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Human Services Commissioner
Emily Piper visited early education centers in Duluth and Virginia on March 14 to
highlight budget proposals that provide the building blocks young Minnesotans
need so they can start school ready to learn. Department of Education
Commissioner Brenda Cassellius joined her in Virginia to emphasize the
importance of early education. Read more about the
budget proposals in a news release.
Many publicly-funded health care program enrollees
in Minnesota have limited or no access to dental care. On March 27, Minnesota
Department of Human Services Commissioner Emily Piper visited the Salvation
Army’s Good Samaritan Dental Clinic in Rochester to highlight a proposal
expected to increase access to dental providers for the nearly 1.1 million
people enrolled in Medical Assistance and MinnesotaCare. More information is in
a news release about the proposal.
The Integrated Health Partnerships (IHP) program,
Minnesota’s groundbreaking approach to more efficiently delivering quality
health care for low-income people, continues to grow. It now encompasses 21
provider groups and more than 462,000 enrollees in Medical Assistance, the
state’s Medicaid program, and MinnesotaCare, a program for residents who do not
have access to affordable health care coverage. More information is in a news
release about the program.
Approximately 1 in
10 Minnesotans live with a substance use disorder but only about 10 percent of
those who need treatment receive it in a given year. Gov. Mark Dayton is
proposing changes this session that will help more Minnesotans get treatment by
improving access, providing early intervention and strengthening comprehensive
supportive services after treatment. On March 9, Human Services Commissioner
Emily Piper visited two CentraCare Health substance use disorder programs in
the St. Cloud area that illustrate the benefits of treatment that focuses on
the whole person, including primary care, mental health treatment and peer
support, in addition to substance abuse disorder treatment. More information is
in a news
release about the proposed changes.
Nearly 6 percent of college students in the U.S. have a serious gambling
problem. During March, Problem Gambling Awareness Month, the Minnesota
Department of Human Services (DHS) is highlighting its new Just Ask MN campaign
to raise awareness among young people about the risks associated with gambling.
More information is in a news release about
the campaign.
From Methamphetamine to prescription pills, drugs are being seized at an
alarming rate in Minnesota. Illicit drug use threatens the safety and health of
communities across the state as lives are lost and families destroyed by their
use and abuse. In 2016, Violent Crime Enforcement Teams (VCETs) seized a record
488 pounds of meth off the streets, a 484 percent increase since meth seizures
was at its lowest levels in 2009 (83 pounds). Prescription pill seizures, which
includes opioids, increased by 231 percent in 2016 over the previous year. More
information is in
a news release.
Minnesotans are speaking more languages, which is why DHS’
interpreter poster (PDF) (DHS-4739-ENG) has recently been updated. The new
poster features six new languages: Amharic, Burmese, Cantonese/Traditional
Chinese, French, Karen and Korean. These languages are in addition to the
previous languages, which are: Arabic, Hmong, Cambodian/Khmer, Lao, Oromo,
Russian, Somali, Spanish and Vietnamese. Learn more on the DHS website.
Fact
sheets summarizing human services proposals for the 2017 legislative session
are available on the DHS website. Legislative reports and background
information also can be found on the legislative information
page. Information
about Gov. Mark Dayton’s fiscal year 2018-19 budget recommendations is
available on the Minnesota Management and Budget website
For accessible formats of this publication or assistance
with additional equal access to human services, write to dhs.communications@state.mn.us,
call 651-431-2911, or use your preferred relay service.
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