April 28, 2022
On April 26, the Senate passed SF4410, the Health and Human Services (HHS) omnibus bill, which includes $1 billion for the state’s long-term care, personal care, and disability waiver rate service industries, and an additional $322 million rescue package to address staffing and other workforce shortages in care facilities.
In a press release, the Minnesota Senate Republican caucus cited 23,000 open caregiver positions in Minnesota’s long-term care industry, specifically mentioning personal care assistant and direct support staff shortages in assisted living facilities, intermediate care centers, and nursing homes. This effort was led by Sen. Jim Abeler (R-Anoka) and Sen. Karin Housley (R-Stillwater).
The Senate omnibus bill also includes language that would add Minnesota to the interstate nurse licensure compact, a nationwide agreement allowing nurses in other states to obtain one license to be valid across all member states. This is strongly supported by many of the state’s healthcare systems and strongly opposed by the Minnesota Nurses Association.
One item in the bill that the MMA supports is language to ensure patients with chronic pain continue to have access to needed, ongoing opioids. Efforts to reduce the overuse of opioids have resulted in patients being forced to taper their opioid dosages, even when it isn’t in their best interest.
The bill also includes provisions to allow pharmacist and pharmacist techs to perform lab tests and administer certain vaccines under protocol, to streamline the criminal background check process for healthcare workers, and to implement a temporary 90-day license for individuals licensed in another jurisdiction but new to practicing medicine in Minnesota.
The House HHS omnibus bill passed the Ways and Means Committee on April 27 and will likely go to a floor vote next week. The House bill, which is larger both in length and the amount of money it spends, will eventually need to be reconciled with the Senate bill if they are to pass into law.
May 1, 2025
Threatened cuts by the Federal government could significantly affect how healthcare is delivered in Minnesota, top state healthcare officials said in an online forum held May 1.
May 1, 2025
On April 30, MMA President Edwin Bogonko, MD, MBA, presented the Exceptional Primary Care Community Faculty Teaching Award to Ryan McFarland, MD, and Sarah McFarland, MD, at the seventh-annual Dean’s Tribute to Excellence in Education event at the Bell Museum in St. Paul.
May 1, 2025
Best-selling author Elisabeth Rosenthal, MD, will discuss how physicians are at the crossroads of U.S. healthcare, at the MMA’s 2025 “Empowering Physicians: A Night of Learning & Connection” event on Friday, September 26, at the Hewing Hotel in downtown Minneapolis.