After the CARE Act was unanimously
approved and signed last week, AARP West Virginia state director Gaylene Miller
explained how the new “common sense” bill would support caregivers and patients
alike.
The CARE Act is a bill with stipulations
that support caregivers when loved ones are hospitalized. Miller said the first
requirement of the law is to designate a caregiver.
“The legislation requires that upon
hospitalization that a health care facility records the name of a caregiver on
the medical record of the loved one,” she explained. “So the patient has the
opportunity to designate a lay caregiver.”
She said the first part of the law
encourages communication between the hospital and the caregiver, and leads to
the second part of the law, which is notifying the caregiver when the patient
would be discharged.
“Most importantly, the bill
requires that the hospital gives that caregiver education and instruction on
the medical tasks,” Miller said. “Things like medication management, injections,
wound care, or transfers, which they’re going to need to perform when they get
home.”
She said that it’s important
because the patient not only gets better home care but it also saves money in
Medicare and Medicaid with readmission to the hospital, and that the law
received widespread support.
“We were really excited that the
bill got bipartisan support,” she said. “Care giving reaches across all kinds
of groups and it’s an issue that really resonates because we know that all
kinds of people are struggling with these care giving tasks.”
Miller said that more than 300,000 family caregivers in West Virginia are faced
with the challenges of caring for loved ones every day.
