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Governor Walz’s 2024–25 biennial budget released
By Todd Bergstrom | January 27, 2023 | All members
On Tuesday, January 24, 2023, Governor Tim Walz released his
recommendations for the 2024-2025 Minnesota Biennial Budget for the Minnesota Departments of Health and Human Services (MDH & DHS). While there are several proposals that impact long-term care (LTC), the governor’s proposed budget does not contain any proposals that increase nursing facility funding across the board.
The following are proposals that were included and of interest:
- Elderly waiver and HCBS rate increase and consumer-directed community supports budget increases
- Unknown: Amount of phase-in and specific service rates impacted
- Critical access nursing facilities
- The governor recommends an investment of $1.9 million in the FY24-25 biennium and $2 million in the FY26-27 biennium to designate certain nursing facilities in non-metro areas as critical access facilities and provide a temporary supplemental payment to these designated nursing facilities
- Supporting transitions for small customized living providers
- Effective July 1, 2023, the Governor recommends (1) establishing a grant for Customized Living providers to comply with foster care or community residential setting licensing requirements and (2) allowing special payments to customized living service providers that receive approval from the Department of Health to close a licensed assisted living facility
- Capacity and workforce expansion programs (grants and other supports)
- Continuing the provider capacity for rural and underserved communities grant program by making it permanent
- Establishing a new grant program focused on recruiting and retaining immigrants, refugees, and New Americans in the LTC workforce
- Extending the existing Age-Friendly Minnesota Council through June 30, 2027, to complete the work of Minnesota’s commitment into the Age-friendly Network of States and Communities
- Conducting an actuarial research study of public and private financing options for long-term services and supports reform to increase access across the state
- Nursing facility case mix classification modification
- Statutory updates are required for DHS to properly process the nursing facility rates for private pay and Medicaid claims after CMS no longer supports the current system beginning October 2023; funds will be needed for IT systems modifications to MMIS to allow for proper payment of Medicaid nursing facility claims
- Nursing Home Workforce Standards Board
- The newly-created Nursing Home Workforce Standards Board would include equal numbers of nursing home workers and employers appointed by the governor, along with commissioners from Department of Human Services (DHS), Department of Health (MDH), and the Department of Labor & Industry (DLI) and would be responsible for investigating wage, benefit, and working conditions of nursing home workers for specific geographic areas of the state and specific nursing home occupations
- The board would adopt rules establishing minimum standards that are necessary and appropriate to protect the health and welfare of nursing home workers, to properly train them and to fully inform them of their rights
- The rules would include standards on compensation, working hours, and other working conditions for nursing home workers
- The standards set in the rulemaking could be set statewide, to a specific nursing home occupation, to a specific geographic area in the state, or any combination thereof
- The Board would certify worker organizations to train nursing home workers on their rights in languages in which the employees are proficient
- The DLI would have the authority to investigate possible violations and enforce compliance with the minimum nursing home employment standards established by the board; a worker could also bring a civil action in district court
- Vulnerable Adult Act redesign, phase 2
- Assisted living licensure and home care
- A state government special revenue fund increases to the appropriations for both assisted living and home care licensures to ensure adequate staffing for oversight of health and safety requirements in assisted living facilities and home care agencies, to align with revenue, and to meet program demand; beginning in fiscal year 2024, the recommended increase in the assisted living licensure base is $2,040,000 and the increase in the home care base is $1,491,000
Please contact Todd Bergstrom at the Association office if you have any questions.
Todd Bergstrom | Director of Research & Data Analysis | tbergstrom@careproviders.org | 952-851-2486