External Program Review Committee (EPRC) agenda

Date: Oct. 2, 2025
DSD liaisons: Stacie Enders, Jessica Little, Ariana Dionisopoulos
Type: Whole committee
Attendees: Kim Frost, Laura Daire, Jodi Greenstein, Brenda Kinney, Sharon Momanyi and Karen Golombecki
Not present: Daniel Baker, Antonina Puente, Danielle Bishop, Susie Haben, Melanie Eidsmoe, Lindsay Nash

Agenda items

Vote

We were unable to vote on the September 2025 minutes because we did not have a quorum.

Updates to share

Please see the agenda for additional information.

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).

· The WC Regional Capacity Workgroup had a guest speaker, Kassi, present on wraparound services for families – this supports families in navigating education and disability systems to collaborate and advocate for a child’s success. They inquired what Minnesota is doing in regards to wraparound services and if there were any contacts or resources in that region. Rachel Freeman was present and discussed that this is something worth maybe being a hot topic to have a statewide discussion and bring this to Minnesota as an interest.  She also mentioned that other states, not including Minnesota, have wraparound services as a waivered service. I reached out to Stacy Danov, but she sent different information (wraparound with systems of care) so I’ll connect with her on Friday when we meet to discuss these meetings.

· Helpful to further define what wraparound services include – Minnesota may have wraparound services just defined in a different way or available through different service options.

· When discussing adding wraparound service, we are discouraged from duplicating services.

· The TC Regional Capacity Workgroup discussed the Tiered Onsite Evaluation Tool (TOET) TOET Training - Positive Supports Minnesota, which could guide teams that are implementing core features of organizationwide, person-centered positive supports into their human service organization. Teams can use this evaluation tool to establish baseline goals and track progress.

Simplify and organize online DHS materials and training resources related to positive support services

Committee reviewed the transcript for 245D 9544 training.

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

No additional discussion.

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 goal

· The committee’s goal is: Create and maintain training materials as needs are discovered and as project opportunities emerge. Some projects may include: PSTP examples, reinforcement (token) programs, implementing Minnesota Rule 9544 for 245D-licensed providers, trainings for specific behaviors or disorders (PICA, fecal smearing, self-harm ingestion), and relating that to state 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 will likely be posted online by the end of October.

Closing

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