New Jersey's CARE Act
In 2015, New Jersey’s CARE Act went into effect. The CARE Act helps support the 1.1 million family caregivers in the Garden State as their loved ones go into the hospital and transition home. The CARE Act requires hospitals to:
1. Identify a designated family caregiver when a patient is admitted.
2. Notify the caregiver when the patient is to be moved or discharged.
3. Provide the caregiver with adequate care instructions following the patient’s discharge from the hospital.
For many, family caregiving is more than just household chores and rides to the doctor. Family caregivers are often asked to perform medical tasks such as medication changes and wound care – tasks that require adequate preparation and training. The CARE Act helps to ensure that family caregivers get the necessary training before their loved one is discharged home. Source From AARP:
The STATUTE:
CHAPTER 68
AN ACT concerning designated caregivers and supplementing Title 26 of the Revised Statutes.
BE IT ENACTED by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
C.26:2H-5.24 Findings, declarations relative to designated caregivers.
1. The Legislature finds and declares that:
a. According to the American Association of Retired Professional’s Public Policy Institute, at any given time, an estimated 1.75 million people in New Jersey provide varying degrees of unreimbursed care to adults with limitations in daily activities. The total value of the unpaid care to individuals in need of long-term services and supports amounts to an estimated $13 billion per year.
b. Caregivers are often members of the individual’s immediate family, but friends and other community members also serve as caregivers. Although most caregivers are asked to assist an individual with basic activities of daily living, such as mobility, eating, and dressing, many are expected to perform complex tasks on a daily basis, such as administering multiple medications, providing wound care, and operating medical equipment.
