News

Implementation of assisted living licensure is only days away, and there are many process changes to both operational and clinical work. A new Assisted Living Bill of Rights was created and posted on the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) website many weeks ago. Organizations are required to ensure all residents living in assisted living receive a copy.

We have experienced a significant decrease in COVID-19 cases in the spring and early summer compared to the beginning of the year. Unfortunately, during the middle of July, COVID-19 case numbers have spiked, with an approximately 300% increase in cases nationally.

The Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry published a notice on July 19 (Page 31) that it has adopted the federal OSHA Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) to protect healthcare workers from COVID-19. With this publication, the ETS is now effective in Minnesota and will remain in effect for up to six months. During that period, MN-OSHA invites comments about the standard, and LeadingAge Minnesota will submit a memo to the agency in the weeks ahead.

The Minnesota Department of Health has announced the Notice of Adoption for the Rules Governing Assisted Living Facilities was published in the State Register on July 19. You may review the Notice of Adoption on the Minnesota State Register website, State Register Volume 46, Number 3 (Page 33).

The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) recently posted the application materials for a new round of the nursing facility moratorium exceptions process on the MDH website. Care centers interested in applying for approval to fund a construction project will need to complete all of the required application materials and return them to MDH by March 17, 2022.

As members are aware, federal OSHA issued an emergency temporary standard (ETS) on June 21 to protect health care and health care support service workers from occupational exposure to COVID-19.

Assisted living settings are working diligently to have the necessary components in place by Aug. 1. 

Under the new assisted living license, which goes into place on Aug. 1, all assisted living residents must have an individualized abuse prevention plan (IAPP).

With a final push and some surprise twists, Minnesota lawmakers dodged the threat of state agency and services shutdowns, just barely meeting their deadline to pass a $52 billion state budget. Wednesday at 11:59 p.m. was lawmakers' deadline to get all 13 of their state budget bills through both chambers of the Legislature and to Governor Walz's desk for his signature. Governor Walz has signed the 12 budget bills and the tax bill, averting the potential disaster of state agency shutdown.

With Minnesota's COVID-19 Peacetime Emergency ending July 1, a question on members' minds is what waivers are still in place and for how long. We do not have a lot of detail yet, but here is a summary of what we currently know.

Board of Directors Begins National Search for a Successor

SAINT PAUL, MN (July 1, 2021) – LeadingAge Minnesota recently announced that Gayle Kvenvold, the association's long-time President and CEO, will retire at the end of 2021.

For 40 years, Kvenvold has led dramatic change in services and supports for Minnesota’s senior population. She spent 32 years of her 40 years at the association as the organization’s president and CEO. Under her leadership, LeadingAge Minnesota – once named Minnesota Health & Housing Alliance and then Aging Services of Minnesota – has grown into one of the largest associations addressing senior care in the nation.

The Minnesota State Legislature has passed the Health and Human Services (HHS) budget bill for the next biennium, and the bill has been signed into law by Gov. Tim Walz. The passage of this legislation, a bill that lawmakers heavily debated, is a critical step in finalizing a state budget before the new fiscal year on July 1. Since the bill is now law, there will be no shutdown of health and human services programs even if lawmakers fail to agree in other budget areas.

A top legislative priority for LeadingAge Minnesota this year has been to secure hero pay bonuses to employees in senior care settings. Last week, legislative leaders announced an agreement to set aside some funding for hero pay bonuses. But until recently, we had few details. This weekend, lawmakers adopted an amendment that laid out a process to finalize hero pay bonuses this summer.

After nearly 16 months, the State’s Peacetime Emergency will end on July 1. A deal was struck between legislative leaders to end emergency powers in exchange for several stipulations related to food benefits, state COVID-19 staffing, and vaccination efforts. Just last week, Gov. Walz announced at a press conference that he intended to end the emergency peacetime declaration on Aug. 1, but this end-of-session bargaining moved up the timeline.

The legacy pathway for the Licensed Assisted Living Director (LALD) sunsets at the end of the month, and applications are due by 11:59 p.m. on June 30. If you don't hit the apply by then, you’ll need to meet the new Assisted Living Director or Assisted Living Director in Residence requirements that begin on July 1. Application verifications such as transcripts, resumes, official employment verifications can be sent in AFTER July 1 if needed.

As lawmakers work to complete their work to agree upon a two-year budget before July 1, legislative leaders announced an agreement to allocate $250 million for Hero Pay bonuses for frontline workers during the pandemic.

The Board of Executives for Long-term Services and Supports (BELTSS) has received over 2400 applications from those eligible for licensing under the legacy licensing opportunities. The deadline to apply via the legacy path is June 30.

Minnesota legislators announced on Monday an agreement to end Gov. Tim Walz's eviction moratorium over the next three-and-a-half months. The eviction moratorium has been in place since March 2020, when the governor used executive powers to ban evictions except in extreme circumstances. The agreement still needs to be approved by legislators, but the vote could occur later this week. The bipartisan deal creates a phased eviction moratorium off-ramp, with some protections lasting into June 2022. Governor Walz has said he will rescind the moratorium once a legislative solution is passed.

In the event of a state government shutdown, the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) will cease payments to providers of Medicaid services. Per the statutory obligation, DHS will begin to inform Medicaid providers, including aging services providers who serve Medicaid clients, via letters that will be sent out as early as this week.

LeadingAge Minnesota has recently completed an update of our environmental scan, which tracks key trends and issues across various categories, including demographics, workforce, payment and consumer preferences. The scan is an excellent tool for strategic planning discussions with boards and other key leaders, and the recent updates reflect some of the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and questions it raises for the future of long-term care.

With Governor Walz expected to call a special session on Monday, lawmakers worked this past week, mostly behind closed doors, to iron out differences in the two-year budget. By Monday, June 7, only three committees--Commerce and Energy, Legacy, and Higher Education--had publicly announced their joint budget agreements. Here is what you need to know about what is happening at the capitol this week: