ST. PAUL, MN – The Senate today passed a comprehensive health and human services reform bill. The bill passed 61-5 with broad, bipartisan support. This legislation addresses critical short-term and long-term staffing challenges facing personal care assistants, direct support professionals, nursing homes, and assisted living and intermediate care facilities. 

As a result of Covid and its after-effects, many of these facilities continue to face stress as staffing shortages have ravaged the industry. There are currently about 23,000 open positions in Minnesota’s long-term care industry. This crisis is compounded by the closures of residential providers, which drive individuals to other facilities already facing staffing shortages. This assistance will help prevent many facilities from closing and ensure individuals have access to these essential services. 

“This funding will help ensure nursing homes, long-term care facilities, and group homes have resources available to provide the staff necessary to care for senior citizens and Minnesotans with disabilities,” Senate Majority Leader Jeremy Miller (R-Winona) said. “There is an overwhelmingly large gap in the long-term care workforce, and this funding incentivizes retention and recruitment to fill these spaces. These homes serve our most vulnerable citizens, who deserve high-quality care without interruption. Senate Republicans support those working in these facilities so that residents can continue to have access to the care they deserve.” 

This legislation includes a $1 billion surplus priority, introduced by Senator Jim Abeler (R-Anoka), for rate increases for Minnesota’s long-term care, personal care, and disability waiver rate service industries. This is in addition to the $322 million rescue package to address the staffing crisis facing care facilities, which was introduced earlier this session by Senator Karin Housley (R-Stillwater).

Under the comprehensive health and human services reform bill, Personal Care Assistance (PCA) providers would get approximately 10% in pay raises, which is twice the amount of the governor’s proposal.  Intermediate care facilities would also finally have a stable funding formula to provide health or rehabilitative services for people with developmental disabilities.

“The long-term care industry continues to be besieged by lack of staff and faces a dire emergency situation,” Abeler said. “I strongly believe there is no higher priority than ensuring the care and safety of our seniors and persons with disabilities, and our budget priority will ensure that the essential services Minnesota’s most vulnerable people rely upon are protected. These rate increases will lead providers to raise wages and benefits for staff.”

This bill also appropriate $253 million for rate increases for disability waiver rate service providers so they have the resources to offer competitive pay to their employees. These services help adults with disabilities live with independence and are at great risk of closure without this additional support. 

Additionally, it provides $90 million for included for rate increases for providers of skilled nurse visits, home health aide visits, home care nursing, and home care therapy services. Further, the bill contains $7.8 million is appropriated for rate increases for homemaker services providers, which includes cleaning, home management, and assistance with activities of daily living (ADLs) services.

Other notable provisions include:

• SF 3195 (Housley) Nursing Facility Rate Increases: $225 million for rate increases for nursing facilities so they can offer competitive pay and continue to offer seniors the support they need.
• SF 2967 (Utke) Personal Care Assistant (PCA) Rate Increases: $185 million to increase rates for PCAs, who aid and support persons with disabilities, living independently in the community.
• SF 2999 (Hoffman) Non-Emergency Medical Transportation (NEMT) Rate Increases: $17.9 million for rate increases for NEMT staff, who provide Medical Assistance (MA) members with the safest, most appropriate, and cost-effective mode of transportation to get to and from nonemergency medical service appointments.
  • NEMT also receives $676,000 to fund a fuel rate adjustment.
• SF 2845 (Abeler): Establish the Department of Behavioral Health: Move the services for those with mental or behavioral health needs to its own agency. This will give these communities greater attention and support from a cabinet level agency and help increase accountability and transparency to protect taxpayer resources.
• (Abeler) Grants for Residential Facilities at Risk of Closure: $20 million is included to establish a new grant program for residential facilities. This will help keep these facilities open long enough to either resolve their financial issues or provide residents the opportunity to find a new living situation.

Additionally, the package includes are a number of provisions originating from the Senate Health and Human Services Committee. Of note is the inclusion of interstate compact agreements for nurses, counselors, and speech language pathologists.

“Nurses are the conduit to healthcare, and we are currently suffering from a nationwide shortage of nurses,” said Senator Paul Utke (R-Park Rapids), chairman of the Senate Health and Human Service Committee. “We want to make it easier for nurses to move to Minnesota to work and care for patients in this mobile economy. Oftentimes, nurses are trained in Minnesota, but will get licensed in another state that is part of the compact, solely so they have the freedom to move between all states involved in the compact. Entering this compact is a win-win for nurses and patients: it provides relief for over-worked nurses by allowing out-of-state nurses to work here without getting relicensed, and it allows patients to continue receiving high-quality care.”

The bill also streamlines fingerprinting for licensed individuals, updates requirements for the EMSRB board, allows pharmacists to perform lab tests and administer certain vaccines, and creates a 90-day temporary permit for licensed individuals to practice medicine in Minnesota to ensure new hires are eligible to work as quickly as possible. 

“These provisions are aimed specifically at ensuring folks across the state have access to high-quality medical care and services,” Utke said. “By integrating innovative compact agreements into the bill, we are making Minnesota a desirable place to work for those in healthcare fields. Our State has world class healthcare, and we want that to continue long into the future.”