While approximately 44 million Americans are unpaid family caregivers, only 33 states have adopted legislation requiring hospitals to provide basic training and instructions to caregivers after a patient is discharged. Additionally, how this training is delivered is largely left up to the hospital, according NPR.
Due to the cost of hiring caregivers, which can range from $10,000 to $15,000 annually, many family members are forced to take on the role in addition to their other life responsibilities. And when assuming this role, they're often doing so with little support.
"In too many cases, people just learn this stuff by themselves and that's really kind of dangerous," said John Schall, CEO of the Caregiver Action Network, according to NPR.
While hospitals are not paid more for providing training to caregivers, the practice makes fiscal sense as Medicare now issues financial penalties under the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program, which was established under the ACA.
"When patients leave the hospital, they generally leave quick and sick," said Susan McAllister, MD, medical director of quality in the Division of Hospital Medicine at Cooper University Health Care in Camden, N.J., according to NPR. Dr. McAllister leads a team of social workers, home health nurses and others who help plan a patient's discharge from the hospital.
At Cooper, family caregivers take part in discharge planning on day one. On day two, a social worker may aid family members in shopping for assistance in the home.
"On day three, we may start teaching inside the hospital," said McAllister.
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