FCA Supports Executive Order to Improve Care

April 18, 2023

President Biden issued an Executive Order today that sets in motion a sweeping set of Executive Actions to improve care across the generations and with it, recognizes and supports unpaid family caregivers who provide the majority of long-term care in the community.

Specific actions include:

To provide greater support to family caregivers, the Executive Order directs HHS to consider testing a new dementia care model that will include support for respite care (short-term help to give a primary family caregiver a break) and make it easier for family caregivers to access Medicare beneficiary information and provide more support to family caregivers during the hospital discharge planning process.
To advance the President’s long-term care priorities, the Executive Order directs HHS to consider issuing several regulations and guidance documents to improve the quality of home care jobs, including by leveraging Medicaid funding to ensure there are enough home care workers to provide care to seniors and people with disabilities enrolled in Medicaid, as well as build on the minimum staffing standards for nursing homes and condition a portion of Medicare payments on how well a 
VA is directed to consider expanding its Veteran Directed Care program to all 172 VA Medical Centers by the end of Fiscal Year 2024. This program provides veterans with a budget to hire personal care assistance including from family members. VA will also consider piloting a new self-directed care program in no fewer than 5 new sites that provides veterans with a budget for personal care assistance while reducing administration burdens related to managing care. 

Family Caregiver Alliance stands with the efforts to improve care for unpaid family caregivers of persons with dementia, to ensure a quality care workforce, to support increased care for Veterans and to link with efforts to provide quality care across generations with improved childcare.