Consumer directed home care: Effects on family caregivers. Policy Brief.
(2004, October). Consumer directed home care: Effects on family caregivers. Policy Brief. San Francisco, CA: Family Caregiver Alliance.
Abstract
This policy brief describes currently available opportunities for consumer direction of care in public programs and private insurance plans, including opportunities for family caregivers to take on roles as representative decision-makers and paid caregivers. Evaluation research findings will be discussed, with an emphasis on recent findings from the cash and counseling demonstrations. Using a controlled experimental design to compare outcomes for service users and their family caregivers who participated in the consumer-directed care model with those in the control group receiving traditional services, the evaluation found that outcomes for both elderly and disabled program participants and their family caregivers were at least the same and often significantly improved in the cash and counseling alternative to traditional services. The brief concludes by addressing some concerns that have been expressed about the role of family caregivers in consumer direction and by assessing the prospects for expansion of consumer-directed alternatives to traditional modes of financing and service delivery.
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Received permission to link from Lawrence Manager, Communications Family Caregiver Alliance/National Center on Caregiving
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