Report Title:

Family Caregiving; Needs Assessment

Description:

Requires the executive office on aging to conduct a comprehensive assessment of the needs of care recipients who are age sixty and older with physical or cognitive disabilities and the needs of their family caregivers.

THE SENATE	S.B. NO.	1200
TWENTY-FOURTH LEGISLATURE, 2007
STATE OF HAWAII

A BILL FOR AN ACT

relating to family caregiving.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

     SECTION 1.  The legislature finds that, due to a shortage of care providers in Hawaii, family caregiving has become a critical element of our health and long-term care system.  By 2020, more than one in four individuals is expected to be sixty years old or older.  The need for personal care assistance due to physical, sensory, cognitive, and self-care disabilities increases with age.  As Hawaii's population ages, many more families will be providing higher levels of long-term care to frail and disabled older adults at home.

     Family members who provide care to care recipients with chronic or disabling conditions are themselves at risk for physical, emotional, and financial problems.  The daily challenges and health risks that family caregivers face can impede the family caregiver's ability to provide care, lead to higher health care costs, and affect the family caregiver's quality of life and the quality of life of the care recipient.     A comprehensive public policy to strengthen support for family caregivers is essential.  A crucial element in the design and implementation of a comprehensive public policy is an assessment of the needs of family caregivers and the care recipients who are age sixty and older with physical or cognitive disabilities.  A thorough needs assessment is imperative to appropriately encourage, support, and strengthen the provision of family caregiving.

     The purpose of this Act is to strengthen support of family caregiving by requiring the executive office on aging to conduct a comprehensive assessment of care recipients' needs and the needs of their family caregivers.

     SECTION 2.  (a)  The executive office on aging shall conduct a comprehensive assessment of the needs of care recipients' who are age sixty and older with physical or cognitive disabilities and the needs of their family caregivers.  The needs assessment should include an evaluation of:

     (1)  The extent of the unmet caregiving needs of persons age sixty and older with physical or cognitive disabilities;

     (2)  The size of the current family caregiver population;

     (3)  The percentage of care recipients' needs being met by paid versus unpaid caregivers; and

     (4)  The impact of caregiving on family caregivers' employment and income.

     (b)  In conducting the needs assessment, the executive office on aging shall identify and review past surveys, such as the 2003 Hawaii Health Survey, include focus groups, and develop policy questions to guide the focus of the needs assessment.

     (c)  In conducting the needs assessment, the executive office on aging may utilize telephone surveys or other methods of gathering reliable data regarding care recipients' needs and the needs of their family caregivers, including purchasing additional questions for the upcoming Hawaii Health Survey.

     (d)  The executive office on aging shall forward a copy of the completed needs assessment to the joint legislative committee on family caregiving no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the 2008 regular legislative session to help facilitate the development of a comprehensive, sustainable, and community-based family caregiver support system.

     (e)  For purposes of this section, "family caregiver" means a person, including a non-relative such as a friend or neighbor, who provides free and continuing day-to-day care in the home to a care recipient.

     SECTION 3.  The executive office on aging shall submit a report, including the completed needs assessment and any proposed legislation, to the legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the 2008 regular legislative session.

     SECTION 4.  There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $          , or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2007-2008, for the executive office on aging to conduct a comprehensive needs assessment pursuant to section 2.

     The sum appropriated shall be expended by the department of health for the purposes of this Act.

     SECTION 5.  This Act shall take effect upon its approval; provided that section 4 shall take effect on July 1, 2007.

INTRODUCED BY:

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