MDH Reinstates Flexibility Concerning Bed Capacity for COVID-Related Needs

Posted on January 20, 2022 by Jonathan Lips

Last week, the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) issued a Notice to Minnesota Health Care Providers of Optional COVID-19 Relief with relevance for hospitals and nursing homes.

Noting that hospital and nursing home capacity are essential tools in the COVID-19 response, MDH is temporarily reinstating flexibility that allows:

• Hospitals and nursing homes to apply for temporary COVID-19-related patient beds and a waiver of associated licensing fees;
• Nursing homes to convert layaway beds to active status as necessary to address a COVID-19-related need without the delay imposed by ordinary statutory timelines; and
• Nursing homes to timely address COVID-19 risks and establish COVID-19 care locations without transfer and discharge waiting periods, to the extent permitted by applicable federal law.

MDH has created a COVID-19-Related Bed, Capacity and/or Service Change Application for this purpose, which specifies terms and conditions.

Providers likely received this notice directly from MDH, but we wanted to share the link for those who missed the information. Review the MDH Notice for completed details.