The Minnesota Senate this week approved the budget bill of the Human Services Committee to help stabilize the state’s struggling long-term care facilities. This legislation provides significant resources for disability and long-term care services, representing an investment in some of Minnesota’s most vulnerable communities.
Highlights of this legislation include:
- Increased funding for elderly and disability services.
- Additional funding for a grant program to provide for state-funded home and community-based services (HCBS) in rural and underserved communities.
- Establish a new grant program for HCBS providers to recruit and retain direct support workers by providing retention bonuses of up to $1,000 per year and other employee benefits.
“This bill has many highlights that prioritize some of our state’s most vulnerable populations, but I am disappointed we couldn’t get more done to address the nursing home crisis,” said Senator Michael Kreun (R-Blaine). “We have a historic surplus, yet the Democrat leadership and the Governor were unwilling to provide the budget targets to Human Services to address nursing home staffing shortages. This is a pressing issue – one which forces seniors to pay the price of the state’s inaction. While this is a good bill, it could have been better. We owe it to our seniors and nursing home staff to address this problem as soon as possible. I am hopeful that we will be able to revisit this discussion before session adjourns.”
The Human Services budget bill still does not adequately address the severe workforce shortage issues for nursing homes, which have been closing down due to significant pressures driven by decisions made at the state level. Without adequate staffing, nursing homes have been forced to turn away seniors in need.
According to Leading Age, in October 2022, 11,000 seniors were turned away from long term care – including thousands of seniors who were turned away from nursing homes because they couldn’t hire enough staff to ensure quality and safe care. Further, more than 20% of staffing positions are unfilled, leaving the care facilities that are open shorthanded and overworked. This can lead to diminished care for seniors in need – seniors who deserve to be treated with dignity and respect.
In Minnesota alone, there has been the equivalent of 45 nursing home closures. When nursing homes close, hospital patients who are ready to transition to nursing home care are forced to stay in hospitals, where they pay higher rates for their care, or families rush to find space for their loved ones and are sometimes forced to move them many miles from the people and places they love.