6,000 x $8 Million = Help and Support
Family caregivers are the solution that needs to be funded.
The health care system has a staffing shortage.
Family caregivers often solve that shortage by doing more and more.
Yet, family caregivers are the only provider within the hospital, home health and long-term care systems who do not receive reimbursement.
How can we change this?
Last week, I spent time researching the impact of the health care workforce shortage: Hospital discharge delays because a home health agency or skilled nursing facility can’t take the admission. Discharge delays in the spring of 2022 cost New York hospitals an average of $168,000 per inpatient case and $18,000 per day in the emergency department, much of which was not reimbursed by payers, according to hospital data from the Healthcare Association of New York State.
During my research, I read about a hospital in Washington spending $8 million during a fiscal year to support skilled nursing facilities. According to an Advisory Board Daily Briefing:
Sommer Kleweno Walley, CEO of the University of Washington Medicine's Harborview Medical Center, said the hospital has given post-acute care facilities additional payments to help them hire more staff to care for patients.
"We pay, per individual, an enhanced payment on top of what [facilities] get from insurance," Kleweno Walley said. Although these payments cost the hospital $8 million in the last fiscal year, it has also benefited from freeing up bed space.
What if we positioned family caregivers as the solution hospitals need to save money with more effective discharge planning? What if we helped hospital foundations raise money for a Family Cares program, which supports, coaches, trains and reimburses family caregivers?
In the U.S. we have 6,000 hospitals.
6,000 hospitals times an annual budget of $8,000,000 is a great way to help family caregivers in a community.
During a meeting I hosted on Friday, I shared this very idea and a plan to advocate for this solution during November, which is National Family Caregivers Month. (Watch our meeting, below.)
I’d love for you to join us! If you can devote one hour in November to post on social media, send a letter to your local hospital foundation, email the president of the American Hospital Association and sign a petition, you can help us make a difference.
Join our Caring Advocacy and Awareness Volunteers Group to stay up-to-date on our November events and be a part of our advocacy campaign.