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Following an order yesterday by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, the CMS staff vaccination mandate is no longer subject to an injunction in Minnesota and 25 other states. CMS has not yet issued a statement in response to this development.

Starting this week, Minnesota National Guard teams arrived in selected nursing homes to fill staffing needs. On Nov. 22, 2021, Gov. Tim Walz announced an emergency relief package for nursing homes that included a plan to deploy 400 national guard soldiers in small teams to nursing homes that have crisis staffing needs. Starting this week, teams arrived in selected nursing homes to fill staffing needs.

Attend the 2022 Institute & Expo in February for timely education and updates on the issues that matter most.

This year’s Institute is a blended conference model – three days of in-person education, expo, and events Feb. 9-11 in St. Paul, and three days of virtual education Feb. 22-24. Over 100 education sessions have been carefully selected and developed to address top-of-mind issues and opportunities. Here is a sampling:

The newest cohort of emerging leaders have completed their coursework and will graduate from the 2021 Leadership Academy at the Institute & Expo in February.

A special message from Erin Hilligan, Chair of the LeadingAge Minnesota CEO Search Committee

LeadingAge Minnesota's CEO Search Committee has been hard at work participating in a very thoughtful search process to select the next CEO. The committee has begun conducting candidate interviews, and committee members have been impressed with the interest level and caliber of candidates.

LeadingAge Minnesota has developed a new Safe Care for Seniors resource to help you ensure safe and consistent I’m Okay and Resident Safety Checks.

The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) shared a checklist to help guide assisted living providers in self-auditing compliance with physical environment requirements. The checklist covers the details from 144G that surveyors are looking for in the areas of:

Earlier this week, the Minnesota Department of Management and Budget released an updated state budget forecast projecting a $7.7 billion surplus of revenue over expenses in its general fund. The surplus shows that the state is weathering the pandemic well and allows lawmakers to make permanent investments in professional caregivers.

The holidays are upon us, and several members asked questions about musicians in our settings. MDH published recommendations for music activities and performances during COVID-19 on May 28. The document is not healthcare specific, but it is the document that MDH references when asked about musicians in our settings.

Aging services providers across the country are closely following the status of the federal staff vaccination mandates as legal challenges work their way through the courts. 

This week, Gov. Tim Walz announced a new initiative to recruit, train, and deploy at least 1,000 new certified nursing assistants for Minnesota long-term care facilities experiencing staffing shortages by the end of January. LeadingAge Minnesota and our Long-Term Care Imperative played a critical role in advocating for this initiative.

Thanks to actions taken by the legislature earlier this year and the availability of federal funds targeted to home and community-based services, Elderly Waiver (EW) rates will be increasing this year for the first time in several years. The Long-Term Care Imperative has been advocating for a reform plan for many years that would tie those rates to the actual cost of providing care, which is especially important now as providers face workforce shortages and increasing costs to attract and retain caregivers.

Momentum is the force that propels us forward and fuels growth. That is the theme and promise of the 2022 Institute & Expo in February. Our annual conference offers a blended event model for the first time – three days of live education, exhibits, and special events in Saint Paul and three additional days of virtual education programming. 

Care centers may apply for a moratorium exception project for approval by the Minnesota Department of Health. A webinar on Dec. 10 provides information and guidance to submit a successful application.

A special message from Erin Hilligan, Chair of the LeadingAge Minnesota Board of Directors

I am writing to share some news that you may already have heard, which impacts my continued service as the Chair of the LeadingAge Minnesota Board of Directors. An exciting new career opportunity emerged several weeks ago, and I have accepted a new leadership position with WesleyLife in Iowa. I will take up my new responsibilities there at the beginning of 2022.

LeadingAge MN Foundation and Trellis are offering a free introductory course on writing a successful grant proposal. Choose from two different dates below. Both will be held via Zoom:

The Nov. 18 webinar, Understanding the CMS 5-Star Analysis Report to Guide Quality Improvement featuring Susan Chenail, RN, CCM, RAC-CT, Senior Quality Improvement Analyst from LeadingAge New York, is now available to view.

On Nov. 24, the United States Department of Labor (DOL) published a final rule increasing the minimum hourly wage for federal contractors to $15 beginning Jan. 30, 2022. This document finalizes regulations to implement an Executive Order signed by President Biden in April and moves the hourly minimum up from its current level of $10.95.

In a recently released memo, the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) clarified the Housing Support Program’s requirement to provide three meals a day in relation to the new assisted living contract limitation found in 144G.41, Subd. 1(13)(i)(C), which stipulates that “the facility cannot require a resident to include and pay for meals in their contract.”

The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) has recently started posting assisted living survey findings on its website.

The site allows searches by facility, county, city. To see all completed assisted living surveys to date, set the date range for Aug. 1, 2021 to today's date and search "all."

On Tuesday of this week, a federal judge in Louisiana has granted a nationwide preliminary injunction against the COVID-19 Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) vaccine mandate following a lawsuit filed by Montana and 13 other states.

As we brace for a new COVID-19 variant and your teams are exhausted from staffing challenges, learn ways to reduce burnout risk in your organization. Register for a 30-minute workshop with Dr. Alyson Van Ahn from the Associated Clinic of Psychology.

CMS has updated its COVID-19 Emergency Declaration Blanket Waivers for Health Care Providers list to address requirements for a nursing home's Director of Food and Nutrition Services.

The Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) is developing plans to distribute the $50 million in American Rescue Plan funds to care centers after an announcement from Gov. Walz last week. This funding is to provide recruitment and retention bonuses to staff when staffing shortages are having a significant impact on care centers statewide. The Long-Term Care Imperative is pleased that the Administration has heard our workforce concerns and is taking steps to address that problem.

The Long-Term Care Imperative recently completed an analysis of care center occupancy for the first three quarters of this year, and it shows some improvement in the third quarter. However, the modest uptick still puts occupancy far below pre-pandemic levels.

A LeadingAge Minnesota staff team recently reviewed 2020 and 2021 Immediate Jeopardy (IJ) citations issued to nursing homes during survey investigations. We identified several cases in which CPR was delayed or the code status was not appropriately followed when determining whether or not to initiate CPR.

The Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) recently informed LeadingAge Minnesota that rate notices for care centers for the 2022 calendar year will be posted much later than the statutorily required date of Nov. 15. Rates will not be available until some time in 2022.

SAINT PAUL, MN (Nov. 22, 2021) - We are facing unprecedented workforce shortages in senior care settings across our state. Many long-term care communities cannot afford to lose even one more caregiver. The actions the Governor is taking today will provide emergency staffing assistance to the exhausted professional caregivers who have been on the pandemic’s frontlines for over 20 months and will also provide financial incentives for our staff to continue their dedicated efforts for Minnesota’s seniors. 

There are 23,000 open long-term caregiver positions across the state, and each month we are losing more staff than we can recruit. A crisis of this scope requires bold solutions, and we cannot fix this problem without the State’s support. We greatly appreciate the legislative leaders who have shined a bright light on our workforce crisis and the Governor and his administration for taking swift action to step in with emergency staffing solutions for nursing homes. Today’s actions will help support the weary professional caregivers and the seniors they serve while we continue to work with the Governor and Legislature toward a permanent and lasting solution to address the staffing shortage across all senior care settings.

We look forward to our work ahead to ensure Minnesota’s seniors have access to the care they need in all the communities they call home.

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The Long-Term Care Imperative is a collaboration of LeadingAge Minnesota and Care Providers of Minnesota, two of the state’s largest long-term care associations. The Long-Term Care Imperative is committed to advancing a shared vision and future for older adult housing, health care and supportive services.

The Institute & Expo – Momentum – returns to RiverCentre in Saint Paul Feb. 9-11, 2022, and virtually Feb. 22-24.

The 2022 Institute will be a blended conference model, with three days of education, events, and exhibits in person at RiverCentre, and additional educational sessions offered virtually later in the month.

Barb Rode, President & CEO of Saint Therese, has announced to the organization's Board of Directors her intent to retire in early summer 2022.