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External Program Review Committee (EPRC) minutes

Date: Oct. 6, 2022

DSD liaisons: Antonina Puente, Linda Wolford, Stacie Enders, and Ari Dionisopoulos

Type: Whole committee

Attendees: Jodi Greenstein, Kim Frost, Laura Daire, Lindsay Nash, Melanie Eidsmoe, Liz Harri and Mary Piggott

Not present: Danielle Bishop, Dan Baker, Stacy Danov and Susie Haben

Agenda items

Public comments

There were no public comments at this meeting.

Vote

Vote to approve the whole committee meeting minutes from September 2022:

· Jodi Greenstein: yes

· Kim Frost: yes

· Laura Daire: yes

· Lindsay Nash: abstain

· Liz Harri: yes

· Mary Piggott: yes

· Melanie Eidsmoe: yes

Updates to share

Direct care workforce shortage

· DHS has selected two vendors to distribute the training stipends for traditional PCA workers and the bonuses for all workers who have put in two years of service with the same employer.

· There is legislation being proposed in the 2023 session that any bonuses/stipends received by workers does not affect income based programs they may be eligible for, such as housing subsidies, food benefits, etc.

· DHS staff also recommended a proposal to modify the 200% federal poverty level requirement because so few people meet that threshold, which might make it difficult to distribute the funds to direct support professionals.

· The employee-owned cooperatives opportunity will open for applications in early October.

· Many disability and aging services business owners will retire in the next five years. DHS hopes that some of those owners will consider selling their businesses to their employees. Many people have shown interest in the cooperatives project so DHS is hopeful the vendor administering the grant will receive many applications.

· DHS has published a new webpage: Workforce shortage resources for people who use services.

Subcommittee updates

Emergency use of manual restraint subcommittee

The committee discussed the September nursing strike.

· More hospitals have been reaching out to DHS since then.

· The workers went on strike this week, and it was settled on Tuesday.

Discussion

Updating online materials for service providers

The committee will support DHS in improving online information for 245D-licensed service providers, particularly intervention service providers. An inventory of current DHS resources will be available for the committee to review sometime in the next two to three months.

Review of annual recommendations

The committee reviewed recommendations from their most recent annual evaluation report:

· For item #1 there are a couple legislative proposals that will expand access to assistive technology.

· There were no updates for item #2.

· For item #3 the committee noted they have some meetings coming up with providers over the next month.

· The committee will assist DHS with updating online materials and information available to providers. After the materials are updated next year, DHS will want to make sure the information is easily accessible and well known to providers. Since there is approximately a 40% turnover rate with direct caregivers, DHS will start being more intentional about recording trainings so that new workers will have access to the same information as previous workers.

· A legislative proposal related to intervention services will do some of the research needed for item #5. The proposal suggests exploring things like service capacity, streamlined training requirements, more consistency across intervention services, access to services, competitive rate structures, etc. If the proposal is approved, the committee will be asked to give feedback for the study.

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