Caregiving and Health Care

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Caregiving and Health Care

Facts:

  • Over 40% of U.S. primary care physicians think they don't have enough time to spend with patients.

    (Source: The Commonwealth Fund Quarterly Report, Fall 2000 Volume 6, Issue 3)
  • Family caregivers provide the overwhelming majority of homecare services in the U.S., approximately 80%.

    (Source: US Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (November 8, 2000). Long-term Care Users Range in Age and Most Do Not Live in Nursing Homes)
  • In 2000, 50 percent of caregivers reported that different providers gave different diagnoses for the same set of symptoms and 62 percent reported that different providers gave other conflicting information. Another recent survey found that 44 percent of physicians believe that poor care coordination leads to unnecessary hospitalization, and 24 percent stated it can lead to otherwise unnecessary nursing home stays.

    (Source: Partnership for Solutions, Chronic Conditions: Making the Case for Ongoing Care, Johns Hopkins University, December 2002.)
  • By the year 2030, nearly 150 million Americans will have some type of chronic illness, a 50% increase since 1995.

    (Source: Partnership for Solutions Harris Survey Johns Hopkins University, data presented at March 2003 conference, Washington, DC. And Partnership for Solutions, "Chronic Conditions: Making the Case for Ongoing Care," Johns Hopkins University, December 2002.)
  • Family caregivers who acknowledge their role are more proactive in reaching out for resources and talking with their loved one's doctor than non-acknowledged caregivers.

    (Source: National Family Caregivers Association, Survey of Self-Identified Family Caregivers, 2001)
  • Over 40 percent of family caregivers provide some type of 'nursing care' for their loved ones, such as giving medications, changing bandages, managing machinery and monitoring vital signs.

    (Source: National Family Caregivers Association (NFCA) Random Sample Survey of Family Caregivers, Summer 2000 and C. Levine, Rough Crossings: Family Caregivers' Odysseys through the Health Care System. New York: United Hospital Fund, 1998.)
  • One-third of family caregivers who change dressings and manage machines, receive no instructions.

    (Source: Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation Wide Circle of Caregiving, 1998)