News

We hope you get to meet Kelly at LeadingAge Minnesota’s 2026 Institute next month! In the meantime, here are five things to know about our new director of assisted living services:

The LeadingAge Minnesota Foundation is excited to announce our Tenth Annual Silent Auction, which will take place as part of the 2026 Institute. All proceeds from the Silent Auction go to the Gayle Kvenvold Commitment to Caregivers Fund to benefit dedicated caregivers throughout Minnesota.

DHS announced this week that, in addition to the provider enrollment freeze for what they have deemed 13 high-risk categories, all claims submitted for services within these categories will be suspended pending pre-payment review. DHS also confirmed high-risk providers will be subject to an off-cycle revalidation process.

Join DHS and Minnesota Networking in Education and Assistive Technology (MN-NEAT) for the webinar, “Assistive Technology for Aging Adults,” on Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026.

Late last year, health insurer UCARE announced that due to mounting financial losses they would be shutting down operations.  They are now officially in court ordered “rehabilitation” which has put MDH in charge of all UCARE operations.

The 2024 Minnesota Legislature directed DHS to implement Minn. Stat. §256S.191, which allows people age 65 and older to access to budget exceptions when they discharge from a hospital with high care needs.

Yesterday, Jan. 14, the U.S. State Department announced a pause on immigrant visa processing for applicants from 75 countries, a change that may affect some employment-based green card cases used by long-term care providers to recruit international health care professionals. The pause is scheduled to take effect on Jan. 21.

CMS has recently moved nursing home survey and certification data into its new cloud-based system, iQIES (Internet Quality Improvement and Evaluation System). While this modernization is intended to improve data quality and reliability, the transition has resulted in data discrepancies that may be visible on Nursing Home Care Compare.

The National Association of Long-Term Care Boards (NAB) has launched the 2025-26 Professional Practice Analysis (PPA) survey. A PPA, sometimes referred to as a Job Analysis, is the practice of gathering and analyzing details about a particular job, such as responsibilities, day-to-day duties, qualifications, etc.

We need your help to make the Institute run smoothly. The “concurrent session host” is a volunteer role that requires no previous experience, no public speaking, no major time commitments, and provides an opportunity to network with expert presenters. 

As we near the end of January, we’d like to share a quick reminder that 2026 LeadingAge Minnesota membership invoices are coming due. Thank you for being part of our community and for your continued investment in our shared work.

Is this your year to secure new grant funding? We’ve just updated our members-only Grant Grid with five new funding opportunities and now is a great time to take a look.

Thank you to everyone who joined us for the launch of the LALD Professionals Network last month! We’re excited to continue the conversation and invite you to attend our next meeting on Tuesday, January 27 at 2:00 p.m.

Schwickert’s Tecta America, a trusted leader in the roofing & mechanical services industries, proudly celebrates its 120th anniversary this year. This marks more than a century of commitment to the customer, delivering quality work, and impacting local communities.

Vista Prairie Communities is pleased to announce the promotion of Lacie Lampman to Executive Director of Vista Prairie at Ridgeway.