NASHP Brief: State Strategies and New Resources to Advance Family Caregiver Assessments
The National Academy for State Health Policy (NASHP) has published a brief, "State Strategies and New Resources to Advance Family Caregiver Assessments."
An estimated 63 million Americans provide ongoing, complex care for loved ones with medical conditions, disabilities, or frailty — but family caregivers’ needs are not always assessed. Given that states fund, regulate and administer services for caregivers, there is momentum at the state level to better understand family caregivers’ needs and improve support for them.
The brief highlights promising state practices and approaches to assessing family caregivers in three of NASHP’s 2025-2026 Family Caregiving State Policy Learning Collaborative states—Georgia, Illinois and Wisconsin:
- Georgia’s Division of Aging Services uses the Bakas Caregiving Outcomes Scale to assess changes in caregivers’ well-being, health, and level of stress or burden.
- Illinois uses the Tailored Caregiver Assessment and Referral (TCARE) system, an evidence-based comprehensive tool and platform.
- Wisconsin uses a checklist-formatted needs assessment, administered by local aging units, that care managers can use to guide a conversation with the caregivers.
Read the NASHP brief.
Learn more about NASHP.
Learn more about JAHF's co-support of NASHP.
