Advisory Task Force on Waiver Reimagine meeting summary

Jan. 27, 2026

Attendees

DHS and contractors: Calla Oftedahl, Adrienne Hannert, Anna Yesberger, Frances Van Houten, Katie Pratt, Elian Sorensen

Advisory Task Force on Waiver Reimagine: Rev. Katrin Bachmeier, Jennifer Ballinger, Tricia Brisbine, Rep. Brion Curran, Kris Erickson, Linda Fairchild, Heidi Hamilton, Lisa Harrison-Hadler, Dr. Katrina Jirik, Jenna Johnson, Julie Johnson, Meredith McKinnon, Sen. Jordan Rasmusson, Gretchen Spier, Mike Tessneer, Mor Vue, Linda Wolford

Meeting highlights

Welcome

· Members of the Advisory Task Force on Waiver Reimagine (ATFWR) got together for their third meeting, held virtually via Cisco Webex.

· Frances Van Houten, the meeting facilitator, gave a general overview of the meeting agenda and shared attendee expectations.

Meeting objectives

· There were five goals for the meeting:

Task Force members would give introductions.

DHS would share updates on key dates and the Waiver Reimagine (WR) work plan.

Frances would explain the “Letters to the Task Force” plan.

Work groups would learn their next steps.

Task Force members would gain clarity on areas of agreement.

MN DHS updates

· Calla Oftedahl and Mor Vue provided updates on behalf of DHS.

· There is a change in the WR timeline. Initially, DHS planned to release the draft waiver for public comment in January 2026; however, this was pushed to April 2026 because more time is needed to gather financial information from the Human Services Research Institute (HSRI), the vendor helping to create a statewide individualized budget funding model. As a result, DHS now plans to send the waiver application to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) in July 2026.

· In November 2025, the MnCHOICES vendor notified DHS about a suspected data breach. When the State investigated the matter, no evidence was found that information had been mishandled or inappropriately used.

However, individuals who believe they may have been impacted are encouraged to contact DHS for assistance using the phone number or email address listed on the breach notice.

Items identified in December for discussion

· Task Force members expressed concern about the MnCHOICES assessment tool. Specifically, they pointed out DHS’s need to test its reliability and validity before using data from the tool to inform individual budget ranges.

DHS agreed that there is a need to conduct reliability and validity testing. Due to timeline constraints, however, they plan to pursue this testing after WR’s launch on January 1, 2027. Additionally, they need time to find funding for this work.

· Task Force members asked if the WR work complies with Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnostic and Treatment (EPSDT) requirements.

DHS confirmed that EPSDT rules only apply to services states provide as part of their Medicaid state plan under section 1905(a). These requirements do not apply to services offered under 1915(c) waiver programs, meaning WR does not need to satisfy EPSDT requirements.

· Task Force members requested an update on HSRI’s deliverables.

DHS shared that HSRI is helping them design the individual budget range methodology. DHS expects to receive the preliminary methodology from HSRI in February or March 2026 and the final methodology in June 2026. These dates may change slightly as a result of HSRI’s findings and/or the expert panel’s work.

DHS is addressing concerns about inadequate budgets for WR service recipients in two ways:

Excluding some services from the individual budget range so people can use their individual budget range on other services

Developing individual budget range exception criteria and processes to support people with needs exceeding their assigned individual budget range

The Task Force requested that HSRI’s preliminary individual budget methodology be shared with them as soon as possible.

DHS has not yet determined if — or how — the preliminary budget methodology will be shared with the public once it becomes available.

Members of the Task Force also requested more information about how HSRI will distinguish low utilization due to staffing shortages from low utilization due to a person’s needs.

· A Task Force member requested further discussion about WR’s scope and its overlap with other DHS projects.

· The Task Force asked DHS to explain how they will prevent service disruption during the implementation phase of WR.

Introductions

· Attending Task Force members and support staff shared information about themselves using prompts:

Name and preferred form of address

Preferred pronouns welcome

What perspective(s) do you bring to this work?

If you were to miss a meeting, what should the Task Force pay attention to on your behalf?

“Letters to the Task Force” workflow

· Frances asked Task Force members to forward any emails from partners to waiver.reimagine@state.mn.us.

Partners are also encouraged to copy this email address when communicating with Task Force members.

Partners may email the address directly, as well.

· These communications will be stored in the DHS customer relationship management (CRM) database, allowing for easy searching and tracking.

Work group next steps

· The ATFWR discussed the four intentions behind the four work groups that will be active in the spring phase:

Inform the submission to CMS.

Highlight areas that don’t make sense and identify issues as communication issues, system issues or both.

Inform the preliminary report of findings and recommendations.

Build a foundation for ongoing Task Force work.

· The proposed name and intent of each work group are as follows:

Scenario Group: Use sample waiver participant profiles to walk through the existing and new systems.

Early Indicators Group: Identify early indicators to detect and address when the system isn’t working as intended.

Waiver Guardrails Group: Understand the reasons for using residence as a construct for waiver consolidations, identify high-risk design points and recommend guardrails for mitigating inequities (including those related to the risk of incentivizing congregate care), protecting civil rights and streamlining transitions.

Policy and Practice Group: Determine if the legislation defining the Task Force’s activities aligns with the group’s original intent and recommend policies that integrate Task Force recommendations with those of other experts, committees and DHS staff members.

· Initial work group meetings will focus on the following points:

Clarifying key tasks and driving questions

Identifying what additional data, information or perspectives are necessary for the work group to proceed

Developing a work plan

Considering whether to rename the group

· Each work group will receive facilitation support.