Opioids, eldercare on agenda as supplemental budget committee resumes

The omnibus supplemental budget conference committee resumed its work Friday evening by discussing, amending and beginning to adopt a number of articles related to health and human services.

Rep. Jim Knoblach (R-St. Cloud), who co-chairs the committee on HF4099/ SF3656* with Sen. Julie Rosen (R-Vernon Center), said conferees would work Friday night to try and finalize a number of sections of the bill, including articles related to eldercare abuse prevention and the opioid crisis.

Conferees received a brief outline of those provisions as the meeting began.

Rep. Debra Kiel (R-Crookston) told the committee the eldercare article includes subjects such as electronic monitoring; termination of lease and services related to appeal rights; funded website improvements between nursing homes and the Office of Health Facility Complaints; and a new task force for crimes against vulnerable adults.

Rep. Dave Baker (R-Willmar) said the opioids article includes improvements to the prescription monitoring program, chemical dependency rate improvements and $2 million for opioid abuse prevention pilot projects.

But Rosen said that although those improvements will help and that overall the legislation is “a good bill,” the Senate compromised on its position and the bill was also “missing a very important piece” – making pharmaceutical companies and distributors part of the state’s “recovery.”

The HHS articles the committee was scheduled to address Friday include:

• Article 22 – Health Care
• Article 23 – Health Department
• Article 24 – Health Coverage
• Article 25 – Health Licensing
• Article 26 – Opioids & Prescription Drugs
• Article 27 – Eldercare
• Article 28 – Children and Families; Licensing
• Article 29 – SOS & Chemical and Mental Health
• Article 30 – Community Supports & Continuing Care
• Article 31 – Human Services Forecasts Adjustments
• Article 32 – Appropriations
• Article – Miscellaneous
• HHS Budget Tracking Spreadsheet