On Tuesday, Governor Tim Walz announced new measures to address severe staffing shortages affecting the health and safety of older Minnesotans and people with disabilities as the COVID-19 Omicron variant spreads across the state. Tuesday’s actions provide funding for staffing in nursing homes and group home and for in home services for people with disabilities. These providers are grappling with severe workforce emergencies amid rapidly rising COVID-19 caseloads.
The Minnesota Department of Human Services will exercise emergency authority under state law to expedite Medicaid funding to nursing homes and direct support services for people with disabilities facing significant staffing crises in the pandemic. This step, which requires federal approval, will make up to $83 million in state and federal funds available to cover emergency costs that will help providers maintain the workforce.
Nursing homes will also receive a temporary 5% increase on average in state payment rates. This increase gives nursing facilities access to about $52 million in immediate funding while DHS works to set permanent Medicaid rates for 2022 that reflect costs of the pandemic.
Impacted direct support services for people with disabilities will receive a 5% rate increase from March through May, if Minnesota’s action receives federal approval and is intended for staff hiring and retention incentives.
The Walz-Flanagan Administration’s multi-faceted action plan for long term care includes training and deploying 1,000 new certified nursing assistants to long term care facilities; distributing $50 million in federal American Rescue Plan funding to long term care facilities to hire and retain employees and deploying more than 350 National Guard members to provide staffing support at long term care facilities. A state emergency staffing pool for residential service providers experiencing staffing shortages due to COVID-19 ended at the end of December.