NYS Caregiver Guide 101

Key findings used in wiki

• The care team can include family, friends, doctors, and social workers, plus anyone else the caregiver trusts and chooses to add; formal supports typically include primary and specialty doctors, local agencies, social workers, and mental health counselors.
• New York's CARE Act requires hospitals to give the patient or legal guardian at least one chance to identify a caregiver before discharge or transfer.
• Under the CARE Act, hospitals must attempt to notify the identified caregiver before a transfer to another facility or before the patient returns home.
• Under the CARE Act, hospitals must consult with the named caregiver and patient about post-discharge needs at home and offer the caregiver education in required post-discharge tasks, accounting for the caregiver's capabilities and limitations.
• Under the CARE Act, the formal discharge plan must identify the caregiver, the recommended post-discharge care, and contact information for community resources to help the caregiver provide care.
• Caregivers have rights to be involved in decision-making including hospital discharge planning, to be trained in providing necessary care, to learn about the person's condition, and to ask for help and set limits.
• Tips for communicating with the care team include picking one doctor or point person, preparing specific questions in advance, keeping a current medication list, asking plainly for what is needed, and asking the team to define unfamiliar terms.
• HIPAA allows health care professionals to share medical information with caregivers directly involved in a person's care or its payment, without requiring written consent, once the patient has a reasonable understanding of the situation and a chance to object; a caregiver who cannot get needed information should ask for the facility's social worker, patient representative, or privacy officer.