Receipt of Posthospitalization Care Training among Medicare Beneficiaries' Family Caregivers

Abstract

Importance: Medicare conditions of participation require hospitals to provide training to family and unpaid caregivers when their support is necessary to enact the postdischarge care plan. However, caregivers often report feeling unprepared for this role. Objective: To describe the characteristics of caregivers who assist with posthospitalization care transitions and assess the prevalence of and factors associated with receipt of adequate transitional care training. Design, Setting, and Participants: This cross-sectional study analyzed data from the 2017 National Health and Aging Trends Study and its linked National Study of Caregiving, surveys of Medicare beneficiaries and their family and unpaid caregivers. The present study included family caregivers for community-living Medicare beneficiaries 65 years or older with disabilities. Data analysis was performed from June to September 2020. Main Outcomes and Measures: Characteristics of family caregivers by whether they assisted during a posthospitalization care transition in the year preceding the survey interview. Unweighted frequencies and weighted percentages, as well as the results of weighted Pearson and Wald tests for differences between groups, are reported. Receipt of the training needed to manage the older adult's posthospitalization care transition (hereafter referred to as adequate transitional care training) as a function of individual caregiver characteristics was modeled using multivariable, weighted logistic regression. Results: Of 1905 family caregivers, 618 (58.9%) were 60 years or older, 1288 (63.8%) were female, and 796 (41.7%) assisted with a posthospitalization care transition. Those who assisted with a posthospitalization care transition were more likely to report experiencing financial (154 [18.3%] vs 123 [10.1%]; P