Health Information Helps Caregivers

Family caregivers in Delaware will get a double benefit under a new state law in combination with the state’s health information exchange.

As reported in the December 2016 AARP Bulletin, the Caregiver Advise, Record, Enable (CARE) Act went into effect Jan. 1, giving every hospital patient in Delaware an opportunity to designate a family caregiver. Hospital staff put the caregiver’s contact information in the patient’s record and communicate with the caregiver about discharge plans and follow-up care. Once the caregiver’s information is recorded at the hospital, it is also shared electronically with all of the patient’s doctors and other providers participating in the Delaware Health Information Network.

The First State was the first in the nation to create a statewide health information exchange, which went live in 2007. AARP Delaware supported creating the exchange and urged lawmakers to pass the CARE Act.