The Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs (MDVA) was recently recognized by the Governor for the fifth time in six years with the Governor's Continuous Improvement Award presented by the Governor's office and the Better Government for a Better Minnesota initiative. This award recognizes significant organizational achievements across Minnesota government. MDVA, provided by the staff at the Minnesota Veterans Home-Silver Bay, created a program called Reducing Psychotropic Medication in Special Care and Skilled Care Households and has implemented it with amazing success.

The award is encouraged for: All state agencies and boards to participate by nominating projects from individuals and/or teams that have increased the efficiency, quality, and value of State government services, using continuous improvement tools or other related methods.

In 2012, 69 percent of MDVA Homes' patients were using psychotropic medications. To improve patient health and wellness, the agency set the goal to reduce the use of these medications to 22.6 percent by 2015. To reach this goal, MDVA staff worked to better coordinate the care provided by their psychiatric, nursing and recreation programs. In addition MDVA also hired life enrichment coordinators to collect and analyze date, develop plans to decrease behaviors and communicate with their interdisciplinary team. Using this coordinated approach, the agency exceeded their psychotropic medication use goal of 22.6 percent in Oct. 2015-reducing the use of these medications to 15.3 percent.

"The success the Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs has had with the Governor's Continuous Improvement Awards over the past six years is a great recognition of the hard work and service of all our employees statewide. They are proud of helping Minnesota Veterans live a high quality of life with dignity and respect, the reduction of psychotropic medication while still providing top-notch, specialized care is a fine example of that," MDVA Commissioner Larry Shellito said.

MDVA has previously been awarded the Governor's Continuous Improvement Award for projects that include: Luverne Veterans Home Team-Enhancing the Dining Experience to Promote Quality Food Choices (2014), MnSAFE Team: Reducing Work Related Injuries to State Employees (participant-2013), Reducing Pressure Ulcer Wounds for Veterans (2012), and "Awesome" Admission Kaizen Team (2010).

Governor's Better Government Award
MDVA in collaboration with 10 other state agencies received the Governor's Better Government Award for the Interagency Council on Homelessness - Reducing Statewide Homelessness. From 2013-2015, the Interagency Council on Homelessness developed and implemented Heading Home: Minnesota's Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness. Eleven state agencies have worked collaboratively to achieve a 10 percent decline between 2014 and 2015, the fifth largest decrease among the 50 states. The Council also has preserved 4,000 units of affordable and supportive housing. The Council will continue its work by releasing an update to their plan in 2016. In addition the Minnesota Homeless Veteran Registry was created to end Veteran Homelessness. The registry works to connect local, federal and non-governmental partners to create solutions.