Good Morning,

I'm sending a brief update today and look forward to seeing you at the board meeting next week.

We welcomed Joy to MHCA yesterday. She is copied here so you have her email address. We have a busy on-boarding schedule for Joy as she gets a full induction into MHCA!

You may have seen this news on the local news last night: Commissioner Ghandi has been demoted to Deputy Commissioner and John Connelly has been named as the Temporary Commissioner of DHS. There will be an article in the Informer tomorrow, but here's a bit of background information for you. A hearing was scheduled for this morning to confirm Ghandi as Commissioner (I've heard having her move from temporary to being confirmed would be welcomed by CMS). I had sent a few messages to legislators encouraging them to confirm her, as further disruption at this time would have been devastating. There are only 8 months left of the Walz administration and we need DHS to continue cleaning things up. Ghandi has been displaying a true commitment to that cause and has been an excellent partner to the group of stakeholders that are part of our Medicaid Advisory Panel.

After counting votes, there weren't enough to confirm Ghandi and I believe she would then be gone from DHS. Gov Walz made a proactive move to avoid that. He named Connelly as the Temporary Commissioner and the confirmation hearing was cancelled. The timing of this is unfortunate as Connelly had surgery last week for his colon cancer. He was involved in discussions regarding this back-up plan and agreed to step into that role, if needed. He has officially assigned Ghandi to act in his absence. I know - it's straight out of a novel!  Connelly has also been incredibly responsive and wonderful to work with. I won't be here to do a warm handoff for Joy but John is well aware that she will be here when he returns. Now Deputy Commissioner Ghandi is scheduled to attend our board meeting with a program integrity update (stepping in for Connelly, since he is out on medical leave). We will welcome her to the meeting with open arms and without any need to note this leadership shift.

The legislature has been dynamic as they strive to wrap up the 18th and have much work to do! Program integrity is a major topic, as is saving HCMC.

See you next week!

Kind Regards,

Kathy Messerli
Outgoing Executive Director
Minnesota Home Care Association

2909 S. Wayzata Blvd. | Minneapolis, MN 55405
Direct: 651.635.0038 | Main: 651.635.0607
www.mnhomecare.org<http://www.mnhomecare.org/page/A17> | kmesserli@mnhomecare.org<mailto:kmesserli@mnhomecare.org>