News

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:

Providers that recently applied for an assisted living license (ALL) must take three easy but essential steps by July 1 to ensure the application's approval and prepare for the Aug. 1 implementation date.

As of Wednesday, June 2, the assisted living license conversion application has been frozen, and the deadline to apply has passed. However, if you did not submit your application, you can still move ahead with a provisional application to comply with licensure requirements by Aug. 1.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) updated its COVID-19 guidance regarding employers and COVID-19 vaccines. The expanded guidance provides new information about how the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) apply when an employer offers incentives for employees to confirm vaccination when an employee gets a vaccine in the community or from the employer or its agent. The critical updates to the guidance are as follows:

DHS recently prepared the data needed for all care centers in the Medical Assistance program to select a new goal to work on for another round of the Quality Improvement Incentive Payment Program (QIIP). Each year, based on their progress toward the goal they select, care centers receive a rate increase of $0 to $3.50 per resident day. 

Effective May 28, 2021, DHS is lifting all COVID-19 restrictions issued by DHS for operating adult day centers. 

Time is almost up for current assisted living service providers to submit a conversion application to assisted living licensure. After June 1, a provider needs to apply for a new or “provisional” license with additional standards applied and no assurance that the license will be approved. Unlicensed settings are prohibited from providing assisted living services after Aug. 1.

The LeadingAge Minnesota Awards Committee is proud to announce the 2021 Stars Among Us award winner: YOU!

Each year at Institute, during one of the two general sessions, we introduce you to the amazing people recognized with our annual Stars Among Us awards – leaders, volunteers, board members and our top honor, the caregiver of the year. We consider it a highlight of the Institute.

On Tuesday, LeadingAge Minnesota kicked off the first day of the 2021 Institute. The Institute, held May 18-21, is the largest multi-day conference for older adult services professionals in the Upper Midwest. This year's event takes place on a virtual platform over four mornings and has more education sessions and available CEUs than ever before.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) published updated infection prevention and control recommendations in response to COVID-19 vaccinations, QSO 20-38, and QSO 20-39 at the end of April. Immediately after these guidance documents were posted, the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) directed nursing homes to pause before following the staff PPE and dining and activities portions of the recommendations due to potential conflicts with Gov. Walz's executive order.

After previously delaying the requirement for care centers to submit COVID-19 Relief spending information while awaiting federal guidance, the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) has announced that the special COVID Supplemental Schedule for the cost report year ended Sept. 30, 2020 must be submitted this summer.