MANY SENIORS rely exclusively on family, friends and community members to provide care once they are discharged from a hospital. According to a recent study published by AARP, family caregivers in the United States provided an estimated $470 billion in unpaid services and care to their loved ones in 2013 — more than total Medicaid spending in the same year. According to the same study, in 2013 there were an estimated 40 million family caregivers in the United States providing an average of 18 hours of care per week. Forty-six percent of those workers performed complex care activities such as wound care, medication management, medical equipment operation, and injections.
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