Several managed care plan leaders reported that they will be focusing on family caregiver supports this year. Although key types of family caregiver supports are not commonplace in managed long-term services and supports (LTSS), they are an emerging innovation.
To pick up the pace, this paper highlights examples of how progressive managed care plans are supporting family caregivers who are caring for plan members with LTSS needs. The purpose of this paper is for plan administrators, policy makers, and community-based organizations to learn from each other and to adopt these practices to better care for members and their family caregivers.
Understanding and addressing family caregivers’ roles and their needs is a key element of a high-performing LTSS system, because the family provides the lion’s share of LTSS to people who need help due to a limitation in carrying out daily living activities. Although not all family caregivers need help, many do. This emerging innovations paper is part of a new series of the 2017 LTSS State Scorecard that highlights what LTSS innovations states and organizations are developing, piloting, or testing.