Family Caregivers

NASHP is leading an opportunity for states to participate in an 18-month Caregiving State Policy Collaborative. The participating states will share best practices and opportunities to strengthen policies and strategies to improve family caregiver policy. This builds upon action steps in the National Strategy to Support Family Caregivers. States will also learn from subject matter experts and be able to provide ongoing feedback to NASHP that will inform a state implementation guide of action steps.

The National Academy for State Health Policy (NASHP) recently unveiled SupportCaregiving.org, a new website that offers resources that employers, funders, managed care plans, and states can use to implement the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) 2022 National Strategy to Support Family Caregivers. This new web resource provides practical guidance and actionable steps for these stakeholders while also offering informative guides to state officials on key topics such as respite care, the direct care workforce, and state policy strategies aimed at enhancing caregiver support...

The Center for Health Care Strategies has released a summary of its top 10 resources from 2022 that outline opportunities to strengthen the U.S health care system, particularly for Medicaid beneficiaries.

The Commonwealth Fund has published a compilation of state successes in transforming long-term care as a resource to support policymakers. This policy guide is the result of a nine-month partnership between CSG and the Commonwealth Fund. Subject matter experts and stakeholders from Arizona, Georgia, Hawaii, Indiana, Minnesota, New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia examine the following focus areas in long-term care: Addressing State Regulation of Long-Term Services and Supports Facilities; Optimizing American Rescue Plan Act Spending on Home- and Community-Based Services Under Medicaid; and Revitalizing the Direct Care Workforce and Supporting Family Caregivers.

The Maximizing Independence (MIND) at Home program at Johns Hopkins University provides home and community-based care coordination for individuals and families living with dementia. Through focus groups with Black caregivers, researchers at Johns Hopkins aimed to better understand the unique needs of Black patients and families living with dementia, identify opportunities to improve care delivery, and understand caregivers’ perception of the MIND at Home program. This blog post from The Playbook explains the MIND at Home program and how dementia care coordination programs can better support Black patients and their families.

The 2022 National Strategy to Support Family Caregivers is now available for public comment for 60 days. Comments will be used to inform the ongoing work of two Congressionally mandated caregiving advisory councils, and inform future updates to the strategy. The strategy is intended to serve as a national roadmap for better recognizing and supporting family and kinship caregivers of all ages, backgrounds, and caregiving situations. It includes nearly 350 actions the federal government will take to support family caregivers in the coming years and more than 150 actions that can be adopted at other levels of government and across the private sector to build a system to support family caregivers.

Several states are seeking ways to effectively address the health, economic, and social challenges experienced by family caregivers, especially those from marginalized communities. This brief outlines practical strategies to identify and reach family caregivers used by cross-sector state teams participating in Helping States Support Families Caring for an Aging America, a CHCS initiative made possible by The John A. Hartford Foundation and the Michigan Health Endowment Fund.

The majority of individuals who need long-term services and supports (LTSS) in the United States rely on unpaid assistance from family and friends. The economic value of the unpaid care they provide is estimated to be over $470 billion annually. Unmet needs and waiting lists for Medicaid Home and Community Based Services (HCBS) place significant strain on individuals with disabilities and their families. This report explores how increasing access to HCBS services can reduce out-of-pocket costs for families and strengthen employment and financial wellbeing of family caregivers.

This report summarizes findings from research involving stakeholder organizations working with family caregivers in the private and public sectors. The report includes insights into best practice models and action steps that can be included in the national strategy to meet the RAISE goals. Additional stakeholder groups such as the direct care workforce, county health care providers, employers, aging and disability organizations, faith-based groups, respite care providers, and others participated in a series of individual interviews and group listening sessions.

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.