Hi Kathy,

Sorry I did not respond to your question before this came out.

On another note, the Informer talks about issues with the VA and I do not see Humana mentioned. Are they affiliated  somehow?

It’s been a busy June and I’m extra grateful for Allison and Annie who have stepped up to help during the staff transition!

OPERATIONS

The Executive Committee met and made the official appointments for the Team Chairs and assigned BOD Liaisons to the teams. The list of leaders for the 2016-17 MHCA teams is attached. We thank you for sharing your preferences and assisting us to move this process up so we can include the board members in the scheduling of the meetings and allow us to book conference rooms in our new 'busy' office. Please watch for communication from staff regarding your availability for team meetings.

I hope to launch the Workforce Task Force in July. Judy Giel has graciously accepted chairing this task force, which includes providers, academic institutions, LeadingAge rep and possibly a Board of Nursing rep (I have awaiting their response). The academic folks are very grateful for this collaboration.

The Exec Committee discussed the need for additional support to grow the MHCA membership. We are working on the details and will bring a proposal to the July board meeting.

The Membership Team is making good progress on the dues model analysis and is planning to have some ideas for you to dialogue about during the retreat.

ADVOCACY

MHCA is engaged in a few regulatory discussions. I will be taking two members with me (Sue Morgan and MA Team Chair, Jane Vujovich) to DHS tomorrow to discuss the challenging Revalidation process. Our goal is to help maintain client access to entitled programs & identify mechanisms to improve the process and communication between providers and DHS.

MDH is hosting a couple of stakeholder meetings in July for which MHCA will be represented as follows:

- Organizational Ownership (Jay and Austin)

- Electronic Monitoring aka Granny Cams (Skip Valusek)

Providers who are accepting Humana and VA Choice have been expressing significant issues. Andrea, Kim, Connie Dreyer and I participated in VA meetings over the past couple of months. We included an article in this week’s Informer and will continue to update members, as we learn more. In the meantime, each office suggested that the best next step is to contact Congressman Walz, who serves on the House Committee on Veteran Affairs,  and I would ask you help with this. The more  correspondence he receives about this, the greater the impact!! Angela Aanenson is joining me for a DHS initiated meeting with Humana on Monday.

At least four MHCA members are attending the Council of States Policy Summit in a couple weeks. We will be selecting a few priority federal issues to address with MN's Congressional Delegation and/or their staff. If you would like to weigh in on the priority topics, please let me know by Monday. And, yes, VA Choice will be high on the list for Congressman Walz’s office.

As always, please contact me with any questions!

Kathy Messerli

Executive Director | Minnesota HomeCare Association

2550 University Ave. W.,  Ste. 350 S | St. Paul, MN 55114-1900

Direct: 651.635.0038 | Main: 651.635.0607

Toll-free: 866.607.0607 | Fax: 651.635.0043

www.mnhomecare.org | kmesserli@mnhomecare.org

Mission: MHCA represents and supports Minnesota home care providers committed to high quality home care services.

Vision: MHCA will shape the home care landscape to improve and sustain quality home care services.

MHCA supports the Best Life Alliance.