Home Care Provider Advisory Council Meeting Minutes
September 14, 2015
Attendance
Members present: Cheryl Hennen, Amy Nelson, Suzan Sinna, Jean Peters, Melissa Plachecki, Rene
Cronquist
MDH representatives present: Josh Berg, Lari Anne Mazzitello, Cindy Vargas
Others present: 11 Visitors
Brief Introductions
Introduced councilmembers including Jean Peters, the newest councilmember.
HCALP Website Update (Cindy Vargas)
Ms. Vargas’ presentation introduced the council and audience to the revised Home Care and Assisted
Living Program’s (HCALP) website. The current site is blended within the Minnesota Department of
Health (MDH) Licensing and Certification’s website. The new HCALP website will be self-contained
within the MDH website, will be more user friendly, and will incorporate more graphics to convey
information to multiple audiences. The audiences that the new website will address include
providers, prospective applicants, and consumers. The website will be easier to navigate, use plain
language, and offer more resources to stakeholders. Ms. Vargas showed examples of various screen
shots and outlined main topics within each area of home care that will be addressed on the website.
One main difference in the current site and the proposed site will be way the site is organized by
topics, such as providers, consumers, home care laws, etc. Another difference will be that
information will be written to meet the needs of the intended audience in each section. For example,
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) would be on divided between the current provider, starting a
home care business, and consumer sections, written to meet various needs, and geared toward
answering recurring questions asked by the different stakeholders. Meetings will take place over
the next couple of weeks to finalize the site. The site will be tested at a demo-site location and
initially available to a select group for reviews and comments. The site will then be revised before
going live for all users. Many comments and suggestions were offered.
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Workforce Shortage (Amy Nelson & Council)
Ms. Nelson discussed that there is an RN & LPN shortage in the workforce. To handle the increasing
and ongoing consumer need for home care providers, she suggested creating an additional home
care certification(s) that licensed medical staff could obtain with minimal additional training. The
medical staff who could apply for the home care certification could include Emergency Medical
Technicians, paramedics, Medical Assistants (MAs), and others trained in the medical field. The
workforce shortage could be caused by several factors including:
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Shortage of nursing teachers
Shortage of nursing students
Schools discouraging students from entering the home care field
Low home care wages compared to other nursing fields
Increasing number of clients with increasing needs
High turnover in home care staff (50% annually)
Workforce trends show that MAs are replacing LPNs in clinics. Hospitals are recruiting from home
care labor pools and paying higher wages. Impact of shortage include long waiting lists for clients,
providers not taking new clients, clients without care, licensed staff working longer hours, unlicensed
staff providing more services, clients must remain longer in hospitals in order to receive care, and
increased overall health care costs to Minnesotans. Recommendations to reduce workforce shortage
include:
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Look outside home care’s labor pool for competent workers
Work with the Department of Human Services to create new billing code to reimburse MAs at
a higher wage to compete with clinic wages
Draft letter to request that the Legislature to take action to combat workforce shortage
Work with colleges to increase students and turn out more graduates.
Create a training program and certification for medical staff to work as home care providers
under the direction of physicians instead of RN supervision
Present statistics and ramifications to Legislature
Will move topic forward to December 2015 meeting.
Annual Training Requirements (Josh Berg & Council)
Mr. Berg stated state there has been a proposal to take off the 8 hour requirement of annual training
for RNs listed under MN Statute 144A.4796 and use the required training to meet the CEU
requirement that RNs already have. The training topics would still be required, but the individual
provider would be able to increase or decrease the time allotted for training. Additionally, specific
training would still be needed for each client’s needs and services.
Will move topic forward to December 2015 meeting.
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Integrated Licensing (Josh Berg)
Effective July 1, 2015, home care providers can apply for a Home and Community Based Designation
(HCBS) to be added to their home care license. The designation would allow them to provide 245D
basic services in addition to home care services. The expiration date of the designation will match
the expiration date on the home care license, often resulting in an initial designation expiring in less
than 12 months. The initial fee is $155 and renewal fees are based on HCBS revenue from the
previous year. The initial fee is not reduced for the first year. HCALP supervisors are accompanying
DHS on surveys to learn their process. Providers will be held to home care standards for clients that
receive both home care and HCBS services. Providers will be held to 245D standards for clients only
receiving 245D basic services. One application has been received and is being processed. HCALP
expects to receive more applications this fall since all 245D licenses expire December 31 of each year.
Legislative Updates (Josh Berg)
Next week is the deadline for home care language changes at the division level. HCALP is clarifying
language and doing some “housekeeping”. There are 12-13 HCALP proposals under review.
Medical Cannabis Updates (Josh Berg)
HCALP is meeting with the Office of Medical Cannabis to standardize and coordinate inspections and
answer questions. Medical cannabis is still illegal at the federal level and in circumstances where
federal money is used. The meetings serve to ensure the same terminology, educate stakeholders,
and clarify how to survey providers using medical cannabis.
Next Meetings
Monday, December 7, 2015, 3:00 pm – 5:00 pm. Wilder Foundation, Auditorium A.
Monday, March 7, 2016, 3:00 pm – 5:00 pm. Wilder Foundation, Auditorium A.
Monday, June 6, 2016, 3:00 pm – 5:00 pm. Wilder Foundation, Auditorium A.
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