.

This week, legislation to exempt senior care settings from needing a liquor license for resident happy hours advanced in the Senate Commerce Committee.

The LeadingAge Minnesota QUEST Report for the third quarter, 2025 is now available, providing members with timely insights into trends shaping the senior care sector.

This week, the Senate Human Services Committee heard two bills that would adversely affect senior care services.

The Addressing “Med Not Available” Medication Errors Resource was developed by a work group of the LeadingAge Minnesota Quality Committee to support members in building systematic, effective processes to both prevent and respond to medications not being available to administer to residents.

Yesterday, CMS at the White House announced that they would be withholding $259 million in federal funds for Minnesota due to “unsupported or potentially fraudulent Medicaid claims.” The amount was based on a review of claims from the fourth quarter of 2025.