Good morning,

 

Thanks for the update.  I vote in favor of the CRR Committee proposal! Absolutely!  I look forward to using it too. 

 

Have a great day, stay warm! 

 

Andrea Jung

 

 

It’s been a busy couple of weeks since the retreat!

 

Committee Proposal

Attached is a proposal from the CRR Committee. Our protocol is that committee recommendations go to the board when it involves policy, taking a position or financial resource (staff or dollars). Since this was unplanned, would require staff resources and they would like to get started prior to the March board meeting, I am asking you to weigh in on the approval via email. I am supportive and believe this will be a valuable tool for our members.

 

If you have questions, we’d be happy to address them. Please respond with your vote by Friday.

 

Advocacy Update

We have worked with our lobbyists on the legislative language for all of the proposed increases, met with a House Committee Chair and met with Rep Klevorn, who has since agreed to carry the House bill. Chair Schultz also wanted a rough fiscal note because she knew DHS wouldn’t get one crafted quickly. Along with some information from Kevin, Brianna helped us develop a ballpark estimate. That is not a typical request so we were very  grateful for Brianna’s agency knowledge! We now have a meeting with DHS next week to review our proposal and seek their buy-in and/or suggested edits.

 

For the increased base rate, we did some comparisons with the Medicare rates and decided to base our request on raising the Medicaid rates to 80% of the Medicare rates, with the exception of the home health aides, which are already more than 80% of the Medicare rates. We are justifying that exception with the very low current wages and asking for a 10% increase for aides. The request for licensed positions comes out to a 55% increase. While we are well aware that will not get traction, it will send the message that our rates continue to be significantly underfunded and hopefully lead to a more modest increase.

 

DHS Initiative

After gathering some information from a few providers, who may be willing to help with the hospital decompression, I drafted a proposal that intrigued DHS. I have a follow-up meeting with them this week and will keep you posted. At this point, we have 3 member agencies who are willing to entertain a partnership with DHS.  Once we solidify the agreement, we may seek a couple of additional agencies, although they prefer to work with just a few. `

 

Stay warm with this upcoming cold snap!!

 

Be Well,

 

Kathy Messerli

Executive Director

Minnesota Home Care Association

 

1265 Grey Fox Road, Suite 2 | Arden Hills, MN 55112-6929

Direct: 651.635.0038 | Main: 651.635.0607

www.mnhomecare.org | kmesserli@mnhomecare.org