The article below is a top story from this week's ACTION newsletter—Care Providers of Minnesota's weekly newsletter for members. The newsletter focuses on current legislative issues, regulations, long-term care trends, and other Association news. Each Thursday evening, it is delivered to your inbox. To sign up for ACTION, contact Lisa Foss Olson (952-851-2483). To learn more about membership, visit our Become a Member page.
Assisted living licensure rulemaking begins
By Doug Beardsley, Patti Cullen & Toby Pearson | August 30, 2019 | New assisted living license
As one step toward the August 1, 2021, assisted living licensure implementation, an organizational meeting was held on August 27, 2019, to begin the rulemaking process for licensed assisted living. This informal meeting was designed to frame up the next stages of the process, to identify questions that have arisen since the passage of the law in May, and to begin the list of potential technical amendments that may be needed for clarification purposes. The meeting was organized by the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH). Doug Beardsley and Toby Pearson represented Care Providers of Minnesota at the meeting.
During the meeting, MDH clarified that they will be appointing an “advisory committee” with representation from various stakeholder groups to help inform the rulemaking process. They anticipate the advisory committee meetings to start in September. The meetings will be public, welcoming input to the rulemaking topics from public participants. In addition to this initial meeting, MDH had published a request for comment on August 12, 2019, requesting comments on potential implementation costs on individual businesses. Care Providers of Minnesota submitted
comments on behalf of the membership last week.
The 2019 assisted living licensure law required MDH to begin rulemaking on July 1, 2019, with proposed rules published by December 31, 2019, and
final rules published by December 31, 2020. Care Providers of Minnesota has established the Assisted Living Licensure Rulemaking Task Force to get member input on the areas of rulemaking identified specifically in the statute (listed below) as well as areas of the law where greater clarity is needed and/or technical corrections needed. The first meeting will be held in September.
MDH is tasked with adopting rules that include, but are not limited to:
- staffing appropriate for each licensure category to best protect the health and safety of residents no matter their vulnerability;
- training prerequisites and ongoing training, including dementia care training and standards for demonstrating competency;
- procedures for discharge planning and ensuring resident appeal rights;
- initial assessments, continuing assessments, and a uniform assessment tool;
- emergency disaster and preparedness plans;
- uniform checklist disclosure of services;
- a definition of serious injury that results from maltreatment;
- conditions and fine amounts for planned closures;
- procedures and timelines for the commissioner regarding termination appeals between facilities and the Office of Administrative Hearings;
- establishing base fees and per-resident fees for each category of licensure;
- considering the establishment of a maximum amount for any one fee;
- procedures for relinquishing an assisted living facility with dementia care license and fine amounts for noncompliance; and
- procedures to efficiently transfer existing housing with services registrants and home care licensees to the new assisted living facility licensure structure.
Doug Beardsley | Vice President of Member Services | dbeardsl@careproviders.org | 952-851-2489
Patti Cullen, CAE | President/CEO | pcullen@careproviders.org | 952-851-2487
Toby Pearson | Vice President of Advocacy | tpearson@careproviders.org | 952-851-2480