Caregivers

What incentives help encourage in-home supportive services workers to remain in caregiving? A Connecticut College research team explores this question by surveying 2,200 workers. \"Flexibility and wages matter,\" the researchers note, \"research clearly shows that giving workers $10/hr plus access to decent benefits significantly increases the supply and retention rate of home care workers, making it possible for consumers to find good caregivers.\" The executive summary offers further results.

As the number of those needing care at home continues to grow, it is becoming more difficult to find workers. One solution is to rely on consumer-directed services, in which clients hire friends and family as paid caregivers (whom we call “related caregivers”). This study explored the experiences of related caregivers, most of which had not considered direct-care work if a loved one had not needed them and sought to understand who might represent potential home care workers in the future.

Some states incorporate caregiver support services into their programs that serve older people or adults with disabilities; in other states, it is separate with distinct eligibility criteria. Because many states are increasing HCBS funding, policymakers and administrators have a strong interest in emerging trends. This report highlights three: caregiver assessment, consumer direction in family caregiver support services, and collaborations between the aging network and the health care system.

This is the fourth in a series of newsletters produced at the Exchange to provide assistance to our CMS Real Choice Systems Change grantees. This newsletter is produced biannually. Topics include: Building Nursing Home Transition into a Balanced Long-term Care System: The Washington Model, Individualized Back-up Planning and Independence Plus in Louisiana & New Hampshire, Participant-Centered Planning & Individual Budgeting, South Carolina's Care Call, and Money Follows the Person.

<i>Taking Care</i>, a report to the President by the Council on Bioethics, addresses the ethical challenges of caregiving in our rapidly aging society, with special attention to the care of people with dementia. The report aims to enrich public discussions about aging, dementia, and caregiving, to encourage policymakers to take up these complicated yet urgent issues, and to offer ethical guidance for caregivers—professional and familial.

Although consumer direction is a growing trend in publicly supported HCBS programs across the states, we know relatively little about how this approach is implemented in the states. This national study aims to describe the role of consumer direction in publicly funded family caregiver support services and HCBS programs with a family caregiving component. This report addresses three questions with the intent of informing policy discussions.

Informal caregivers play an increasingly important role in the health care system; in 2003, nearly one of 10 working-age adults was caring for a sick or disabled family member. Yet a new Commonwealth Fund study says more than half of the 16 million caregivers, or 9 million adults have health problems of their own. As a result, many are financially vulnerable and struggle to obtain needed care. The report suggests possible policy reforms to ease their burdens.

This monograph summarizes the history of caregiver assessment; considers the reasons for assessing family care; discusses what, whom, when & where to assess; illustrates areas to assess; highlights examples of existing tools; explores commonalities as well as differences in caregiver assessment instruments; points out areas of caregiver assessment that have been neglected; identifies best practice criteria to consider in designing & implementing assessments; & discusses training issues.

In 2001, the State of New Jersey was awarded an Administration on Aging grant as part of the National Family Caregiver Support Program (NFCSP). New Jersey’s project involved integrating a focus on caregiving into the existing long-term care system. The project included activities aimed to better identify caregivers and their unique needs and increase awareness among senior service staff of diverse caregiving situations.

This technical assistance document is the first in a series of papers that examines issues pertaining to respite services as part of the Medicaid program. By reviewing the prevalent definitions of respite in the published literature and federal documents, we seek a consistent view of respite services that can be used in the development of administrative policies to support respite for Medicaid HCBS beneficiaries and their informal caregivers.