Caregivers

The National Consumer Voice for Quality Long-Term Care has shared a podcast episode and fact sheet identifying abuse and neglect toward older adults in nursing home settings. Dr. Laura Mosqueda, a professor of Family Medicine and Geriatrics at the University of Southern California, defines neglect as the failure to provide necessary goods and services to a resident to avoid physical harm, pain, mental anguish, or emotional distress. This can include a lack of staff, supplies, services, or training that fail to meet residents' needs.

The National Paralysis Resource Center has launched a virtual support group program for people living with paralysis and their family members or caregivers. The support groups provide an opportunity for members to connect with eachother to gain support, insight, and guidance. The meetings are led by mental health professionals and welcome disucssion about any issues or concerns members are experiencing and topics they want to learn about. Two meetings are offered every month for people living with paraplegia, quadriplegia, and family members or caregivers.

The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) has launched the Community Connected Health Initiative, with the intention of integrating innovation, technology, and human connection to support communities in achieving better health. OSTP released a Request for Information (RFI) on Strengthening Community Health Through Technology. This RFI is open to all stakeholders and will likely remain open until March 31, 2022.

The National Alliance for Caregiving has published a 2021 national report, "Caregiving in a Diverse America: Beginning to Understand the Systemic Challenges Facing Family Caregivers," which was based on results of the Caregiving in the U.S. 2020 study. The report analyzes the experience of over 800 caregiver respondents of different socioeconomic background, sexual orientation, and gender. The report also includes additional literature on diverse caregiving and research recommendations.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has added a new section to its COVID-19-related technical assistance to clarify when COVID-19 may be considered a disability and how this can impact employers, employees, and job applicants. The new section provides examples of when COVID-19 or disabilities arising from conditions that were caused or worsened by COVID-19, may meet the definition of disability under Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) or Section 501 of the Rehabilitation Act. It also addresses nondiscrimination protections provided to employees and job applicants under the ADA and the Rehabilitation Act.

Starting on Wednesday, January 26, CMS began posting new information on the Care Compare website to help consumers better understand staffing levels and concerns at nursing home facilities that can influence the quality of care being provided to residents. Information on staff turnover and weekend staff will be posted for each facility.

States are often exploring ways to effectively support direct care workers, who are often times women, people of color, and living at or near the poverty level. This blog post explores four key recommendations for states to strengthen their direct care workforce, with an emphasis on state Medicaid agencies. The post draws from a CHCS report which focused on strategies used in the state of Michigan.

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.

Access to culturally appropriate respite care can support caregivers and allow people with dementia to continue aging in place. The International Association for Indigenous Aging has announced a new Indigenous respite care toolkit that aims to help build capacity for community-based respite care. The toolkit is a collaborative effort of Morning Star Lodge, an Indigenous community-based health research lab, File Hills Qu’Appelle Tribal Council and a community research advisory committee comprised of people from 11 First Nations communities.

The Better Care Playbook for People with Complex Needs has come out with a new collection about supporting family caregivers. Family caregivers provide care for individuals with complex health needs, including older adults, people living with dementia, and people with disabilities, and are often responsible for taking on medical tasks such as medication management, wound care, and assisting with mobility. This playbook explain what a supportive family caregiving model looks like and how organizations can implement these approaches in their work.