Enhance your business strategy by helping family caregivers
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Hospitals, physician practices, & insurers
You have a free resource that directly influences patient care and quality metrics: the family caregiver.*
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Reap the rewards of educating family caregivers
​Family caregivers who receive limited guidance will have limited impact. But when you educate** and support these critical members of the care team, you align their efforts with yours — in an upward spiral that helps patients, family caregivers, clinicians**, and your business.
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Meta-analysis: Family caregivers help reduce readmissions
​A comprehensive analysis shows that when caregivers were involved in discharge planning, there was a 25 percent reduction in the risk of elderly patient readmission within 90 days and 24 percent within 180 days.
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Meta-analysis: The largest savings are associated with reducing readmissions by engaging family caregivers
Engaging family caregivers is associated with substantially higher net savings compared with other interventions designed to reduce readmissions.
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Shared decision-making
Collaborating with family caregivers keeps information flowing in both directions between clinicians and patients, which is especially helpful for the sickest patients. Family caregivers can communicate patient quality-of-life goals, which can help providers and patients make the most appropriate care decisions.
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Critical patient-specific details
These family members can also alert care delivery teams to patient-specific situations, such as depression, dementia, substance abuse, or hearing loss, that aren’t readily apparent but significantly affect patients’ ability to manage their condition and hospital experience.
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New laws requiring hospitals to request family caregiver contact information
​Forty-five U.S. states and territories have passed the Caregiver Advise, Record, and Enable (CARE) Act, legislation that requires hospitals to collect family caregiver data. Educating family caregivers supports compliance.
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End-of-life planning
​Family caregivers can also provide information on patient end-of-life goals, values, fears, and preferences. That means patients and providers can avoid costly unproductive interventions, and all involved can focus on honoring the patient's wishes and supporting the patient through the end of life with the best possible quality of life.
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​Dr. Sarah Todd, Caregiving Pathways physician partner
​​​Sarah Todd, MD, MPH, is board certified in emergency medicine. Dr. Todd can help individuals understand the options for end-of-life care and their impact, so they can determine in advance which types of interventions they do and don't want.
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Dr. Todd can create or consult on a personalized Medical Order for Life-Sustaining Treatment (MOLST) for any individual. Only certain providers (such as physicians) can create a MOLST, which communicates instructions to other clinicians before and during a medical emergency.
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​​​Providing 90-day family caregiver postdischarge support
​Family caregivers experienced caregiver burden at high rates for up to 3 months after discharge.
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Enroll your family caregivers in the Caregiving Pathways 90-day structured family caregiver support program, Prepared to Care , to help family caregivers meet their needs. ​
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Pharmacies & prescription benefit managers
Family caregivers can be some of your best customers.
They regularly purchase medications and health-related products for both family members and themselves.
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​Create a culture of family caregiver support in your pharmacy or prescription benefit management (PBM) business — in retail stores and online. Engage and educate this influential population about medication management to help prevent a hospital stay and the importance of medication adherence after discharge.
Assisted living facilities (ALFs), skilled nursing care facilities (SNFs), and hospice organizations
Family caregivers are often the people who make placement decisions.
​Differentiate your business by offering family caregivers ongoing support and education, plus access to Caregiving Pathways physician partner Dr. Sarah Todd for advance care planning for your residents/patients and prospects.
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Help family caregivers learn how to prevent hospitalizations and cope with the challenges of caregiving. Provide opportunities for family caregivers to help your staff understand the resident's quality-of-life goals and help all involved make sound care utilization decisions based on those goals.
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Creating end-of-life plans with Dr. Sarah Todd
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Dr. Todd, board certified in emergency medicine, can help individuals understand the options for end-of-life care and their impact, so they can determine in advance which types of interventions they do and don't want. We like to think of end-of-life plans as rest-of-life plans.
Anyone can work with Dr. Todd to create or consult on a personalized Medical Order for Life-Sustaining Treatment (MOLST). Only certain providers (such as physicians) can create a MOLST, which communicates instructions to other clinicians before and during a medical emergency.​
Home care and home health agencies
Family caregivers are typically the people who engage your services.
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Offer your prospects and clients support and education about their family caregiving role. Many family caregivers have no frame of reference for the care they are now responsible for providing or overseeing.
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Give family caregivers the awareness and education they need.
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Preparing end-of-life plans with Dr. Sarah Todd
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Caregiving Pathways physician partner Dr. Sarah Todd, board certified in emergency medicine, can help individuals understand the options for end-of-life care and their impact, so they can determine in advance which types of interventions they do and don't want.
Dr. Todd can create or consult on a personalized Medical Order for Life-Sustaining Treatment (MOLST) for any individual. Only certain providers (such as physicians) can create a MOLST, which communicates instructions to other clinicians before and during a medical emergency.
Physical therapists and occupational therapists
Family caregivers can make all the difference in the effectiveness of PT and OT.
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Patients who have encouragement and accountability at home can better comply with their exercise program, helping them improve their strength, range of motion, mobility, and quality of life.
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Engage family caregivers to support patient goals and treatments at home, between appointments and beyond.
Policy makers and agencies supporting older adults
Older adults have additional needs, so the family caregivers caring for them have additional needs.
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One need that often goes unmet is family caregiver preparation for the end of the older adult's life.
Facing the loss of a family member or friend is devastating. It's compounded when processing anticipatory grief (we call it caregrieving) and simultaneously managing both the dying process of the patient and managing the processes of the health care and end-of-life systems.
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Creating end-of-life plans with Dr. Sarah Todd
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Caregiving Pathways physician partner Dr. Sarah Todd, board certified in emergency medicine, can help individuals understand the options for end-of-life care and their impact, so they can determine in advance which types of interventions they do and don't want.
Dr. Todd can create or consult on a personalized Medical Order for Life-Sustaining Treatment (MOLST) for any individual. Only certain providers (such as physicians) can create a MOLST, which communicates instructions to other clinicians before and during a medical emergency.
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Plan and prepare or react and regret
In our work, we see two choices for people caring for an older adult. Plan and prepare or react and regret.
Help prepare the older adults you serve and their family caregivers to achieve successful outcomes, with peace of mind for all involved.​​​
Employers across industries
Help family caregivers reduce their caregiving worries so they can focus on being productive at work.
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Of the 53 million family caregivers in the United States, 73 percent are working. And employers lose approximately $2,110 annually per full-time working caregiver. As our population ages, more employees will become family caregivers.
How many of your employees are family caregivers? What's the economic impact to your business?
Low-cost ways to initiate family caregiver support include:
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Developing individual family emergency plans for work and home,
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Establishing employee resource groups, and
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Creating family caregiver support groups.
We can help you create them. ​
From airlines to restaurants to zoos, significant opportunities exist to add a layer of family caregiver recognition and support for employees and customers.
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Our educational programs can help employees cope with the day-to-day tasks of family caregiving, health crises, a family member or friend's hospitalization, and the end of life.
Financial advisors and attorneys
Help people align their financial resources and final wishes.
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Even with multiple legal documents in place, many questions arise toward the end of life. Often, those questions are often tied to an individual’s financial resources. For example:
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Who can access the individual’s financial account(s) to pay for care if the person is unable to communicate about such information?
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Which financial resources should be liquidated first? Last? Which activities trigger a taxable event?
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Are the family members named in the documents aware of the plans?
When family members clearly communicate their preferences about finances and final days and moments, they help avoid conflicts about how to handle details as the end of life nears. All family members can fully focus on caring for their loved one — according to his or her wishes — during the time that's left and through the final days.
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Near the end of life, a hospital visit is almost inevitable. Family members will likely help manage a loved one’s hospital stay. When everyone involved knows what to expect and is financially prepared to manage a medical crisis, they’re better equipped to face the difficult decisions they’ll need to make with or for their loved one.
Creating a plan in advance to address this kind of information brings peace of mind for everyone involved.
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Preparing end-of-life plans with Dr. Sarah Todd
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Caregiving Pathways physician partner Dr. Sarah Todd, board certified in emergency medicine, can help individuals understand the options for end-of-life care and their impact, so they can determine in advance which types of interventions they do and don't want.
Dr. Todd can create or consult on a personalized Medical Order for Life-Sustaining Treatment (MOLST) for any individual. Only certain providers (such as physicians) can create a MOLST, which communicates instructions to other clinicians before and during a medical emergency.
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Advance planning can help reduce unnecessary costs by eliminating unproductive and unwanted care near the end of life — resulting in better outcomes for everyone.
Let's talk about your organization's family caregiver strategy
Find out how Caregiving Pathways can help your organization create a family caregiver strategy that supports your existing business goals. ​
More data
​​​​​Who are family caregivers?
There are about 53 million family caregivers (that's more than 1 in 5 Americans) with more to come as our population ages.
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Why do they need help?
Family caregivers increasingly manage medical/nursing tasks* — such as changing wound dressings — at home, often without adequate preparation.*
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They are managing more day-to-day activities of daily living and crises** over longer periods of time as the people they care for live longer.
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