News

On Tuesday, March 29, LeadingAge Minnesota testified in support of our bill to provide permanent wage increases to caregivers in the Senate’s Human Services Reform Finance and Policy Committee.

MDH recently shared data on surveys of Assisted Living facilities that had been conducted through February 2022. Since the initiation of Assisted Living Licensure, 126 surveys of conversion licensees were completed.

Back in January, DHS distributed $50 million in American Rescue Plan funding to care centers to provide hiring and retention bonuses to staff. Reporting on the use of the funds is due to DHS by end of day on Monday April 4.

Tomorrow, Friday, March 25, critical legislation being advanced by LeadingAge Minnesota and our LTC Imperative partner is scheduled to be heard in the House Human Service Finance and Policy Committee.

Two weeks ago, assisted living facilities, nursing homes, and other providers licensed by the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) transitioned back to fingerprint-based background studies beginning for new employees.

The Pipeline Dual Training Grant officially opened for application this week. Applications will be accepted through April 12 for up to $150,000 in grants to help employers build dual-training programs.

This week, the House Human Services Committee took up HF 2283, a bill to allow Minnesota to fully implement the Program for All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE), a nationally recognized and supported community-based model of care for frail older adults.

The Minnesota Office of Management and Budget (MMB) released the February budget forecast earlier this week. This budget will guide lawmakers as they determine their spending priorities in the current legislative session. Since the last forecast in November, the budget surplus for the two years ended June 30, 2023, has grown by $1.5 billion to a historic $9.25 billion.

This week President Biden announced a wide-ranging nursing home reform initiative to be implemented by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). The announcement was timed to coincide with the State of the Union Address, but President Biden made only a very brief reference to one small part of his reform package in his speech Tuesday evening. After analyzing the proposal, we have more questions than answers, and the timeline for change is unclear.

Providers licensed or regulated by the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) will transition back to fingerprint-based background studies beginning March 2 for new employees. In late January, following two previous delays, the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) announced March 2 as the date for the resumption of fingerprinting. The transition is moving forward without further postponement.

One month into the legislative session, bills are moving through the committee process rapidly. This week, three bills with our Long-Term Care Imperative-supported proposals were heard in Senate and House committees.

This week, the Minnesota Senate discussed two bills aimed at helping to resolve the workforce crisis in long-term care. The proposals contain funding for the Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE), hiring and retention bonuses, education and training grants, temporary regulatory changes for retired and out-of-state nurses to practice, modification of training requirements in long-term care settings, and a correction program for sites to work with MDH on technical issues.

The Next Generation Nursing Assistant Training Program has successfully recruited over 1000 individuals into its no-cost training programs throughout the state. Providers should begin to position themselves to connect with students as they complete their training in the upcoming weeks.

Mohamed Wasuge from Augustana Regent in Burnsville, MN, was named the Caregiver of the Year by LeadingAge Minnesota at our annual Institute & Expo. 

On Jan. 6, the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) and the Minnesota Board on Aging updated the pre-admission screening criteria for people with mental illness and developmental disabilities before admission to a nursing home.

OSHA has officially withdrawn its Vaccination and Testing Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) in light of the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision forbidding OHSA from enforcing it. The standard would have applied to all employers with 100 or more employees and required businesses to implement a vaccine mandate or weekly testing option for all employees.

The Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) has postponed the Wednesday, Feb. 2, transition date for Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) providers to return to fingerprint-based background studies.

The 2022 Institute & Expo is less than three weeks away, and we are looking forward to seeing so many of our members again after two years. There is still time to register your organization and staff for this multi-day conference which is in person at RiverCentre in St. Paul Feb. 9-11 and virtually Feb. 22-24. The registration deadline is Monday, Jan. 31.

As we all know, the U.S. Supreme Court has blocked OSHA from enforcing the OSHA Vaccination and Testing Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) proposed in Nov. 2021. In addition, the June 2021 OSHA Healthcare ETS expired on Dec. 21, 2021, except for all of the non-recordkeeping provisions. 

Last week, the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) issued a Notice to Minnesota Health Care Providers of Optional COVID-19 Relief with relevance for hospitals and nursing homes.