Just a friendly reminder……would love to have your advocacy support. Please let me know if you send a message so I can track the activity.
Thanks!!
Kind Regards,
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
From: Kathy Messerli
Sent: Wednesday, August 21, 2024 5:35 PM
To: MHCABOD@list.mnhomecare.org
Subject: ED Update and Request for Action
I hope you are all enjoying the last of summer! It’s hard to believe the state fair starts tomorrow! I’m thinking of trying the new Ham and Pickle Roll Up on a Potato Skin; how about you?!
Your Voice is Needed
I had a good meeting with the Co-chair of Minnesota’s
Acute Care Transitions Advisory Council. There is an opportunity to have our voice heard and I’m hoping you’ll join me and the Advocacy Committee members in sending an email! We believe that ensuring access to home care services is one of the significant
solutions that needs to be considered and want to ask for their support of our Care Evaluations bill, as we believe it aligns with their focus.
Will you all consider sending
an email to the advisory group, asking for their support of our care evaluations bill and other suggestions you have for minimizing the time patients spend in acute care settings? Some questions to consider are: what is bogging
down the system? What expedited processes should be considered? Since you weren’t a part of the Advocacy Committee discussion, you may find my message helpful (see the forwarded message below), although I’d like for you to personalize it.
Please let me know if you would like any further information on this. It would also be helpful to know who sends an email, to better understand how much additional advocacy is needed.
Additional Advocacy
In response to Senator Hoffman’s request for more data, we will be developing a survey. Watch for that in mid-September. He is scheduling a meeting with us and Rep Noor following the election.
I had an introduction meeting with two UHC contacts that are new to us. I am hoping to keep these lines of communication open and am waiting for some follow-up from them.
I sent CFSS questions to DHS that were developed by the DHS Workgroup. Unfortunately, the response has been, “We are working on an FAQ.”
Operations
I have followed up with Mary Kay and tweaked a few things on our plan and the staff has a strategic planning session tomorrow. We look forward to sharing this with you at the October meeting.
We are beginning the budget process, working with our new accounting team and revised templates. We are also transitioning to a new payroll provider due to many challenges we’ve had with our current provider.
It’s been a busy couple of weeks. Soon, I will begin the countdown of Brianna’s return!!
😄
Kind Regards,
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
From: Kathy Messerli
Sent: Wednesday, August 21, 2024 5:02 PM
To: TransitionsAdvisoryCouncil.DHS@state.mn.us
Subject: MN Home Care Association input
Dear Acute Care Transition Advisory Council,
I am writing on behalf of the Minnesota Home Care Association. Thank you for the work you are doing to identify ways to minimize the time patients spend in acute care settings. We believe that improved access to home care is one of many
solutions that should be considered. Home care providers are committed to serving individuals in their homes and need reprieve from some of the obstacles that are limiting the access to such care.
·
The Minnesota Home Care Association brought forward a bill that addressed the significant fiscal gap between actual costs and the medical assistance reimbursement for federal and state mandated care evaluations for home care services
last session and we expect to bring it forward again in 2025. DHS has been very helpful with technical assistance on the language. We believe supporting this legislation as a part of your report would be extremely valuable.
The bill establishes a new Medical Assistance reimbursement rate for a limited number of “care evaluation” visits. Three specific kinds of evaluations are required, are more comprehensive, and take 3-5 times as
long as a typical home care visit, which is what the current reimbursement rate is set at. The three visits are; Start of Care visits- required at the start of any new episode of care to develop the service plan; Recertification visits - required every 60
days to ensure everything is going well and to make any needed modifications, and lastly, Resumption of care - required if there has been an interruption in the plan of care, such as a patient getting admitted to a hospital for more than 24 hours. The 2024
session bill is attached for your information.
Home care agencies have for years absorbed the high cost of starting or resuming care for a client in the home. Decreasing barriers to home care access is now more important than ever as more and more Minnesotans
are growing older and there are fewer people in the workforce. Home care providers are committed to helping Minnesotans get access to the supports they need to decrease hospitalizations and rehospitalizations.
Some home care providers are now minimizing the number of Medicaid clients they serve due to the extremely low rates that don’t cover the cost of care. This has led to hospitals struggling to find care that is
needed for safely discharging patients on Medical Assistance. This challenge exists with all ages, from infants and young children who require Home Care Nursing (extended care) services to seniors, who remain in the hospital due to a shortage of adequately
paid home care staff.
We will offer a few other suggestions for your consideration.
- County coordination
- Increased training for county coordinators, especially for authorizations and CFSS, would minimize home care provider administrative time and allow for increased caregiving hours. Patients are sometimes
discharged because the authorization isn’t done soon enough or not correctly. We also find that some case managers try to make decisions, such as start dates that aren’t appropriate; there seems to be a lack of, or inconsistency with standards. With CFSS implementation
on the horizon, that are concerns about a smooth transition and a realization that this may impact timely care. Providers are rightfully concerned about the many outstanding issues. These challenges impact the ability to keep patients in the home and could
lead to increased hospitalizations.
- More proactive communication between counties and home care would also decrease the administrative burden (e.g. inform providers of county staff changes for greater efficiency).
- Hospital training – our home care providers experience gaps in discharge criteria and other discharge challenges. Providing training for the hospital social workers would increase successful and more efficient
referrals. Some of the situations our members experience are patients being referred to agencies that do not provide the services they need or mis-understandings around Medicare requirements.
I would be happy to provide further clarification, should you have questions.
Thank you for your consideration.
Kind Regards,
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