AITKIN – Reps. Dale Lueck, R-Aitkin, and Joe Schomacker, R-Luverne, chairman the House Aging and Long-Term Care Policy Committee, met with Shelly Hanneken, administrator at Aitkin Health Services, to discuss nursing home issues Monday.
Last year, Lueck and Schomacker successfully worked to pass legislation that increased support for Minnesota’s nursing homes.
“We have made progress in the area of elder care but it’s clear we have more to do,” Lueck said, “We are getting feedback that the support is helping, but as Shelly has outlined for us today, we still face challenges. Staffing issues remain an especially task for our smaller rural nursing home facilities to manage.”
During 2015 budget session, the Legislature passed a major reform to the nursing home rate structure and added an additional $138 million in new money in support of the reform. The new rate structure and additional funding went into effect last January.
Despite the changes only having been in effect for less than a year, Lueck and Schomacker said they already are looking closely to see what the impact of those changes are and if any additional adjustments will be needed in the future.
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