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Keeping our residents safe from COVID-19 has been an all-consuming focus.  While we continue to be vigilant in our Infection Control and other safety practices, we see the impact of COVID-19 infection and isolation on residents. 

The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) is seeking information about out-of-state health professionals who provided services under a State executive order earlier in the pandemic.

As a result of the continued consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services took action to extend the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (PHE) for another 90 days, effective Oct. 15. The PHE will now be in place until mid-Jan. 2022.

The Departments of Human Services (DHS) and Health (MDH) are working with hospitals and long-term care providers to quickly identify 4-5 skilled nursing facilities that can stand up "hospital decompression sites" that would allow for increased movement between acute and post-acute settings.

The Frontline Worker Pay Work Group met yesterday—more than a month past its designated deadline for reaching an agreement—and announced that there was still no agreement for distributing the $250 million designated by the legislature for frontline worker bonuses.

The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) has made the survey tool for assisted living meals and menus available. The tool provides insight into how compliance with the USDA Guidelines will be interpreted. 

SAINT PAUL, MN (Oct. 15, 2021) - Minnesota is experiencing a crisis in caregiving, and it is affecting the entire health care continuum. We applaud efforts to address health care backups through strike teams. Strike teams are very much needed to provide temporary relief and respite to exhausted caregivers. But it will not solve one of the root causes of the problem: staffing shortages in long-term care.

Last week our 2021 Annual Meeting & Leadership Forum concluded with a day of exceptional education sessions that covered timely COVID response issues of employment law, liability issues, post-traumatic recovery and growth, SNF reimbursement and more. It capped three days of keynote presentations, general sessions and 17 hour-long breakout sessions on various topics for older adult service providers.

The 2021 Connect Conference will be a virtual event on Oct. 27 and 28 and is packed with excellent education and learning opportunities.

Registration remains open and includes both the live broadcast of the conference, and full on-demand access to all session content through the end of the year.

Saint Therese has announced the appointment of Lisa Kalla to the role of chief operating officer, with responsibility for the overall daily operations of the nonprofit organization. She will work with leadership to implement Saint Therese’s strategic vision and values; direct, administer and coordinate internal operational activities; and manage the campus executive directors.

The Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal has selected Erin Shvetzoff Hennessey, CEO of Health Dimensions Group, to receive a 2021 Women in Business award. Erin serves as Director at Large on the LeadingAge Minnesota Board of Directors.

Care centers have access to an engagement, retention, and leadership building platform for free through a grant for Align’s Employee Engagement Solution. A new grant window opened on Sept. 22 and closes on Nov. 23. Subsequent cycles will open over the next two years.

Looking for a way to grow caregivers within your organization or help staff advance in their career path? Northwest Technical College is offering an online course to advance the specialty of caregivers in aging services.

The LeadingAge Housing Advisory Group call on Monday, Oct. 18 at 11:30 a.m. will feature guest speaker Dr. Eric Berko. In honor of World Mental Health Day, Dr. Berko will review mental health challenges for staff and residents at affordable housing communities and discuss strategies for success.

Are you interested in advancing the next generation of leaders in Assisted Living? LeadingAge Minnesota is looking for Licensed Assisted Living Directors (LALDs) to volunteer as mentors for students enrolled in our Assisted Living Director Licensure Program.

The Minnesota Department of Health has added an Assisted Living Licensure Closure Form to their Forms and Self-Audit Tools page under the “notifications” heading. The form provides guidance for the closure process.

Minnesota’s assisted living settings and nursing homes are facing an unprecedented workforce crisis, and LeadingAge Minnesota members across the state are contacting their lawmakers to ask for support now.

In response to advocacy by LeadingAge, HUD has allowed key deadline flexibilities for COVID-19 Supplemental Payment (CSP) requests for capital cost reimbursements due to COVID-19. HUD announced the change in a 20-question CSP FAQ document; HUD also released a draft version of the CSP request form.

The Board of Executives for Long Term Services and Supports (BELTSS) has released the self-assessment tools for Licensed Assisted Living Director (LALD) students to utilize during their field experience. The self-assessment is part of a more extensive Assisted Living Director in Residence (ALDIR) toolkit, now available on the BELTSS website under "Forms and Tutorials."  This toolkit will be the foundation for the field experience as mentors, and LALD students begin their time together. 

LeadingAge Minnesota has recently completed an update of our environmental scan, which tracks key trends and issues across various essential categories, including demographics, workforce, payment and consumer preferences. The scan is an excellent tool for use in strategic planning discussions with boards and other key leaders.

The information available from the CMS Quality, Certification and Oversight Reports (QCOR) database shows that the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) completed 100 nursing facility recertification surveys during the federal fiscal year ending Sept. 30. There is some lag time in survey data entry, so the year-end total is likely slightly higher. Here's a sampling of the data:

Are you new to LeadingAge Minnesota? Do you want to learn more about your Association? Would you like to find ways to engage?

Join the recurring LeadingAge Minnesota New Member Orientation Session on the fourth Tuesday of each month at 3:30 p.m. Register for the session that works best for your schedule. The next session is on Nov. 3.

The 2021 Connect Conference will be a virtual conference on Oct. 27-28. Connect Conference brings together providers of senior housing, assisted living, and home care for two days of exceptional education and connecting with your colleagues from around the state.

Safe Care Champions play an essential role in meeting our shared goal of eliminating preventable harm in the course of caregiving.  Sign up to join us for 30-minute virtual networking calls every other month to learn what is new in Safe Care and network with your Safe Care Champion counterparts from around the state.

Care centers have access to an engagement, retention, and leadership building platform for free through a grant for Align’s Employee Engagement Solution. A new grant window opened on Sept. 22 and closes on Nov. 23. Subsequent cycles will open over the next two years.

The greatest act of kindness that you can practice without any cost and minimal effort is being kind to yourself. Don’t beat yourself up for things not in your control. Use kind words when you talk to yourself – do what you can, do not dwell on what you cannot. Practice kindness on yourself and being kind to others will come naturally (Ghate, 2021).

The National Association of Health Care Assistants (NAHCA) is hosting a workshop titled, The New CNA Workforce: Frontline Lessons from the Pandemic on Nov. 10 from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Register here today!

OpeningDoors.org is live! In July, LeadingAge, our national affiliate, launched Opening Doors to Aging Services, a long-term initiative to offer members and the entire field research, strategies, and resources to inform and align efforts across the sector.

Assisted living facilities should base their emergency plan on documented facility-based and community-based risk assessments using an all-hazards approach, including addressing a scenario involving missing residents.

Earlier this year, the legislature approved a new program to assist Customized Living providers who serve a "disproportionate share" of Elderly Waiver (EW) clients. Any Customized Living provider who serves 80% EW clients as of Oct.1 of this year is eligible for a minimum rate for EW Customized Living clients of $119 per day for the period from July 1, 2022 through Dec. 31, 2022. The program will be ongoing, and the floor will typically apply on an annual basis based on EW percentage on Oct. 1 of each year.