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Policy Goals

  1. Increase resources for quality targeted home visiting programs and services. 

  2. Build a strong infrastructure to support quality targeted home visiting programs and services. 

2023 Legislative Session's Historic Investment in MN Families

The 2023 Legislative Session ended with the passage of the Health & Human Services budget bill that included increased funding for Family Home Visiting. With your advocacy, emails, and phone calls, Promising Practice family home visiting programs will begin receiving $2 million/year in grants, beginning in FY 2024!

 

MCFHV is also pleased to see the passage and ongoing funding for:

  • Community Solutions for Healthy Child Development grant program

  • Continuous Eligibility for Children to Receive Medical Assistance 

  • Investments in the Doula Workforce

    • Reimbursement Rates:

      • $100 / Prenatal or Postpartum Visit​

      • $1,400 / Labor & Birthing Services 

      • Removes language limiting the number of visits clients may receive

    • Removes the NPI supervision requirement to allow doulas to bill directly to Medicaid

  • Early Childhood Mental Health

  • Paid Family & Medical Leave

2023 Legislative Priorities

  1. Increase access and resources to family home visiting
    programs and services. Increase federal, state, and local funding for family home visiting services to improve health outcomes for families and young children. 

    Funding to promote collaborative partnerships within and across communities to meet the needs of vulnerable families will help improve direct services to families. Resources will be designated within grants to build capacity within a community to improve coordination and collaboration in support of families. Additional resources will be targeted to professional development and training needs of staff to ensure quality programming.

    Eligible entities include community health boards, tribal health agencies, nonprofit organizations and/or community partnerships that include early childhood educators operating family home visiting programs. 
     

  2. Medicaid reimbursement rates should set minimum reimbursement rates on PMAP contracts for home visiting services. 

    Reimbursement rates for home visits are inconsistent across health plans and communities. Minimum rates will improve access to Medicaid reimbursement and help service providers cover their costs and increase their reach to families. 
     

  3. Identify strategies to diversify the field of family home visiting professionals to better reflect the families they serve in Minnesota through flexible credentials or shared recruitment strategies.
     

  4. Support state funding for infant and early childhood mental health services and consultation to increase health and mental health outcomes of infants, toddlers and young families; and to increase knowledge among professionals, paraprofessionals working with families with infants, toddlers and young children. 
     

  5. Support federal and state legislation for continuous eligibility in Medicaid and CHIP programs to increase health and mental health outcomes for those who are pregnant and infants.
     

  6. Support paid family & medical leave to increase health, mental health outcomes and stability for those who are pregnant and their families.  

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2022 MN Statute is a Legislative Win for Home Visiting

The Coalition’s top policy priority in past years was to establish a new statute expanding on the current state-funded Evidence-Based Home Visiting programs, including up to 25% of funding toward Promising Practice and Evidence-Informed programs. This new policy, titled Home Visiting For Pregnant Women And Families With Young Children (145.87) was included in the HHS Policy bill, which passed during the regular 2021 legislative session. $33 million in funding for the home visiting program was included in the final Special Session HHS bill, with an additional $4.5 million in federal funding one-time funding ($1.5 million over three years).

Advocacy Tool Kit

The Coalition encourages home visitors to engage in conversation with the families they work with to empower them to advocate for their home visiting program and the issues impacting their community. 

 

The 2022 Advocacy Toolkit helps home visitors and families reach out to elected officials to share information about home visiting programs and their benefits. Legislators appreciate meeting members of their community and knowing who they can go to with questions or concerns during the legislative session, or when making policy decisions.

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If you are interested in meeting with an elected official, but would feel more confident with some extra support, please contact Laura LaCroix-Dalluhn or Cati Gómez.

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The National Home Visiting Coalition

The Home Visiting Coalition is a national group of diverse organizations committed to the well-being of children, working to promote continued federal support of home visiting to strengthen families in communities across the country. The Home Visiting Coalition works with Congress to support and fund the vital work of evidence-based Maternal, Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting programs (MIECHV) on the federal level.

 

Additional Resources:

 

 

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