Executive Order Signed for Increased Access to High-Quality Care and Support for Caregivers
President Joe Biden signed an executive order on April 18th with the goal of providing increased access to high-quality care for older Americans and support for family caregivers. It’s expected that more than 50 actions will be taken to implement these improvements in care access and caregiver support.
Which Actions Will Be Taken?
Biden stated that the below actions will be taken to implement these improvements in caregiver support and access to high-quality care (the below list includes just a portion of the actions announced in the executive order):
Improved Access to Home-Based Care for Veterans: The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has been directed in the executive order to consider expanding the existing Veteran Directed Care Program to all Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Centers by the end of Fiscal Year 2024. The Veteran Directed Care Program provides a budget to veterans to help with daily living to spend on home-based services and community-based services. The VA was also directed to consider expanding the current Home-Based Primary Care program and adding 75 new interdisciplinary teams to help veterans in their homes.
Increasing Compensation and Improving Job Quality For Family Caregivers, Early Educators, and Long-Term Care Workers: The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) was directed in the executive order to issue guidance to states on specific ways to use funding to connect home-based workers and community-based workers who provide services to Medicaid beneficiaries. The HHS was also directed to expand efforts that improve care workers’ access to health insurance, among many other specific actions.
Implementing New Testing for Dementia Care: The HHS was directed to consider testing the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, a new dementia care model that provides family caregiver support.
Improved Support To Family Caregivers: The HHS was directed to consider how to set better expectations for family caregivers in the Acute Hospital Care at Home program and to ensure hospitals are involving family caregivers in the discharge planning process, among many other actions.
You can learn more about the executive order here.
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