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A recent webinar on a series of upgrades to AgingServicesJobs.Org is now available. View the webinar to learn more. 

Two new webinars have been added to LeadingAge Minnesota’s on-demand training library as part of a core knowledge series of topics that are essential and fundamental for senior housing managers to know to operate legally. 

Medicare Open Enrollment for 2019 coverage begins Monday, Oct. 15 and runs through Dec. 7, 2018.  The Medicare Annual Enrollment Period is when seniors can choose to enroll or switch to a new Medicare plan for 2019, including a Medicare Advantage plan or Medicare Part D prescription drug plan.  

LeadingAge has updated the Medicare Part A Skilled Nursing Facility Prospective Payment System (PPS) calculator and the Medicare Part B therapy rate calculator to help members assess and estimate the impact of final payment changes for FY 2019, which began on Oct. 1, 2018. 

Registration is now open for a full-day of regulatory education, designed for care centers, Minnesota Department of Health surveyors, and Ombudsman staff to attend jointly. 

Housing with Services registered settings with a memory care unit are required to provide information about their services as described in MN Statute 325F.72. The following information answers frequently asked questions as to who is required to disclose the information and what is included in that disclosure: 

Congress marked the beginning of fiscal year 2019 on Oct. 1 by passing the Departments of Defense, Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education appropriations bill, which covers many home- and community-based services programs. This was the first Labor-Health and Human Services appropriation to be enacted in over a decade. 

A basic overview of the Elderly Waiver (EW) program will be offered by the Minnesota Department of Human Services via video conference on Nov. 5. 

Health care workforce shortage. Competition for wages. Retention issues. Employee morale. These are some of the top regional workforce issues that will be discussed at the Northeast Regional Health Care Summit 2 in Mountain Iron on Nov. 9 from 12:30 – 4 p.m. 

Is your current continuum of services and supports up to the task of serving future consumers? LeadingAge Director of Residential Communities Steve Maag offers advice on how to find out. 

The Skilled Nursing Facility Quality Reporting Program and Payroll-Based Journal are the featured topics of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Skilled Nursing Facilities/Long Term Care Open Door Forum this Thursday, Oct. 11 at 1 p.m. The full agenda includes: 

John Westphal, Chief Advisor at Outcome Engenuity LLC will open the Dec. 6 Quality Conference with a keynote presentation, Applying Principles of Highly Reliable Organizations to Aging Services. 

Challenge: Can we get 50 LeadingAge Minnesota members to become Senior Living Works Ambassadors? It’s free and easy and could change the landscape of recruiting staff into older adult services in Minnesota. 

Grief and Hope in Life’s Intersections: Multiple Responses to Dying and Grieving People is a full day workshop offered by the Minnesota Network of Hospice & Palliative Care on Friday, Nov. 16. 

The OnTrack Nursing Assistant Training program has hit another milestone – our 200^th student! In fact, we have surpassed that milestone, bringing in our 207^th student in early October. 

This week marks yet another milestone in LeadingAge Minnesota history. Heidi Simpson, Vice President of Education, is celebrating her 40^th anniversary. 

Attend the Quality Conference this December and learn how to apply the concepts and principles of Highly Reliable Organizations from other high consequence industries to our work in aging services. 

The United States Department of Labor (DOL) has published a proposed rule in the Federal Register (“Expanding Employment, Training, and Apprenticeship Opportunities for 16 and 17 Year Olds in Health Care Occupations Under the Fair Labor Standards Act”) to address an issue that has troubled LeadingAge Minnesota members for years. 

The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) this week published the revised Minnesota Food Code. The revised food code is effective Jan. 1, 2019. 

While Congress enacted five of the 12 appropriations bills before the Oct. 1, 2019 fiscal year, they were unable to reach agreement on the spending bill that included funding for affordable housing programs. A continuing resolution signed last week by President Trump will keep HUD and some other federal programs funded through Dec. 7. 

A senior housing state of the market, development, design and construction trends, and capital market strategies and solutions are three of the featured topics at the 12^th Annual Senior Housing Summit on Oct. 25. The summit will also examine future trends impacting the senior housing industry in what is sure to be an informative, provocative discussion. 

The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) recently announced two staff changes: 

There have been several upgrades to AgingServicesJobs.Org. View this webinar to learn more. 

Mark Thomas, CEO Emeritus of the Ebenezer Society, received the rare and prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award during last month’s Annual Meeting & Leadership Forum. 

The Minnesota Board on Aging and Minnesota Department of Health will host a free webinar on Oct. 18 on how section Q of the MDS is used to target state resources towards assisting those nursing home residents who wish to return to a community setting.  

Challenge: Can we get 50 LeadingAge Minnesota members to become Senior Living Works Ambassadors? It’s free and easy and could change the landscape of recruiting staff into older adult services in Minnesota! 

Guardian Pharmacy hosted its 7^th Annual Legislative Roundtable Discussion in St. Cloud yesterday. The event drew eight area lawmakers and more than 50 providers of aging services from care centers, housing with services and adult foster care from central Minnesota. 

Registration is now open for a full-day of regulatory education designed for care centers, Minnesota Department of Health surveyors, and Ombudsman staff to attend jointly. 

The Corporation for National and Community Services is seeking grant applications for projects that address critical community needs by mobilizing volunteers age 55, including projects targeted at intergenerational programming, elder justice, easing social isolation and give respite to informal caregivers. 

As we near election day in Minnesota, candidates for political office may be reaching out to nursing homes and assisted living settings to get access to their buildings for door knocking or lit-dropping. We want to reminder providers that Minnesota law makes clear that candidates should only be denied access to multiple unit dwellings in limited settings.