ALBANY, NY – The State Senate unanimously passed legislation known as the CARE Act this week, legislation its proponents say supports family caregivers as they safely help New Yorkers age at home. The American Association of Retired People, or AARP, says critical help for millions of family caregivers across New York took a giant step toward reality with the support of Senator Terrence P. Murphy.
According to AARP, the Caregiver Advise, Record, and Enable (CARE) Act allows hospital patients to designate a family caregiver and requires hospitals to offer that caregiver instruction and demonstrations of medical tasks they are expected to provide for their loved ones at home, such as administering multiple medications, dressing wounds, and operating medical equipment. The bill is aimed at helping people age in their own homes, rather than in costly, taxpayer-funded nursing homes or other institutional settings.
“The passage of the CARE Act was a massive victory for family caregivers across New York,” Senator Murphy said. “As a healthcare professional, and with my wife being a PACU nurse at our local hospital, I have witnessed the importance of involving and educating caregivers prior to patients being discharged home. I was proud to support this bill throughout the year and urge my colleagues in the Assembly to follow our lead and pass this important piece of legislation.”
“AARP thanks Senator Murphy for co-sponsoring and voting to pass the CARE Act in the Senate this week,” Beth Finkel, state director of AARP in New York, said. “It’s a common sense solution; the better prepared family caregivers are when they take their loved ones home from the hospital, the smoother the transition will be for both patient and caregiver, and the better the health outcome.” With Governor Andrew Cuomo having proposed a similar Caregiver Support Initiative in his 2015 Opportunity Agenda/State of the State, AARP representatives are optimistic this measure will become a reality this year. The bill, which AARP says is its top state legislative priority for 2015, was approved by the Assembly Health Committee this week.
Some say the bill could help 1.6 million adult New Yorkers a year who are discharged home from hospitals, as well as many of the state’s more than four million family caregivers, whose numbers are only expected to increase as New York’s population ages. A 2014 AARP survey found widespread support for the measure among people 50 and older in Dutchess County, with 95% of respondents saying hospitals should “explain and demonstrate” to family caregivers medical tasks they’ll have to perform when their loved ones are sent home.
About half of all family caregivers perform medical and nursing tasks for their loved ones. AARP estimates New York’s family caregivers provide care valued at an estimated $32 billion a year.
