The group focused its discussion on how to prioritize decisions, how to distill information so that members will learn what they need to know when they need to know it in a format that is easy to use, and find out where there may be opportunities to shape the implementation.

Over the next few weeks, staff will be developing implementation timelines to include the key dates and items that will require action on the part of members, along with a corresponding list of webinars and educational opportunities to provide guidance to members on their action steps. We will also be developing a legislative issues list that will be forwarded to the Legislative Forum for discussion. It became clear to us that some of the new federal mandates could actually provide us with opportunities.

Here are two examples:

1. As part of the new 2010 Affordable Care Act, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will soon release to all States and U.S. Territories a solicitation to apply for Federal funds for a multi-year national background check program for several long-term care facilities and providers. A total of $3 million for FY 2010-2012 will be available for most States. A 25% non-federal match is required, and the match may be rendered through methods typically applied under Medicaid, including donations. (Further information about this new initiative, as well as a prior background check pilot program and evaluation may be accessed here.)

While Minnesota has had a long-running criminal background check system that is not the financial responsibility of its providers, there have been many concerns expressed about timeliness of the responses, as well as the lack of important information, such as crimes committed in other states. We will be meeting with the state to discuss opportunities to improve our system when applying for these federal funds.

2. Health insurance coverage is not a mandate until 2014; however, the “ramp-up” for employers actually begins this year with some information required to be submitted to the IRS. The Care Center of the Future group (representatives from the two associations, Departments of Human Services and Health make up the steering committee) will be spending time this summer looking at the potential costs to the state to provide some level of health insurance coverage that would comply with the law. In the meantime, because the Governor and State Legislature are supposed to do planning budgets out past the current biennium, the next legislative session will be devoted to budget development for FY2012-2013 (which starts on July 1, 2011) as well as a forecasted budget for FY2014 to 2015, so we need to work on our own version of estimates for health insurance coverage and/or costs to pay the penalties - if coverage is not feasible. Yes, it will be expensive, but if we could develop a mechanism somehow combining the federal incentives with state insurance pools to bring down the costs to provide employees with health insurance, it would be a good thing for employee recruitment and retention.

Stay tuned. As we develop documents, we will send them out as well as post them on our website page devoted to health care reform. If you have any questions or suggestions of topics that should be covered by the Sub-Committee sooner rather than later, let me know.