Probate & Trust Law Section Conference Manual ... - Minnesota CLE

allow a recipient's current income to be used to pay nursing home expenses
incurred in months prior to the start of the recipient's eligibility for benefits. In
response to this case, DHS persuaded the Legislature to amend Minn. Stat. §
256B.0575 to define "reasonable medical expenses" as expenses incurred only
during current periods of medical assistance eligibility, thereby circumventing the
success of the Legal Aid Clinic. In 2009, the same statute was amended, effective
July 1, 2009, to further restrict use of current income "to expenses that were not:
(1) for long-term care expenses incurred during a period of ineligibility . . . ; (2)
incurred more than three months before the month of application associated with
the current period of eligibility; (3) for expenses incurred by a recipient that are
duplicative of services that are covered under chapter 256B; or (4) nursing facility
expenses incurred without a timely assessment as required under section
256B.0911 [a long-term care consultation screening prepared by the appropriate
county workers]."
These new restrictions, as well as the previous ones, appear to stretch the
meaning of the language in 42 U.S.C. 1396a(r)(1)(A)(ii), cited above. CMS has
not approved either 3) or 4), described above.
C. INCREASING NURSING FACILITY LEVEL OF CARE CRITERIA
Laws 2009, Ch. 79, Art. 8, Secs. 1-5, amending Minnesota Statutes, §§
144.0724, subds. 2, 4, 8 and by adding new subdivisions 11 and 12, respectively.
Long Term Care Realignment Section 1115 Waiver Request, November
21, 2012
Reform 2020 Waiver Request, November 21, 2012
1. In 2009 the Legislature embarked on a new strategy to control growth in
medical assistance expenditures. Federal law since the 1980's has required
Pre-Admission Screenings prior to admission of potential nursing home
residents. The purpose of the screenings, as originally enacted by Congress,
was to prevent admission of potential nursing home residents who
should receive services in other more appropriate facilities, such as intermediate
care facilities for persons with developmental disabilities.
3. The new strategy required development of more restrictive criteria for
admission to a nursing facility to prevent admission of residents at the
lowest level of needed care. The persons who would otherwise be admitted
to a nursing home but who under this new strategy would not qualify
for admission to a nursing home would be diverted into a new program to
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