Two Bills of Interest to Home Care in Georgia Legislature This Week

​Two bills of interest to the home care industry are progressing through the Georgia legislature this week:

HB 1304, The Georgia Caregivers Act, refines the role of a patient’s lay caregiver upon admission to a hospital by:

• Identifying the patient’s lay caregiver of choice;
• Conveying the discharge plans to the patient’s caregiver; and,
• Training the caregiver in the needs and care of the patient post-discharge.

 
The Georgia Chapter supports this bill because it will provide a better flow of information upon a patient’s discharge to the residence, benefiting all aspects of caregiving and the patient’s recovery.
 
The other bill, HR 768, would establish a study on expanding long-term care options.
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While it is prudent to investigate all types of long-term care, the Georgia Chapter supports adding consideration of all home & community-based long-term care options.  As a result, we should encourage our legislators to include all potential options for long-term care in this study. If it does pass in its current form, there will be opportunities to present at future hearings on the subject.