All News

Audacious Inquiry (Ai), a health information technology company, will present a free webinar on May 25 from 9-10 a.m. to share information with LeadingAge Minnesota nursing home members about a health information exchange opportunity available until June 30.

Lifesprk and Tealwood Senior Living have partnered to bring 35 senior living properties across multiple states under Lifesprk Senior Living.

"The current senior housing market, accelerated by the pandemic, created significant opportunity to provide a markedly different approach to senior living," said Joel Theisen, RN, BSN, Lifesprk CEO.

St. Francis Health Services received the Award of Honor for Performance Excellence in Aging Services from LeadingAge Minnesota. The award recognizes an advanced level of continuous quality improvement and outstanding achievements in 24 management practices focused on leadership, strategy, customers, measurement, workforce and operations.

The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) has posted flow charts to assist settings in determining what, if any, notices must be issued to current residents and clients related to the transition to assisted living licensure. Notices, if needed, must be sent by May 31.

The Minnesota Legislature has adjourned the 2021 regular session, hours before the constitutionally required midnight adjournment, without passing a biennial budget. Lawmakers will need a special session to finish the job. For senior care providers, there are several key priorities left unresolved at this time. We are hopeful that legislators will address these in the special session.

With assisted living licensure taking effect on Aug. 1, settings that provide customized living services under the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) waiver programs wonder what steps they need to take to maintain continued waiver payment. This document from the Long-Term Care Imperative covers various scenarios and how to proceed with updating provider enrollment. Based on information from DHS, here is what needs to be done for provider enrollment after licensure:

Featuring Dr. Alyson VanAhn from Associated Clinic of Psychology

By now, you’ve probably been bombarded with one stress after another. And then you hear one way to handle it after another. Resilience isn’t about doing anything perfectly or all at once.

LeadingAge Minnesota will offer the final sessions of our COVID-19 Vaccine Ambassador training on Monday, June 7 and Thursday, June 10. The training is free. If you're interested in signing up, please email Jenna Kellerman to register by June 2.

Governor Tim Walz has acted to roll back temporary workforce flexibility relating to out-of-state licensed healthcare professionals.

In April 2020, Gov. Walz issued Executive Order 20-46, which authorized out-of-state healthcare professionals who hold an active license in good standing issued by another state to provide healthcare service in Minnesota during the COVID-19 peacetime emergency. This policy applied to individuals who would otherwise be required to obtain a license to practice here from the Minnesota Board of Medical Practice or the Minnesota Board of Nursing, including LPNs, RNs, and APRNs.

The LeadingAge Minnesota Awards Committee is proud to announce the 2021 Stars Among Us award winner: YOU!

Each year at Institute, during one of the two general sessions, we introduce you to the amazing people recognized with our annual Stars Among Us awards – leaders, volunteers, board members and our top honor, the caregiver of the year. We consider it a highlight of the Institute.

On Tuesday, LeadingAge Minnesota kicked off the first day of the 2021 Institute. The Institute, held May 18-21, is the largest multi-day conference for older adult services professionals in the Upper Midwest. This year's event takes place on a virtual platform over four mornings and has more education sessions and available CEUs than ever before.

A four-part intensive workshop will provide a comprehensive overview of the various new requirements with which Assisted Living providers will be expected to comply under the new licensure law. We will offer the workshop in a virtual format in the mornings of May 26, 27 and July 13, 14. It includes several topics all in one program series rather than individual sessions. This is an excellent series for assisted living teams to attend together.

FORWARD – that is the theme of the 2021 Virtual Institute, May 18-21, and it most definitely reflects the spirit of optimism we're feeling from our members. Over 3,000 people are registered to attend this historic virtual conference customarily held in St. Paul during February.

LeadingAge Minnesota Foundation (LAMF) recently awarded more than $425,000 in COVID-19 grants to members to fund staff support and virtual adult day services in rural areas.

Workforce challenges have become even more acute in the wake of COVID-19. One way to retain the caregivers and staff you have is to help them achieve their higher education goals and advance their careers within the aging services field where they are so needed. To that end, the LeadingAge Minnesota Foundation is offering educational scholarships to eligible caregivers and other employees of our member organizations for 2021.

New resident contract requirements for licensed assisted living settings will be effective Aug. 1. To help members develop new contract language, LeadingAge Minnesota has a new resource available this week in our website store: an assisted living resident contract. The contract template includes rent and service plan components, a meal plan agreement, and the additional required information on the right to designate a representative. 

Gayle Kvenvold, President and CEO of LeadingAge Minnesota, was announced as one of the Minneapolis St. Paul Business Journals 2021 Most Admired CEOs honorees.

Last week’s HUD and HHS announced a joint effort to increase vaccine access at HUD-assisted communities. Yesterday, the Department announced it is hosting COVID-19 webinars focusing on housing and health partnerships, the COVID-19 vaccine, and community health workers.

The Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) has posted materials related to applying for the Performance Incentive Payment Projects (PIPP) program on the nursing facility provider portal (see the links posted about halfway down the main page). Proposals are due by July 1, with rate increases starting on Jan. 1, 2022.

This week, lawmakers enter the final stretch of the legislative session before adjourning on May 17 at midnight, regardless of the status of the budget. Most at the Capitol view the Monday deadline as irrelevant given several circumstances that almost guarantee that lawmakers will leave their work unfinished at the end of their constitutionally allotted time.

Featuring Dr. Alyson VanAhn from Associated Clinic of Psychology

You've been trudging along throughout the pandemic. Months of serving others and trying to preserve yourself can leave you feeling little purpose outside of keeping on going. Even though we can generally find our professional and personal roles rewarding, at this time, we might question how helpful we are or how much we can enjoy from day to day. 

In the most recent Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) update, staff rates for full vaccination were 60% in all reporting care centers and 53% in all reporting assisted living settings. MDH and providers continue to work toward a goal of 70% staff vaccination rates. MDH is now limiting reporting for providers who are meeting the goal rates for residents and staff, and as of the most recent report, 31% of providers are meeting the goal.

The change in guidance allowing for increased flexibility with PPE, visitation, and testing based upon vaccination status prompted questions regarding how to quickly identify the vaccination status of residents, staff, and visitors. Many long-term care organizations discussed using bracelets, different name tags, stickers or other means of readily identifying an individual’s vaccination status.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) published updated infection prevention and control recommendations in response to COVID-19 vaccinations, QSO 20-38, and QSO 20-39 at the end of April. Immediately after these guidance documents were posted, the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) directed nursing homes to pause before following the staff PPE and dining and activities portions of the recommendations due to potential conflicts with Gov. Walz's executive order.

After previously delaying the requirement for care centers to submit COVID-19 Relief spending information while awaiting federal guidance, the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) has announced that the special COVID Supplemental Schedule for the cost report year ended Sept. 30, 2020 must be submitted this summer.

On May 11, CMS announced an interim final rule establishing new requirements for nursing facilities. The rule requires care centers to offer COVID-19 vaccine to residents and staff, to educate residents and staff regarding the benefits and potential side effects of the vaccine, and to report COVID-19 vaccine and therapeutics treatment information to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN).

Audacious Inquiry (Ai), a health information technology company, will present a free webinar on May 25 from 9-10 a.m. to share information with LeadingAge Minnesota nursing home members about a health information exchange opportunity.

The assisted living licensure law represents a significant and historic change in how assisted living is provide and regulated in Minnesota and goes into effect Aug. 1. There is much for providers and individuals to do to prepare for its implementation.

Can you mandate staff get the COVID-19 vaccine? Can you ask staff if they have been or will get vaccinated? What about offering incentives? Know your risk before you act.

Vista Prairie Communities (VPC), a nonprofit provider of assisted living, independent living, memory care and care suites in Minnesota, Iowa, Ohio and Wisconsin, has announced the appointment of Dewey Pettit as Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.