1
Best State Performance
43
US Value
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Indicator
CARE Act Legislation
The CARE Act – model legislation that supports family caregivers when family members enter a hospital and transition back home. Today, CARE’s reach is nearly nationwide, as an overwhelming majority of states now have this critical support for family caregivers in place. The next step in advancing support for family caregivers and their care recipients in hospital settings is to strengthen implementation of these policies in states where the CARE Act is in place. Two more states, Arizona and Georgia, have enacted CARE Act legislations since 2020, bringing the total to 43 states and the District of Columbia with CARE Act laws as of May 31, 2023.
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Methodology
Methodology
This indicator gives credit to states that have passed Caregiver Advise, Record, Enable (CARE) Act legislation and the bill is signed into law.
The CARE Act helps family caregivers from the moment their loved ones go into the hospital to when they return home. The CARE Act requires hospitals to: (1) Record the name of the family caregiver on the medical record of a loved one; (2) Inform the family caregivers when the patient is to be discharged; and (3) Provide the family caregiver with education and instruction of the medical tasks he or she will need to perform for the patient at home.
Scoring: States that pass CARE Act legislation and had a Bill signed into law received 1.0 point.
Current year 2023 data obtained from AARP Public Policy Institute: Valuing the Invaluable: 2023 Update Strengthening Supports for Family Caregivers. Reference year 2019 data obtained from AARP State Advocacy & Strategy Integration internal communications.
AARP State Advocacy & Strategy Integration unpublished internal communications, 2019, 2023.
AARP Public Policy Institute, Valuing the Invaluable 2023 https://www.aarp.org/content/dam/aarp/ppi/2023/3/valuing-the-invaluable-2023-update.doi.10.26419-2Fppi.00082.006.pdf