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Take 1-minute now to let Congressional leaders know how important it is to expand immigration pathways for healthcare professionals and ensure access to care by supporting the Healthcare Workforce Resilience Act to create a pathway for 40,000 foreign-born healthcare workers to work in the U.S.

As of Monday, Oct. 21, DHS has limited account access to NETStudy 2.0 for providers who submitted background study applications between Sept. 3 and Sept. 6, 2024; were unable to pay for those studies due to a DHS technical system issue; and have not yet paid for those studies.

Minnesota assisted living facilities, nursing homes, and rental housing settings who paid property tax, or are exempt from property tax but make payments in lieu of property taxes, must provide a Certificate of Rent Paid (CRP) to residents living at their facility by January 31 each year.

The 2024 election will take place on Tuesday, November 5. In addition to the presidential and federal elections, Minnesota has all 134 seats of the State House of Representatives up for election and one special election for the State Senate in District 45.

LeadingAge Minnesota consists of seven geographical districts which serve an important governance function of the association.

Prevention of abuse and neglect is everyone’s job. A four-part training program, Safe Care Abuse Prevention, is designed to be delivered in 30-minute segments to fit with your internal training schedules.

Continuing to build its footprint in the Midwest, Saint Therese, an aging care and services leader based in the Twin Cities, this week announced it will acquire St. Mary of the Woods in Avon, Ohio, near Cleveland.

LeadingAge Minnesota partners with EduCare as our exclusive, on-demand training partner not only because they guarantee compliance and exceptional customer service, but also because they continue to innovate.

LeadingAge Minnesota recently emailed complimentary copies of the 2024 compensation reports for nursing facilities and senior housing providers to members who participated in those surveys.

LeadingAge Minnesota has joined with 20 other affiliated organizations, together representing hundreds of not-for-profit aging services providers across the country, in a lawsuit to overturn the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services’ (CMS) staffing mandate. The mandate creates an untenable situation for senior care facilities across Minnesota and throughout the country.

Nature has proven benefits for human health and well-being at every stage of life.

Your voice is needed at the table!

Age Friendly Minnesota is a collective effort to build an age-friendly state for all Minnesotans.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) issued guidance to clarify the agency’s emergency call system requirements for federally-subsidized rural Multifamily Housing communities.

Changes were made to the statutes regarding Informal Dispute Resolution (IDR) and Independent Informal Dispute Resolution (IIDR) during the 2024 legislative session.

This election season, LeadingAge Minnesota members around the state are hosting candidate forums to provide a platform for local candidates to discuss issues affecting older adults and Minnesota’s aging services sector.

The Legislative Task Force on Aging met Wednesday, Oct. 10 to discuss the first draft of their final report.

Changes were made to the statutes regarding Informal Dispute Resolution (IDR) and Independent Informal Dispute Resolution (IIDR) during the 2024 legislative session. The changes to the statutes bring these processes more in line with federal guidelines regarding these appeal procedures.

What is IDR and IIDR?

IDR and IIDR are the informal opportunities for federally certified facilities to challenge deficiencies issued following a survey. The IDR is an internal review performed by MDH staff. The IIDR is a review by an independent entity following the issuance of a civil money penalty (CMP).

Why were changes made?

Changes to the IDR and IIDR statutes were required to create more cohesion between the Minnesota statutes and the federal regulations and guidelines. Minnesota created its IDR and IIDR statutes prior to the federal regulations going into effect, and when the federal regulations were adopted, they did not match the Minnesota statutes. In performing duties as the state survey agency on behalf of the federal Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), MDH is held to performance standards based on federal regulations and guidelines. The state statutes limited MDH’s ability to meet those standards.

The changes ensure a progressive appeals structure where an IDR can be requested upon receipt of deficiencies, and then an IIDR can be requested if the IDR is unsuccessful and the challenged deficiency results in a CMP.

What are the changes?

The impacted statutes are Minnesota Statutes, section 144A.10, subdivisions 15 and 16. Subdivision 15, regarding IDRs, has a minor change. Subdivision 16, regarding IIDRs, went through more significant changes regarding timelines and processes.

IDR Timeline

The statute discussing IDR (Minnesota Statutes, section 144A.10, subdivision 15) had a minor change to accurately reflect the timeline for requesting the IDR. Previously, the statute stated the request for IDR must be made within “30 days of the exit date of the facility’s survey.” The updated language sets the timeline at within “ten calendar days of the facility’s receipt of the notice of deficiencies.” This new language more appropriately ties deadlines to date of notice and mirrors federal guidelines.

IIDR — Scope

The amended IIDR statute (Minnesota Statutes, section 144A.10, subdivision 16) now makes the IIDR process available only when a deficiency has resulted in a CMP being issued.

IIDR — Timelines

The statute places time limits at each stage of the IIDR process in order to facilitate MDH meeting the federal obligation to complete the IIDR process within 60 calendar days of receiving the request. Notable timelines include:

• The facility must submit a request for IIDR within 10 calendar days of receiving notice that a CMP will be imposed.

• MDH must submit a docket request to the Office of Administrative Hearings within five calendar days of receipt of the request for IIDR.

• The proceeding shall occur within 30 calendar days of MDH submitting the docket request.

• The facility and MDH must file and exchange all arguments and materials supporting their position five working days in advance of the proceeding.

• The administrative law judge considering the matter must submit a recommendation within 10 working days.

• MDH must submit its recommendation to CMS within 10 calendar days of the judge’s recommendation.

IIDR — Proceeding

The IIDR proceeding is meant to be an informal opportunity for facilities to challenge deficiencies. Therefore, references to statutes governing formal administrative hearings or the Uniform Arbitration Act were removed. In their place, the following language is used:

“The independent informal dispute resolution proceeding shall be informal and conducted in a manner so as to allow the parties to fully present their positions and respond to the opposing party’s positions. This may include presentation of oral statements and arguments at the proceeding.”

This language better reflects the intention of the federal regulation that the IIDRs be informal opportunities for appeal. Formal administrative hearings are afforded through the federal Departmental Appeals Board upon issuance of a CMP.

When does this take effect?

This language is effective for all deficiencies issued on or after Oct. 3, 2024.

Contact information

If you have any questions, please contact IIDR at Health.HRD.IIDR@state.mn.us

The Low-Income Communities Bonus Credit Program, administered by the Department of Energy (DOE) and the Department of the Treasury, promotes cost-saving solar or wind investments in low-income communities as part of affordable housing developments, and for projects that benefit low-income households.

The U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging recently released a report entitled, The Consequences of Clutter: How Hoarding Disorder Affects America’s Older Adults, First Responders, and Their Communities.

As Minnesota high schoolers head back to school this fall, don’t forget—they have new incentives to work in long-term care.

DHS, in cooperation with Age-Friendly Minnesota (AFMN) Council, is offering Community Grants for SFY24-26 to help communities work on age-friendly projects and become better places for all Minnesotans to grow older.

The LeadingAge Minnesota Foundation is excited to announce that we will be investing nearly $1 million to support new Americans in the aging services workforce over the next two years, thanks to recent grant funding from the Minnesota Department of Human Services’ Grant, Equity, Access, and Research (GEAR) Division.

Last Friday, September 20, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced a six-month delay to compliance requirements for the Housing Opportunity Through Modernization Act (HOTMA).

We often receive questions related to occupancy of secure dementia care units in licensed assisted living with dementia care facilities.

Ebenezer officially broke ground on Estoria Lakeville, a new senior cooperative in Lakeville on Wednesday, Sept. 4th, with more than 140 people in attendance, including city officials, the Lakeville Chamber of Commerce, development partners and future residents.

This October, the MN Dual-Training Pipeline program is hosting community conversations around the state for employers to come together and share their workforce challenges and successes, network with business leaders, and learn about the MN Dual-Training Pipeline program.

On Sept 24, the MN Geriatrics ECHO is hosting a session featuring our newest resource, CaringCareersStartHere.com, along with LeadingAge’s Director of Workforce, Anna Mowry.

The Home and Community Based services (HCBS) workforce incentive grant program being implemented by DHS is using a two-step process to determine how much funding each provider will receive.

As Minnesota high schoolers head back to school this fall, don’t forget—they have new incentives to work in long-term care.

LeadingAge Minnesota this week honored key leaders in the aging services field during our 2024 Annual Meeting.