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External Program Review Committee (EPRC) agenda

Date: 2-4 p.m. on April 6, 2023
DSD liaisons: Stacie Enders, Linda Wolford and Ari Dionisopoulos
Type: Whole committee
Location: Room 2222, Elmer L. Andersen Building, 540 Cedar St., St. Paul, MN 55101
Meeting link: Webex
Access code: 2486 040 8341
Accommodations: If you need an accommodation for this meeting, you must notify a DSD liaison three days before the meeting. Email PositiveSupports@state.mn.us or call (651) 431-4300.

Common acronyms used by the committee

We ask committee members to avoid the use of acronyms. Here are common acronyms:

· BIRF: DHS form 5148: Behavioral Intervention Report Form

· CABC: Context, antecedent, behavior, consequence

· DEED: Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development

· DHS: Minnesota Department of Human Services

· DLI: Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry

· DSD: Disability Services Division

· DSP: Direct support professional

· EUMR: Emergency use of manual restraint

· FBA: Functional behavior assessment

· HCBS: Home and community-based services

· IRP: Interim Review Panel (Predecessor to the EPRC)

· MDH: Minnesota Department of Health

· PCA: Personal care assistant

· PSR: Positive Supports Rule: Minnesota Rule 9544

· PSTP: DHS form 6810: Positive Support Transition Plan

General reminders for committee members

Before speaking, please state your name. Committee members are expected to:

· Be on time.

· Read the minutes, agenda and supporting documents before each meeting.

· Participate in ideas and conversations, as well as pause to allow others to share input.

· Commit to spending the whole meeting time present and not engage in other activities during the meeting.

Technology

The first few minutes of every meeting will be dedicated to addressing any connectivity issues, to ensure everyone can hear other meeting participants.

Agenda items

Public comments

The committee encourages public participants to share their thoughts and ask questions about committee activities at the beginning of each meeting. The committee will continue on to the next agenda item when either 1) 30 minutes have passed or 2) when there are no additional comments or questions, whichever comes first.

Vote

The committee will discuss the minutes from March and vote.

Updates to share

May meeting

The committee will have a guest speaker in May, Sherray Greene, who will share information about Minnesota’s Mobile Crisis Mental Health Services. The committee might want to consider adding information about these services to the PSTP template to ensure all teams are informed about these resources now that there is one centralized statewide call line.

Direct care workforce shortage

· The DHS Odyssey Conference this year will include two sessions related to the workforce shortage: one will cover data and trends, and the other will cover promising practices.

· HCBS Workforce Development Grants: These grants continue to move forward. The new webpage to apply for the PCA training stipend is now available and the vendor has started accepting applications.

Several legislative proposals were shared at last month’s meeting. Below are several more. This list is not comprehensive:

Mental health and substance use disorder

· Education center to recruit and build workforce (see line 7.17)

· Mental health professional scholarship grant program (line 9.7)

· Training program for direct care professionals in children’s mental health treatment settings (line 11.19)

Governor’s budget bill

· Grants for recruiting new Americans into the workforce (line 8.10)

· Rate increase for positive support services (line 26.5)

· Increase for the competitive workforce factor (lines 8.4, 30.30, etc.)

· Service component increase for PCA (line 37.24) and staggered wages to match years of experience (line 38.1)

· Changes to rate setting methods (line 46.7)

· Other rate increases (multiple areas)

Amendment to the Governor's bill

· Requires minimum percentages of rates to go towards staff compensation (line 5.6)

· Expansion to the rate exception process for the elderly waiver (line 7.1)

· Increase for Consumer-Directed Community Supports by 8.49% (line 9.20)

Expansion of the Direct Care Service Corps pilot project

Minnesota Department of Health (MDH)

· MDH submitted a disability health equity proposal to collect and publish aggregate data on the experiences of people with disabilities. If this bill passes, it will include funding for a health report, surveillance plan, community needs assessment and more.

Subcommittee updates

Requests for approval subcommittee

This subcommittee recently recommended teaching toleration as a strategy for phasing out mechanical restraint. They also recommended more closely tying communication skills training to the phase out of restraint.

Emergency use of manual restraint subcommittee

There is a new group of ten trauma-informed supports trainers that will be announced in an eList sometime this summer. These trainers will be available to providers to help them build their teams’ skills.

Discussion

Review of annual recommendations

The committee will continue reviewing their Olmstead report draft. Last month they wanted more time to think about how we can better support kids who engage in challenging behaviors. Sometimes families might need interpreters, and needed supports can vary by culture. The BIPOC population seems to be overrepresented with this group. What more can be done to help kids stay with their parents? What do budgets look like in family homes versus what group homes receive? What training is available to parents? Are respite services adequate? What home modifications could be made, and what is covered by benefits? When 2:1 staffing isn’t enough, what more can be done? Could the Culture of Safety Group be helpful with some of these cases?

MDH is putting together a new workgroup to look into this topic with interested parties, so the committee may want to follow that group, rather than duplicate this work.

Closing

Members are invited to share additional updates and to recommend topics for upcoming committee meetings.

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