News

The Health Regulation Division will provide an overview of the policy changes voted into law during the 2025 Minnesota legislative session that impact assisted living licensees. Assisted living licensees and stakeholders are invited to attend.

We have received several calls from members recently regarding their Assisted Living license renewal process being very slow, or licenses expiring before the renewal is received.

The slow developing HCBS workforce incentive grant program, which was created and funded by the 2023 Legislature, has still not reached the point of sending money to employers despite plans to have done so a while ago.

In Minnesota, landlords are required to notify residential tenants about the availability of the Minnesota Attorney General's Office Landlords and Tenants: Rights and Responsibilities handbook. 

One of the changes approved by the Legislature this year is a transition of the nursing home case mix system to using the PDPM nursing weights to adjust rates instead of RUGs-IV weights. This change will be effective Oct. 1, 2025.

Assisted living facilities that provide customized living (CL) services to people on the Brain Injury (BI) and Community Access for Disability Inclusion (CADI) waivers must follow specific limitations based on the setting’s CL enrollment date.

The Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) is implementing a procedural change to the background study process, effective July 14, 2025. Originally announced on June 16, this update is being reiterated to ensure broad awareness among providers. The change brings the background study process into alignment with federal requirements by shortening the timeline for completing required steps.

The State of Minnesota has announced a public hearing to seek feedback on its LIHEAP funding plan for 2026. The hearing is set for July 25, and comments can be made until Aug. 1.

The Assisted Living and Home Care Statutes were changed effective July 1, to add a Level 5 to survey violation levels. The change affects the amount of fines incurred for each level of violation and demonstrates the degree of concern for resident impact of the violation at each level. Fines are decreased for Level 3 and 4 violations to $1000 and $3000, violations which are more common for providers.

The Minnesota Department of Health is expanding in-facility testing to add additional test sites for nurse aide candidates. Applications will be accepted until July 11.

The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) is sponsoring a statewide call related to infection prevention and control for nursing homes and hospitals on August 13 from 3:00 to 4:00 pm. All nursing home and hospital infection prevention and control practitioners and affiliated leadership are encouraged to attend.

Significant changes are coming to Minnesota’s Case Mix Review (CMR) program and Minimum Data Set (MDS) assessment requirements. These updates impact classification notices, assessment procedures, documentation standards, and data submission methods—effective October 1, 2025. Providers are encouraged to prepare early and attend the state-led training webinar for detailed guidance.

Effective July 1, 2025, DHS will implement new residential support services criteria as required under Minn. Stat. §256B.49, subd. 29 and Minn. Stat. §256B.092, subd. 11.

The Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) is updating the timeline for completing background studies consent and disclosures. Starting July 14, 2025, the process for study subjects will change significantly to align with federal requirements.

When renewing your Assisted Living Facility license you may find the MDH Renewal Checklist helpful in preparing documents to submit with the renewal application.

The Large Building Energy Benchmarking program is a state-wide program aimed at increasing energy efficiency while decreasing operating costs and greenhouse gas emissions in the building sector.

The Minnesota Legislature directed DHS to develop and implement a provider cost review for agencies that provide at least one service covered by the Disability Waiver Rate System, DWRS, (Minn. Stat. §256B.4914, subd. 10a).

A recurrent question and citation for Assisted Living Facilities is offering meal plans that meet statutory requirements.

Late on Wednesday afternoon the Department of Human Services (DHS) notified NETStudy 2.0 system users via a GovDelivery message that the NETStudy 2.0 system will be offline for a server upgrade starting on Friday, 4/25, at 7 p.m. and expected to return to normal operations on Monday, 4/28, at 8 a.m.  During this server upgrade, do not log into NETStudy 2.0 until you receive an all-clear message from DHS.

Assisted living facilities that provide customized living (CL) services to people on the Brain Injury (BI) and Community Access for Disability Inclusion (CADI) waivers must follow specific limitations based on the setting’s CL enrollment date.