Thanks everyone for the great discussions today! Just a reminder to please review the VA letter and get back to me by Monday noon. If you'd like me to resend the letter, please let me know.

Since I'm sending my update via email, I'll make it brief. If you'd like more info, please give me a call or catch me at the conference.

NAHC & Forum of States meeting
- we had some speakers address membership for PDNs, encouraging states to actively reach out to PDN agencies
- NAHC staff reported that there is a 10 year interoperability vision plan they are tracking. I have a copy but haven't had time to review it yet.
- NAHC just created a Medicaid library and did a webinar orientation. It is quite impressive, but we learned that NAHC lost some major funding and is unsure if this will be funded. Two staff are gone due to the decreased revenue
- I brought back some ideas for education, which have been shared with the Educ Team

STAFFING
- The Education Manager position is posted (can be viewed on the MHCA Career Center also). Please share if you know someone who may be interested.
- I briefly mentioned that I've updated Jason's job description. I also changed his title from Communications Manager to Communications and Member Relations Manager, to better reflect his responsibilities. I've asked Jason to take the lead with membership. In addition to leading our provider membership growth, this will also include Business Partners and sponsorships/exhibiting.  He is excited and now is quite anxious for me to hire the Educ Manager! I just did his review and mentioned how appreciative the board has been of him stepping up and playing a significant role during the transition. It you have a moment, I know he'd appreciate hearing that directly from you.
- I will begin working on an RFP for the PR Consultant this month

STAKEHOLDERS
- I had an excellent orientation meeting with Stratis - they brought several staff and emphasized how important our partnership is. Janelle Shearer is already serving on the Hospice & Palliative Care Team. I suggested that having someone from Stratis would be valuable for our Clinical Quality Team and Jeri Hiniker offered. She is a former home care provider and served on our team previously (with a different last name).
- I mentioned that Janelle Shearer and I will be the MN Network Coordinators for HHQI
- One of our Team Chairs is the Board Chair for MNHPC. She will join the Exec Dir for a joint meeting with MHCA. Beckie Conway, our HPC Team Chair is willing to participate and I'm hoping that Nadine will be available to represent the board (as the Board Liaison to that team). If not, I'll ask another board member to participate. I anticipate this will be in January.
- We recently learned that DHS did not inform PCA Choice providers of a deadline for completing  an extensive report. A member was told that funding would be withheld if the report was not submitted by the deadline (which wasn't communicated). Assistant Loren Colman was responsive to my inquiry and had staff follow-up. We communicated this in a special email to our PCA members.

OTHER
- We have sent questions to MDH as a follow-up after the Boot Camp. Mary Absolon and Josh Berg indicated a willingness to respond. We plan to share this with members. Connie Dreyer also created a handout that details exemptions for Medicare certified agencies that will be shared and Lores and Connie will answer several additional questions. I will ask MDH to review the document and our consultants Q & A - to provide confirmation of their interpretation.
- I visited two more regions so there is only one remaining.
- If you have add'l ideas for someone to attend the meeting with the Board on Aging to review the report card, I'd appreciate it. Jill, I'll reach out to Amelia - thanks for that idea.
- Day at the Capitol has been scheduled for Tues, Feb 24. Due to the space restrictions caused by construction, Fredrikson and Byron have agreed to host us. Their conference room space is fairly small so we will just invite the BOD and Legislative Team. Please mark your calendars - we'll meet in the am, have lunch and then you can attend meetings with your legislators. We want to emphasize the importance of these meetings and will send information regarding how to schedule. We will provide materials for you to take with you. More on this later.

Kathy Messerli