News

Yesterday marked the first day of Minnesota’s 2020 legislative session and we are ready to advocate for you, maximizing our time at the State Capitol advocating for several public policy solutions this session that will benefit the seniors you serve and their caregivers.  

Governor Tim Walz joined the LeadingAge Minnesota Institute & Expo last week to present the Caregiver of the Year Award, express his appreciation for professional caregivers and share his vision for an Age-Friendly Minnesota.  

Post-acute care providers must demonstrate their value and outcomes in more care setting as payment models evolve in the coming years, according to a new report by Avalere Health.  

Are you ready to engage your front-line staff in quality improvmeent?  Register today for a webinar on Feb. 25 at 10 a.m. to learn more about our ICan: Driving Quality and Innovation from the Front-Line program and how your team could win $500 in our kick-off conteast. 

The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) has posted revised versions of the Electronic Monitoring consent forms originally released in December. To make it easier for consumers to find and access the forms, MDH has posted them to a newly-created webpage.  

Don’t have time to read the entire Advantage newsletter? Prefer to listen to the latest headlines and news? Check out the new 2-Minute News, an audio recap of the most important news you need to know each week. 

There has never been a more dynamic and exciting time in the field of aging services. Together we are shaping the next generation of older adult services and, for all the challenges that will entail, it will be an amazing era of creativity – one fueled by the power of the professional and personal relationships we build with one another.  

There’s good news in the area of employee retention for care centers. Our recent analysis of the employee retention data reported by care centers on the 2018 cost reports found that rates returned to the relatively high levels of the early part of the decade.  

The Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released the results of the second year of implementation of Value-Based Purchasing (VBP) for skilled nursing settings. The results are a mixed review for Minnesota care centers.   

An organization that averages 40 staff terminations per year is spending at least $180,000. What’s your turnover cost? A new online calculator from LeadingAge can help you see how much staff turnover is costing your community. 

The State of Minnesota has set the statutory limits that Supplemental Nursing Services Agencies (SNSAs) can charge per hour for each type of staff. The new caps are effective Jan. 1, 2020.  

Fifteen LeadingAge Minnesota members have been named to the Safe Care for Seniors Action Honor Roll.  

Congress has approved legislation that will provide some Liberian immigrants in Minnesota and across the country permanent residency and a path to citizenship. The bill is expected to be signed into law yet this year.  

Effective Jan. 1, 2020, there will be new protections and consent procedures for residents and families, and roommates where applicable, who instill hidden electronic monitoring devices. The new law requires you to have each resident fill out a form to be provided by the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH). The form has not been finalized by MDH.  

The annual November budget forecast released last week shows a projected growth in the state’s budget surplus for the current biennium, which ends on June 30, 2021, to more than $1.3 billion. That’s an increase of more than $1 billion from the end of the legislative session, when the Legislature adjourned with a relatively small projected surplus. 

Was the last time you connected with your lawmaker during session? It’s time to dust off your advocacy hat and invite your lawmakers into your community before the next legislative session starts on Feb. 11, 2020. To help you accomplish this goal, we have developed a new resource for you.  

LeadingAge Minnesota staff and members are participating in three processes this week that will shape the next generation of assisted living.  

More than a dozen LeadingAge Minnesota members have completed their 5-Step Action Plan and will soon be announced to our first-ever Safe Care for Seniors Action Honor Roll. Are you ready to join them? Let us know by completing your Safe Care for Seniors Self-Assessment. 

As we covered in last week’s Advantage, LeadingAge Minnesota in partnership with Voigt, Rode, Boxeth and Coffin have developed sample templates to assist you in developing policies and communications for the new electronic monitoring requirements that go into effect Jan. 1, 2020. The templates are now available!  

As part of the new discharge planning rule that is effective Nov. 29, hospitals are required to provide patients preparing to transition from acute care to post-acute care with access to information about their provider choices. The information includes performance on quality and resource utilization measures, such as number of pressure ulcers, proportion of falls that lead to injury, and number of readmissions back to the hospital.