Weekly Email

January 23, 2024

All Programs

Language options added to Senior LinkAge Line website

We recently added Google Translate to the Senior LinkAge Line public website. You may have to clear your cache for it to appear on your browser.

Good News

Right on point

"Shanna," the daughter of a client that resource coordinators Heidi and Hannah from Trellis had been helping recently left a voicemail. Shanna relayed that her mother’s waiver had been approved and PCA services had been started. As a result, Shanna was finally able to go back to work after nine weeks of staying home caring to her mom. Shanna said everything the Senior LinkAge Line did was helpful, right on point, and that she couldn’t have done it without our support.

Not stopping until the answer is found

Resource specialist Brenda from Central helped a caller ("Dennis") with his Medicare Part D plan. Dennis' Part D plan was a benchmark plan in 2023, but is no longer be a benchmark plan in 2024. He realized this when his premium went from $0/month to $17/month.

Dennis is diabetic and takes insulin and non-insulin medications. His new plan not only had a monthly premium, but also did not cover one of his insulins. So Brenda helped Dennis do a plan comparison on Medicare.gov. After checking the four benchmark Part D plans, they discovered that none of these benchmark plans covered all of his prescriptions.

They then looked at a low-premium, non-benchmark plans. The cheapest had a $2.50 monthly premium, because Dennis has Extra Help and is also on an MSP, (Brenda discovered his Extra Help qualification by doing a look up in MMIS with his consent). Dennis was able to enroll into the cheaper part D plan for 2024 by using a special enrollment period. 

By switching plans, Dennis will save more than $7,400 in 2024. Dennis was very thankful for the help he received!

Tools

Quick References

Updated quick references

• Client Services Center (CSC)
• Long-term care insurance
• Medicare insulin coverage

Program Areas

Preadmission screening

Preadmission screening to start using email in CTS

We will begin using email in the CTS with nursing facility PAS notices. Please view the email training video and quick reference.

We have three facilities that have agreed to pilot the change. Starting January 29, all nursing facility PAS notifications should be sent via email for these three facilities.

• Apple Valley Village Health Care Center
• Chapel View Health Care Center
• Cerenity Marian

Please email Rachel Hulsizer or chat her in Genesys if you run into any issues sending emails to these facilities.

No one but PAS specialists should be using email in the CTS at this time.

Notice to nursing facilities

Beginning January 29, to gather nursing facilities' email addresses, PAS NF notice letters will include the following message at the top of the page:

ATTENTION: The Senior LinkAge Line is beginning to phase out faxing preadmission screenings. We will transition to sending PAS by email before the end of February 2024.

Please send your facility’s preferred email address by February 16, 2024, to rachel.hulsizer@state.mn.us to avoid delays in processing.

Here are some talking points if you receive calls asking about the new process:

• We hope to move as many facilities as we can to email, but we will continue to have fax as an option.
• At this time, the system will only allow us to have one email address for each facility. If this can be changed, we will send out another notice that facilities can add more email addresses.
• To ensure we receive the correct information, facilities should send an email using their preferred address, rather than give it over the phone.

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