Bill Authorizing Agency Waivers and Emergency Staffing Pool is Headed to the Governor

Posted on March 24, 2022 by Jonathan Lips

This week the Minnesota House of Representatives and Senate approved passage of Senate File 2876, granting certain temporary waiver authorities to the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) and the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS), and authorizing DHS to invest $1 million in an emergency staffing pool.

The bill is now under review by Governor Walz. If approved by the Governor, as we expect, the legislation will become effective immediately. Three elements of the bill affect aging services providers.

The legislation authorizes DHS to establish a temporary emergency staffing pool for congregate settings experiencing staffing crises, and it appropriates $1 million of funding for this purpose. A wide range of congregate care settings, including assisted living facilities, boarding care homes and nursing homes, would be eligible to apply for staffing support from the pool for up to 21 days, and the staff would be allocated according to a prioritization established by DHS. DHS operated a similar staffing pool earlier in the pandemic.

It also authorizes MDH to waive requirements in order to allow nursing homes to apply for an increase in licensed bed capacity, or to convert layaway beds to active status, and a waiver of associated licensing fees. This would provide flexibility for licensed capacity only, and not expansion of medical assistance certification to new or existing layaway and non-layaway beds. These waivers would be valid through June 30, 2022.

This section of SF2876 confirms and largely mirrors waivers that MDH announced in January to provide optional flexibility to support COVID response, but has an added benefit of allowing MDH to issue blanket waivers.

Finally, the bill grants DHS authority to reinstate waivers that had been in place during COVID, including waiving mandatory direct contact supervision requirements to allow case-by-case decisions to permit certain individuals to work without supervision while that individual's background studies are being processed. Like waivers MDH might issue, DHS waivers would be valid through June 30.

We will work with MDH and DHS to gather details of actions they plan to take using these authorities, especially with respect to the staffing pool, and share additional information with members as soon as we are able.