Purpose

Extend the availability of an existing appropriation for the direct care services corps pilot project and add a formal evaluation and reporting requirement to measure its impact.

Main provisions

• Adds a new Evaluation and Report subsection to the current law (Subd. 3.E).
• The Metropolitan Center for Independent Living must contract with a third party to evaluate the pilot projects’ impact on:
  • health care costs
  • retention of personal care assistants
  • patients’ satisfaction with care
  • providers’ satisfaction with care
• The evaluation must include:
  • the number of participants
  • the hours of care provided by participants
  • retention of participants from semester to semester
• By January 15 of a specified year (2026 or 2028, as indicated in the bill text), the Metropolitan Center for Independent Living must report the findings of the evaluation to the chairs and ranking minority members of the legislative committees with jurisdiction over human services finance and policy.

Changes to existing law

• Amends Laws 2023 chapter 61 article 1 section 67 subdivision 3 (as amended by Laws 2024 chapter 127 article 53 section 10) to include the new evaluation and reporting requirements.
• Extends the availability of the existing appropriation for the direct care services corps pilot project.

Implementation and reporting

• Requires a third-party contractor to perform the evaluation.
• Requires reporting of findings to key legislative leaders with oversight of human services finance and policy.
• Specifies metrics to be collected and reported (participants, hours of care, retention).

Effects and stakeholders

• Affects the Metropolitan Center for Independent Living (as evaluator and reporter) and the participants and personal care assistants in the pilot.
• Provides legislative oversight by requiring formal evaluation and public reporting on costs and satisfaction.

Relevant Terms direct care services corps pilot project; Metropolitan Center for Independent Living; contract with a third party; evaluation; health care costs; retention of personal care assistants; patients’ satisfaction; providers’ satisfaction; number of participants; hours of care; retention from semester to semester; January 15 deadline; legislative committees with jurisdiction over human services finance and policy.