Caregivers

This blog post from the Better Care Playbook discusses Medicare Advantage (MA) plans that support family caregivers, specifically hightlighing UCare in Minnesota and UPMC Health Plan in Pennsylvania. The blog post explains the importance of supporting caregivers and explores the considerations around offering caregiver support as a supplemental benefit.

This data profile compares caregivers who used NFCSP services such as education or respite care to those caregivers who did not use these services, including caregivers who exclusively used AAA services. The profile also examines caregiver characteristics including age, relationship to care recipient, and level of caregiving intensity.

This report highlights innovative approaches in supporting family caregivers. The report features programs in Hawaii, Maine, Minnesota, Tennessee, and Washington.

Falls are the leading cause of fatal and non-fatal injuries for older Americans, but most falls can be prevented. This resource highlights fall risk factors and ways that caregivers can work with loved ones to develop a falls prevention action plan.

This report looks at the role of millennials as family caregivers. As their older family members age, millennials have taken on more responsibilities, and about one in four family caregivers is now a millennial. Millennial caregivers have unique experiences and face specific challenges which affect the type of support they need. This paper provides insight on these unique experiences.

This paper discusses the challenges facing family caregivers and opportunities to help and support family caregivers.

This paper provides direct insights from managed care leaders about family caregiver supports and provides examples of how progressive managed care plans are supporting family caregivers who are caring for plan members with LTSS needs. The paper discusses how it is important to understand and address family caregivers’ roles and their needs in order to have a high-performing LTSS system, because the family provides the lion’s share of LTSS to people who need help.

This is the first major research paper in this emerging field of managed long-term services and supports (LTSS) that addresses family caregivers’ needs. Family caregivers of people with self-care needs often make it possible for the members of managed care plans to live at home rather than in institutions. Managed care plans, therefore, have strong financial incentives to support these family caregivers, thus improving quality of life and reducing the overall cost of care.

Justice in Aging, with the support of the Albert and Elaine Borchard Center on Law and Aging, released a new paper, Advocacy Starts at Home: Strengthening Low-Income Older Adults and Caregivers. The paper's structure introduces Margaret and her story of being a family caregiver, discusses the problems as a result of the strain of poverty on low-income family caregivers and then offers solutions to help support older adults and their caregivers.

This study provides insights into higher-hour caregivers (at least 21 hours of care a week), caregivers ages 75 and older, multicultural caregivers, and the challenges facing caregivers in the workplace. While the “typical” family caregiver is a 49-year-old woman who cares for a relative, caregivers on the whole are becoming much more diverse. The study found nearly a quarter of America’s caregivers are millennials between the ages of 18 and 34 and are equally likely to be male or female.