Minnesota Department of Human Services 
Long-Term Care Task Force

Many experts feel that long-term care of the elderly will be one of the greatest challenges of the 21st century. Fueled by the aging of the large baby boom generation, a much larger proportion of the population than ever before will be over age 85 and in need of long-term care beginning in 2030. These challenges will be particularly acute for states because they are the major payers and regulators of long-term care.

To address these challenges, a long-term care task force composed of Minnesota legislators and state agency commissioners met during the second half of 2000 to discuss the state's long-term care issues and develop recommendations. The task force talked with noted experts, sponsored consumer focus groups and held public meetings to obtain input on these issues from citizens and organizations throughout the state. Based upon this information, the task force developed 48 recommendations for reshaping long-term care in Minnesota. 

To reshape long-term care in Minnesota, the task force is recommending that home care and supportive housing options be expanded to meet growing consumer demand for more home and community-based care. The task force is also recommending that Minnesota's heavy reliance on the institutional model of long-term care be reduced, through voluntary closure of nursing homes in areas where excess capacity exists. In order to prepare for sharp increases in future long-term care needs, the task force supports more efforts to help people meet their own needs, including improved consumer information and promotion of long-term care insurance. Other recommendations include increased support for family caregivers, and strategies to improve recruitment and retention of "direct support workers," through increased compensation, benefits and more accessible training. The task force also recommends new regulatory and reimbursement systems to support all of these changes. 

These recommendations represent general consensus among the task force members. There was a great deal of agreement among the members-cutting across party lines and government agencies-about the problems within the existing system and the general strategies that should be pursued. The task force sees the implementation of its recommendations as a multi-year effort of significant scope. Out of its final list of 48 strategies, the task force prioritized 15 strategies for action in the 2001 legislative session. The task force also directed staff to begin work immediately on recommendations that do not require legislative or budgetary authority. The remaining recommendations can be implemented as future opportunities present themselves.