The Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) hosted a six-hour meeting on August 10 to discuss how the mandatory transitional consultation legislative language passed in the special legislative session could be implemented. Approximately 60 stakeholders participated in the meeting, including Care Providers of Minnesota members Jeanne Jaeckels, the corporate housing director of Tealwood Care Centers and Cathy Clairmont, the chair of our Housing and Community-Based Services Cabinet; Association staff Heidi Holste and Phil Manz; DHS staff; Senior Linkage Line staff; Area Agencies on Aging staff; and our partners in the Long-Term Care Imperative. The Long-Term Care Imperative submitted a four-page list of questions in advance of the meeting. The Minnesota Board on Aging (MBA), stationed within DHS, distributed a 14-page document, “Long Term Consultation Expansion to Housing with Services,” which you can access at our website here. As you read the three-page introduction and 11 pages of questions and answers, you will note that specifics for some of the answers are awaiting further review. While significant progress was made at the meeting in the area of diagramming and thinking through the various protocols and tools used by the Senior LinkAge Line®, some major issues still need to be addressed:

1) Accessing consultation with the Senior LinkAge Line

A number of questions were raised about how a prospective resident, their loved one, or a power of attorney would access the Senior LinkAge Line to participate in the consultation. For example, how would a prospective resident being discharged from a hospital on an early Friday evening contact the Senior LinkAge Line after they have closed for the week?

2) Verifying consultation with Senior LinkAge Line — likely through a verification number needed to access housing with services.

Operating under the assumption that a verification number would be generated to signal completion of the consultation process with the Senior LinkAge Line, the questions turned to how long this number would be considered effective, who would have access to the number and how the number is shared among respective parties to show compliance with the law.

3) How much information and in what format do providers post their prices?

DHS staff were suggesting that providers would need to complete a monthly expense cost calculator, which is available through the Live Well at Home website. Our prompt and assertive reply was that providers were already providing this information in the Minnesota Uniform Consumer Information Guide. DHS expressed a willingness to work with provider groups to further address this issue.

Note that if you go to the Live Well at Home website, you will also find other links, including one to a risk screen that can determine how well callers are managing activities of daily living, whether they have access to caregivers, and other resources to support daily living.

With the first public meeting on the insertion of mandatory transitional consultation into the long-term care consultation process commencing on August 18 (see separate story), we anticipate there will be a number of revisions and potentially unintended consequences to this process. We urge members to call us with questions or observations about the implementation of this process, which is proceeding very rapidly.

Phil Manz
952.851.2484
pmanz@careproviders.org

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