The CARE Act is Now Law in Massachusetts: Learn What This Means For You

Posted on 12/03/17 by Carol Brooks Ball

AARP Massachusetts is pleased to announce that the Caregiver Advise, Record, Enable (CARE) Act went into effect as state law on Wednesday, Nov. 8, 2017!

Every day more than 844,000 Massachusetts residents help their parents, spouses or loved ones live independently at home. These family caregivers take on huge responsibilities that can be stressful, exhausting and overwhelming. In 2015 in Massachusetts, family caregivers provided an estimated 786 million hours of unpaid care valued at approximately $11.6 billion annually.

The CARE Act supports family caregivers when their loved ones go into the hospital and as they transition home. The law requires hospitals to:

Provide your loved one the opportunity to designate a caregiver
Notify you when your loved one is to be discharged to another facility or back home
Explain and demonstrate the medical tasks that you will need to perform at home, such as medication management, injections or wound care.

The CARE Act (pdf) was signed into law by Governor Charles Baker in December 2016. It was sponsored in the state Legislature by Sen. Linda Dorcena Forry (D-Dorchester) and Rep. Chris Walsh (D-Framingham), as a way to recognize the critical role family caregivers play in keeping their loved ones at home and out of costly institutions.