Illegal remuneration part of human services policy law

A new law makes numerous human services policy changes that include cracking down on fraud and updating laws to accommodate the new Department of Direct Care and Treatment.

The law also establishes a review process for changes to long-term services and supports, provides a designated support person for residents of long-term care facilities, excludes weekends and holidays from a mental health diagnostic assessment 10-day timeline; and makes changes to the peer recovery support services.

Sponsored by Rep. Joe Schomacker (R-Luverne) and Sen. John Hoffman (DFL-Champlin), it takes effect Aug. 1, 2025, unless otherwise noted.

HF2115*/SF2443/CH38

Illegal remuneration

This bill establishes a Minnesota anti-kickback statute for health care programs that mirrors federal law and also applies to behavioral health programs and child care assistance programs. An anti-kickback provision related to grant programs is also established making it illegal to solicit or receive something of value in exchange for awarding a grant or facilitating the award of a grant, and makes it illegal to offer or provide something of value to induce another to award a grant or facilitate the award of a grant.

Felony penalties are established consistent with the those for the theft of public funds, with a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. (Art. 5, Sec. 32)

Aging and disability services

The law will modify the positive support analyst qualifications by adding demonstrated expertise in positive support services for those who have obtained a baccalaureate degree in one of the behavioral sciences or a related field.

It will eliminate the needs determination process for community-based adult day services providers to align with employment first requirements, effective July 1, 2025.

Rates for day training and habilitation services are clarified for people receiving services in an intermediate care facility for persons with developmental disabilities, effective Jan. 1, 2026.

It will allow parents to provide personal assistance services to a minor child while traveling temporarily out of state if the child has an assessed activity of daily living dependency requiring supervision, direction, cueing, or hands-on assistance.

Medical Assistance providers will be required to grant the state medical review team access to electronic health records and accept electronically signed authorizations to release medical records provided by the state medical review team.

Case managers will be required to annually complete an informed choice curriculum and pass a competency evaluation, in a form determined by the department, on informed decision-making standards.

Effective July 1, 2025, the department will be required to consult with the Disability Waiver Rate System advisory committee and other community partners as required to periodically review, update, and revise the format by which initiators of rate exception requests and lead agencies collect and submit information about individuals with exceptional needs. (Art. 1, Secs. 1, 5, 13-14, 16, 20, 23)

Department of Health policy

A facility will be required to allow, at a minimum, one designated support person chosen by the resident to be physically present with the resident at times of the resident's choosing while the resident resides at the facility.

The law will require the Health Department to review and approve curricula used to train unlicensed personnel to administer medications, to approve significant updates or amendments to the curricula, and to maintain a current list of acceptable medication administration curricula to be used for mediation aide training programs for nursing home and boarding care home employees.

At least a vertical two-hour fire barrier will be required between any licensed assisted living facility area and unlicensed entity areas of a shared building.

An assisted living facility will be prohibited from terminating or declining to renew an assisted living contract on the grounds that the resident changes from using private funds to using public funds for housing or services if certain conditions are met. (Art. 2, Secs. 6-7, 15, 21)

These provisions are effective Jan. 1, 2026.

Direct Care and Treatment

The law makes numerous technical changes related to the creation of Direct Care and Treatment as a separate department. These provisions take effect July 1, 2025.

Unmarked vehicles used in general investigation, surveillance, supervision, and monitoring by the Direct Care and Treatment Office of Special Investigations' staff and by the Minnesota Sex Offender Program's executive director and the executive director's staff will be required to register and display passenger vehicle classification license number plates, furnished by the registrar at cost.

The executive board shall establish standard admission and continued-stay criteria for state-operated services facilities to ensure that appropriate services are provided in the least restrictive setting. (Art. 3, Secs. 26, 33)

Behavioral Health

The law contains provisions modifying mental health and substance use disorder treatment services, including:

• a person convicted of certain offenses won’t be ordered to pay comprehensive assessment costs if the assessment is eligible for reimbursement under Medical Assistance or the behavioral health fund;

• county boards will be prohibited from charging for emergency services provided to clients experiencing emotional crisis or mental illness;

• a grant program must be established to improve behavioral health outcomes for youth attending a qualifying school unit;

• tardive dyskinesia will be added to required training on psychotropic medications and side effects

• recovery community organizations will be required to be certified by the Minnesota Alliance of Recovery Community Organizations to be eligible vendors of peer recovery support services for purposes of the behavioral health fund; and

• weekends and holidays will be excluded from the requirement to complete a mental health diagnostic assessment within 10 days of admission for certain clients. (Art. 4, Secs. 5-8, 16-19, 23-24, 26, 31-32)

Terminology

The new law will update terminology deleting the terms “emotional disturbance” and “severe emotional disturbance” and replace them with “mental illness” and “serious mental illness.” It will also remove the term “out-of-home placement” and replace it with “residential treatment and therapeutic foster care” throughout the Children’s Mental Health Act.

HF2115* / SF2443 / CH38