External Program Review Committee (EPRC) agenda

Date: 2-4 p.m. on Oct. 2, 2025
DSD liaisons: Jessica Little 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: 2482 703 7275
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

· CFSS: Community First Services and Supports

· 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 and vote on the minutes from September 2025.

Updates to share

Regional positive support capacity building meetings: Committee members are invited to give any updates they may have on this topic. More information can be found at: Regional Capacity Building – Positive Supports (qualitycouncilmn.org).

Simplify and organize online DHS materials and training resources related to positive support services: As noted below in the discussion section, the new consolidated training on Minnesota Rule 9544 for 245D-licensed providers is ready for committee review.

Intervention services redesign: The project continues to move forward. This month, the draft service design was shared with DHS leadership from multiple divisions, and a request was submitted to the Institutional Review Board to get approval for sending out the related survey.

Direct care workforce shortage:

· In September, DHS and the governor celebrated Direct Support Professional Recognition Week:

o Proclamation

o Facebook post

o X post

· DHS and MDH staff did not have their workforce meeting this month so that staff had time to attend Workplace Rights Week events.

· The Governor’s Workforce Development Board is developing multi-agency recommendations to address the direct care workforce shortage. They recently reached out to Stacie Enders to align their recommendations with other groups working on the shortage.

· DEED welcomes employers to contact them if they would like to participate in a job fair. Employers can either contact their local CareerForce center or email Liz.jennings@state.mn.us.

· This article discusses median and range caregiving wages compared to other industries: Northeast Region / DEED

Subcommittee updates

Requests for approval subcommittee

This subcommittee has recently seen some successful phase-outs and reductions in mechanical restraint.

Emergency use of manual restraint subcommittee

This subcommittee has been conducting business as usual.

Discussion

Group review of draft training on Minnesota Rule 9544

The committee will give feedback to DHS on the training draft. The draft will be turned into a video (similar to this video) and will also be posted in a written format to accommodate different learning styles.

Annual goals

· The committee will review their 2025 goal: Create and maintain training materials as needs are discovered and as project opportunities emerge. Some projects may include: PSTP examples, reinforcement (token) programs, implementing 9544 for 245D providers, trainings for specific behaviors or disorders (PICA, fecal smearing, self-harm ingestion) and relating that to Minnesota regulations.

· The new tool for supporting communication skill building has received approval from all parties and is with the DHS eDocs team for form development. It likely will be posted online by the end of October.

Closing

Committee members are welcome to ask questions or bring up other topics for discussion.