All News

There are two things that make your organization special - the people you serve and the staff who serve your people. Make sure to share the great work that is being done every single day!  

LeadingAge Virginia will soon release a playbook designed to help senior living and care providers determine whether and how to serve middle-income older adults. The playbook provides a template that can be customized based on your market, your customer and what you need to design a product for the middle market.   

Gov. Tim Walz issued a proclamation naming Aug. 14 as Lawrence Massa Appreciation Day in Minnesota in honor of Massa’s distinguished career in advance of his retirement Sept. 6. Massa has been the president and CEO of MHA for the past 11 years and served as chief executive officer of Rice Memorial Hospital in Willmar from 1994 to 2008.  

LeadingAge will submit comments to a new proposed rule from the U.S Housing & Urban Affairs Department (HUD) that would make drastic changes to the current process for asserting Disparate Impact.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid (CMS) last week posted the FINAL version (V3.00.1) of the MDS 3.0 Data Specifications for Skilled Nursing Facilities, which take effect Oct. 1. They also released the file of the allowable ICD codes in item I0020B of the MDS.   

The Centers for Medicare & Medicare Services (CMS) notified Skilled Nursing Facilities (SNF) on Aug. 22 that there was a calculation error in the FY2016 baseline period performance data that excluded certain SNF stays erroneously. CMS will be issuing corrected FY2020 Performance Score Reports no later than Aug. 31. 

The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) will host a Sept. 5 webinar to help Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) providers learn more about application process for the HCBS scholarship program and provide best practices for completing an application.  

Nursing homes, board and care, and licensed basic and comprehensive home care providers have been added to the list of authorized entities that may obtain, store, and use epinephrine auto-injectors for emergency administration in cases of anaphylaxis, according to two new bulletins from the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH).

New resources to prevent drug diversion in long-term care are now available. The Minnesota Pathway to Prevent Diversion of Controlled Substances in Long-Term Care features a pathway and support tools to help you increase awareness, assess your processes, create individual plans for intervention implementation, and measure your outcomes. 

National Adult Day Services Week, which takes place Sept. 15-21, is a great opportunity to highlight the important work these valued providers do every day. Our theme this year is focused on raising public awareness on how Adult Day Services can help prevent loneliness and social isolation.  

The 36th Annual MN-DONA “THE FUTURE IS US” Fall Conference, which is designed for nurse leaders in long-term care and assisted living, takes place Oct. 9 – 11 at Breezy Point Resort. 

The Minnesota Department of Health will host a Workshop Webinar on the Home and Community-Based Services Scholarship Program and Application Process on Sept. 5. Make plans now to participate and then apply for tscholarship grants that will help you recruit, retain and create career pathways for your staff. 

Need financial support to invest in needed construction at your care center? Join us for a webinar on Sept. 11 that will equip you with the information and resources to apply for the Moratorium Exceptions Process through the Minnesota Department of Health. 

The 2019 Dementia Care Certificate Program is newly updated and meets Minnesota’s current mandatory dementia care training requirements for home care, Housing with Services/Assisted Living staff and care center staff. This certificate series will not be repeated in 2019 – register now to ensure completion by the end of the year. T

As an Infection Preventionist in a long-term care setting, how do you keep up to date with the changes in infection control and the regulatory requirements?  The answer is to attend our new “Effectiveness and Core Components for Infection Preventionists in SNFs” Certificate Program, Sept. 4 -5 at the North Metro Event Center in Shoreview.  

The power of positive thinking! Mike Robbins, author of Focus on the Good Stuff: The Power of Appreciation, says positive acknowledgement is “a crucial aspect of our being able to celebrate, appreciate, and express gratitude for the people around us.” He offers five ways to positively acknowledge others:  

The rate to post a job on the AgingServicesJOBS.Org, a cutting-edge employment marketplace that matches employers with job-seekers based on skills, interests and job requirements, has changed. 

A recent article in Senior Housing News highlights that the “dots aren’t being connected” in senior living to get innovation past the pilot stage to make a true impact. 

eMenuCHOICE, a leading dining management and point of sale (POS) application for senior living communities, added five new clients in July. The following communities have chosen eMenuCHOICE to support their dining service management needs:

The National Council on Aging has denounced a new inadmissibility rule that could force immigrant seniors to choose between paying for long-term care support and losing their immigration status.  

Registration is open for the Minnesota Health Care Engineers Association (MHCEA) Fall Conference and Vendor Show that takes place Sept. 11-13 at Grand Casino Hinckley. 

Minnesota seniors and people with disabilities soon will have more help finding and keeping housing, thanks to new services coming to the state’s Medicaid program next year. 

Does our staff know how to access a resident’s DNR status in an emergency or what to do – without delay – when they find a resident unresponsive? Are they confident to take those next important steps? Join us Oct. 8 for a Virtual Workshop that will explore those questions and more, as we provide a new systematic approach called Rapid Evaluation Teams to help improve your organization’s process for staff to call for and receive support to rapidly evaluate and address an urgent or concerning situation.  

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Central Office recently shared survey guidance relating to a couple of transfer/discharge documentation issues.  

Under regulations enacted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) hazardous waste pharmaceuticals may not be sewered (flushed or poured down a drain) for disposal after Aug. 21, 2019. 

The final installment of the 2019 Dementia Care Certificate Program is now open for registration; we have more details and registration information on our new Infection Preventionist Certificate Program, and you won't want to miss an October webinar on how to create the buyer experience that will drive occupancy. Get up to speed on these great programs:

The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) this week issued an update that addresses changes to the Home Care Bill of Rights that went into effect Aug. 1. MDH is working on updating each version of the Home Care Bill of Rights with the changes and will post them on its website when they are available. In the meantime, MDH is directing providers to the following notice to Home Care Providers to guide distribution of the new Bill of Rights language: 

Are you ready to comply with the new retaliation protections that went into effect on Aug. 1? Join our free webinar tomorrow (Aug. 15) to learn how these protections apply to residents and staff in care centers and assisted living/housing with services and how you can stay in compliance  

Our first annual Connect Conference, Aug. 20-21 in Brooklyn Center, is near capacity with more than 450 people attending from the home- and community-based services continuum. 

Friday, Aug. 16 is the deadline for both early bird registration and application for scholarships for the Annual Meeting a& Leadership Forum. Thursday, Aug. 15 is the deadline to cancel Madden’s lodging reservations and receive a partial refund.