In 2012, the Center for Caregiver Advancement (formerly known as the California Long-Term Care Education Center) received a three-year, $11.8 million Health Care Innovation Award. This grant award was from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ Innovation Center. It was established by the Affordable Care Act to test innovative service delivery models. The grant award for CCA funded a pilot training project called the Care Team Integration of the Home-Based Workforce.
Caregiver Training Project: Developing Skills in the Home Care Workforce
This training project’s innovative contribution to health care was to recast and enhance the role of home care providers through education and integration into the health care system. It showed that training home care workers is associated with better care and stronger health outcomes. It also showed that skilled home care can lower healthcare costs by reducing consumers’ use of the Emergency Department. Additionally, skilled care at home reduced hospitalizations.
Skilled Care at Home Reduces Healthcare Costs
Skilled home care decreased the number of repeat visits to the Emergency Room and readmissions to the hospital, which has the potential to create tremendous cost savings to Medicare and Medicaid. Home care providers are in direct and frequent contact with the consumers they care for. This puts them in the unique position to positively impact consumers’ health.
