Blogs

DHS Updates DWRS Component Values Table for 2024

By Ken Bence posted 10-17-2023
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You may have seen the bulletin from DHS, dated October 17, that announced the release of the DWRS component values that go into effect on January 1, 2024. DHS will include the new component values in the December updates of the MnCHOICES Support Plan and revised MnCHOICES applications. These systems will start using the new values on a rolling basis as service authorizations change or renew. As background, the 2023 Legislature required DHS to update some cost factors in the Disability Waiver Rate System (DWRS), effective January 1, 2024 or upon federal approval*. See Minn. Stat. §256B.4914, subd. 5 . The component value changes for services include: ...
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2024 DWRS Rate Increases Explained and Tools Provided

By Ken Bence posted 07-07-2023
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As you are hopefully aware at this point, the 2023 legislative session outcomes included some pretty significant changes to the Disability Waiver Rate System (DWRS) component values and the schedule of updates, which will result in rate increases beginning in 2024. That's good news! Following is a digest of those changes. Read to the end to learn about new tools available to help you see the impacts for your organization. The wage component values in the DWRS rate frameworks are set in statute, and are based on Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) codes, which are published annually by the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). While specific SOC ...
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CMS Proposed Access Rule: Public Comments Due July 3

By Ken Bence posted 06-20-2023
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As you may be aware, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a notice of proposed rulemaking early last month that broadly seeks to improve access to care and better address health equity issues in the Medicaid program. Entitled Ensuring Access to Medicaid Services , many provisions of the proposed rule apply to home and community-based services. ANCOR, our national association, has been taking the lead on evaluating the proposed rule, communicating its content to member organizations, gathering feedback, and developing resources to facilitate the submission of comments during the public comment period, which closes on July 3. ANCOR’s ...
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2023 Legislative Wins

By Sue Schettle posted 05-22-2023
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ARRM Members, Going into the 2023 legislative session, ARRM had an ambitious legislative agenda. Six separate pieces of legislation were introduced, dealing with a variety of issues from sustainable rate adjustments for waiver and ICF/DD services to licensing changes, service delivery modifications, and recruitment and retention grants; all with the common goal to make a positive impact on the workforce crisis we are facing within disability services. I am happy to share that while not all our priorities made it across the finish line this session, many important funding and policy provisions were included in the final Human Service Conference Committee ...
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Final Day of the 2023 Legislative Session

By Sara Grafstrom posted 05-22-2023
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Today marks the last day of the 2023 Legislative Session and while there are still a few outstanding items for the legislature to act on today. The Human Service bill, which contains most of the provisions that impact ARRM members, passed off the House and Senate floor last Friday. In the coming days, ARRM staff will be working on compiling a complete analysis of the provisions contained within the bill and the impact they will have on people with disabilities and service providers. In the meantime, last Friday, ARRM CEO Sue Schettle sent out a quick rundown of some major successes to ARRM member organizational leadership that I wanted to re-share with everyone. ...
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Final Human Service Conference Committee Budget Spreadsheet Available

By Sara Grafstrom posted 05-14-2023
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Late Sunday evening the final spreadsheet for the Human Service Conference Committee report was made available; bill language has not been made available, so we do not have the details of the proposals that were included. However, below is a high-level analysis of ARRM Legislative Agenda priorities that made it into the final bill and the level of funding each proposal received: Modifications to the DWRS Inflation Adjustments: $87 million in the first biennium/ $225 million in the second biennium ICF/DD Rate Modifications: $10 million in the first biennium/ $15 million in the second biennium Workforce Incentive Grants for Long Term Services and Supports- ...
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CMS Approves the Latest Amendments to the DD Waiver

By Ken Bence posted 05-09-2023
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You may recall that DHS issued proposed amendments to the Developmental Disabilities (DD) waiver in January, with a 30-day public comment period that closed on February 16. ARRM submitted written comments with input from many of you, as did several provider organizations. DHS issued a bulletin on May 9 announcing that CMS approved the waiver amendment package on April 19, along with a summary list of changes and clarifications . While we didn’t support all the changes DHS proposed and CMS approved, and we proposed additional changes that were not included, the list shows that there were numerous adjustments made to the final language based on feedback they ...
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Legislative Update: Two weeks left of session, Human Service Conference Committee begins meeting

By Sara Grafstrom posted 05-07-2023
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The Human Service Conference Committee began meeting last week with the first hearing on Tuesday featuring a walk through of the House, Senate and Governor’s proposals and public testimony taken during the Wednesday hearing. Along with ARRM’s letter submitted to conferees last week, I also provided public testimony and spoke to the need to raise reimbursement rates for waiver and ICF/DD services. The committee is waiting on updated numbers from the Department of Human Services to some of the proposals in their bill and is not planning to meet again until those numbers are provided. As a reminder, the last day of session is just two weeks away, on Monday, ...
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Human Service Conference Committee begins meeting this week

By Sara Grafstrom posted 05-01-2023
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Last week the House passed the Human Service Omnibus bill off the House floor. With the passage of this bill, a Conference Committee has now been formed to work out the differences between the House and Senate proposal and develop a final Human Service budget omnibus bill. Conference Committee members include: Chair Senator John Hoffman Senator Omar Fateh Senator Jim Abeler Chair Representative Mohamed Noor Representative Peter Fischer Representative Dave Baker The first Conference Committee hearing will take place Tuesday, May 2 nd and will be an informational walk through of each proposal. We are anticipating the next hearing, scheduled ...
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Legislative Update: Human Service Omnibus on House floor Tuesday

By Sara Grafstrom posted 04-24-2023
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Last week, the Senate Human Service Omnibus bill was passed off the Senate floor with a vote of 63-4. ARRM released this action alert , thanking Senators for their support of this bill and the important provisions that would increase funding for disability waiver services and services provided in an ICF/DD. If you have not had an opportunity to respond to the action alert, please do so today! Looking ahead to this week, the Human Service Omnibus bill will be debated on the House floor this Tuesday, April 25 th . Following passage on the House floor, a conference committee made up of members of the Senate and House will be formed to develop a joint Human Service ...
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Human Service Bill heads to the Senate Floor

By Sara Grafstrom posted 04-16-2023
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As we move towards the end of session, legislative action directly impacting ARRM members becomes less frequent as attention turns toward the passage of omnibus bills. You can review here what is and is not included in the House and Senate Human Service Omnibus bills. Last week, the Senate Finance Committee heard and passed out of committee the Human Service Omnibus bill. The bill is tentatively scheduled to be heard on the Senate floor this coming Tuesday, April 18 th . In the House, we are still waiting an official scheduling notification for the Human Service bill to be heard in the Ways and Means Committee; this will be the final committee stop before ...
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Human Service Omnibus Bills Released in the House and Senate

By Sara Grafstrom posted 04-02-2023
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Human Service Omnibus bill were released in both the House and the Senate last week, while each bill contains many funding proposals that would impact people with disabilities or their support providers, below are the proposals most relevant to ARRM members. House What’s Included: · Elimination of the need for a separate license or variance when supporting individuals in a Community Residential Setting through Alternative Overnight Supervision with Technology. (ARRM Legislative Agenda Item, will cost $315 thousand in the first biennium (24/25) and $330 thousand in the second(26/27) · $35 million in one-time grants for providers ...
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Big Week at the Capitol Coming up: Omnibus Bills Released and Disability Services Day at the Capitol

By Sara Grafstrom posted 03-26-2023
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The second committee deadline came and went last Friday, and the legislature will now turn to the crafting and passage of their committee omnibus bills. In both the House and Senate we anticipate the Human Service Omnibus bill package to be released on Monday, March 27 th . Below are the schedules as they have been announced: · House o Monday, March 27 th : Omnibus bill released o Tuesday, March 28 th : Public Testimony on Omnibus bill o Wednesday, March 29 th : Amendment deadline at 1:00 pm o Thursday, March 30 th : Final bill passage · Senate o Tuesday, or Wednesday March 28 or ...
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Important Information on the Medicaid Enrollment "Unwinding"

By Ken Bence posted 03-23-2023
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As you are undoubtedly aware, early in the pandemic, the federal government declared a public health emergency (PHE) and passed laws that provided increased Medicaid funding to states, in return for which they were prohibited from disenrolling people off their Medicaid rolls. Late last year, the federal government separated the continuous Medicaid enrollment from the PHE and established a schedule of "unwinding," or resuming eligibility redeterminations beginning April 1. This means that there is a possibility that people currently on Medicaid waivers could lose their Medicaid eligibility on their next anniversary. What can residential providers do? You ...
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Committee Targets Released, Second Deadline this Friday

By Sara Grafstrom posted 03-21-2023
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As we move into second committee deadline, this last week and a half has seen a lot of action on ARRM’s legislative priorities and overall budget work at the Capitol. On Wednesday, three of ARRM’s legislative priorities were heard in the Senate Human Service Committee. The following bills were heard and laid over for possible inclusion in the Human Service Omnibus bill: SF 1015 (Best Life Alliance DWRS Rate Legislation) SF 1009 (Integrated Community Supports service changes) SF 654 (IHST Service Changes) In the House, ARRM’s Workforce Recruitment and Retention grant language received its third hearing, being heard in the Workforce Development Policy ...
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Legislature hits first committee deadline, ARRM’s bills continue to move forward

By Sara Grafstrom posted 03-10-2023
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Friday, March 10 th marked the first committee deadline. In order for a bill to "meet first deadline", it must be acted favorably on in the house of origin. The second deadline, which is set for Friday, March 24th is for committees to act favorably on bills, or companions of bills, that met the first deadline in the other house; and the third deadline, scheduled for Tuesday, April 4 th , is for committees to act favorably on major appropriation and finance bills. All of ARRM’s bills have met the first deadline and we are working on finalizing hearings for the bills that still need to be heard in order to meet the second deadline. Here is a brief update ...
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Updated Budget Forecast shows Minnesota Remains Financially Strong

By Sara Grafstrom posted 03-05-2023
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Last Monday, the updated state budget forecast was released. The forecast showed that Minnesota remains in a solid financial situation with the overall budget surplus not changing significantly, compared to the previously released forecast at the beginning of December. The budget surplus is now at $17.5 billion, down slightly from the November forecast, however, it is notable that a recent change in law now requires inflation to be factored into the forecast. With the release of the updated forecast, both House and Senate leadership will now turn to the setting of committee budget targets. ARRM recently put out an action alert directed at Speaker Hortman and ...
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Short week at the Capitol, ARRM's bill continue to receive hearings

By Sara Grafstrom posted 02-24-2023
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It was a short week at the Capitol, with the legislature closing Wednesday through Friday in preparation for the impending snowstorm. Despite only two working days, ARRM had four bills heard from our legislative agenda and supported an amendment added to the Paid Family Leave bill in the Senate. Paid Family Leave (HF 2/SF 2) On Monday, the Senate Human Services Committee heard testimony from Medicaid reimbursed provider organizations including ARRM, MOHR, The Long Term Care Imperative and SEIU members. Ken Bence, ARRM’s Director of Research, Analysis and Policy as well as Phil Griffin provided testimony on behalf of ARRM. At the end of the hearing, the ...
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ARRM's bills begin receiving hearings in the Senate, Busy week Ahead!

By Sara Grafstrom posted 02-19-2023
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With only three weeks left until the first committee deadline, ARRM’s legislative priorities continue to receive hearings in both the House and Senate. Last week, two of ARRM’s bills got their first hearing in the Senate Human Services Committee. Our proposals that would increase rates for ICFs (SF 756) as well as our bill that would change licensing requirements for AOST (SF 758) were heard and laid over for possible inclusion in the Senate Human Service Omnibus bill. On Thursday, the House Human Service Finance Committee held a hearing on HF 2, the Paid Family Leave proposal. ARRM’s contract lobbyist, Phil Griffin, testified on behalf of ARRM and stressed ...
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ARRM Meets on Paid Family Leave, ARRM Priorities Continue to Advance

By Sara Grafstrom posted 02-13-2023
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Last week, three of ARRM’s legislative priorities received a hearing in the House Human Service Policy committee. Bills heard include: · AOST Licensing Requirement Changes (HF 339) · IHST Service Changes (HF 716) · Workforce Recruitment and Retention Grants (HF 813) Each bill had good discussion and general support from committee members. All three bill were re-referred to the Human Services Finance Committee where they are awaiting a second hearing. You can view the full hearing here . ARRM also submitted this letter last week to leadership in the House and Senate in response to the Paid Family Leave legislation ...
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