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At HHCN’s FUTURE conference in August, Paul Kusserow argued that home health needs to move beyond episodic clinician visits toward longer-term care that combines skilled services, paid and trained family caregivers, technology and accountability for outcomes. He pointed to Careforth’s caregiver-support model as one example, while the scale and economics of adopting such approaches across the industry remain unsettled.
Paul Kusserow called for home health providers to move beyond episodic clinician visits and build longer-term care that combines skilled services, family caregiver support, technology and value-based accountability. The CEO and executive chairman of Careforth and chairman of Elara Caring outlined the approach at Home Health Care News’ FUTURE conference in August, saying it could better serve people living for years with chronic conditions.
Kusserow described the next phase of home health as a mix of clinical care and nonclinical support. That can include help with activities of daily living (ADLs), attention to social determinants of health and training for relatives or others who already support a person at home. Providers taking financial risk for longer-term care, he said, need to account for those needs alongside skilled visits.
He pointed to Careforth as an example of a caregiver-support approach. The Boston-based company operates in nine states and supports home-based caregivers with payment, training, technology, clinical backup and other resources. Kusserow said Careforth identifies family members or other people in the home of someone receiving a Medicaid waiver, trains them and pays them to provide care. He described compensation of $50 a day for 24/7 care, along with support and breaks; the source report does not specify the conditions or eligibility rules behind that rate.
Kusserow also called for providers to develop services for people with higher-acuity needs and build disease-specific care models. He said collecting data across many patients could help providers identify risks and make care more predictable, while technology could help caregivers maintain continuity and recognize when additional clinical involvement may be needed. He did not announce a new product or policy; his remarks set out a strategic argument for how the sector should evolve.
Building Care Around Patients at Home
The argument matters because a broader home-based model would change what providers organize, staff and measure. Under Kusserow’s view, clinicians remain part of care, but they would work within a wider system that also supports family caregivers, personal care workers and community resources. That could make home health more relevant to people who need ongoing help rather than a short series of visits.
It also connects the structure of care to its financing. Kusserow said recurring hospitalizations over years of chronic illness can be economically unsustainable for health plans and government payers, and that home-based providers have an opportunity to help people remain at home. That is his assessment of the opportunity, not evidence in the report that a particular program has reduced hospital use or costs.
Family caregiving is already a large part of the care system. AARP’s 2024 estimate, as cited in the report, valued unpaid adult caregiving at $1.01 trillion and counted an estimated 59 million caregivers helping an adult family member, neighbor or friend with daily activities during that year. The scale helps explain the interest in training and supporting caregivers, but does not by itself establish how much paid-care models would cost or save.
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Kusserow’s Home-Based Care Roles
Kusserow has held senior roles across home-based care and the wider healthcare industry. He led Amedisys as CEO and chairman from 2014 to 2025. UnitedHealth acquired Amedisys in a $3.3 billion deal that closed in August 2025. Kusserow became CEO of Careforth in June and joined Elara Caring’s board in August, according to Home Health Care News.
Careforth focuses on payment and support for home-based caregivers. Elara Caring, based in Dallas, provides skilled home health, hospice, behavioral health and personal home care in 18 states. The roles give Kusserow experience across caregiver support and more traditional clinical and personal-care services, though his conference comments were recommendations for the industry rather than a formal announcement from either company.
The proposed model also reflects a difference between brief, episodic services and care for people managing chronic illness over extended periods. Kusserow said companies will need to move “up the acuity chain” and learn to serve people with specific diseases. He argued that the experience could help providers deliver value-based care, in which payment and accountability are tied more closely to outcomes or total care needs.
““That’s going to be a combination of skilled care and unskilled care.””
— Paul Kusserow, speaking at HHCN’s FUTURE conference
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Costs and Outcomes Still Unspecified
The conference remarks did not set out a detailed operating plan, timeline or industry-wide standard for the model. It is not clear how many providers are adopting similar approaches, how the costs would be divided among providers and payers, or whether the $50-a-day caregiver payment applies broadly or only under particular program rules.
The report also does not provide outcome data showing that Careforth’s approach has lowered hospitalizations, improved health outcomes or reduced total spending. Kusserow described potential advantages of data collection and home-based support, but the scale of those effects remains unreported. The caregiver figures cited from AARP describe the value and reach of unpaid care; they do not measure the results of paid caregiver programs.
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How Providers Put the Model to Work
The next test is whether providers can turn the proposed approach into services that are practical to staff and finance: disease-specific clinical care, caregiver training and support, and technology that helps identify changing needs. For payers and providers, the questions include which patients are eligible, what tasks caregivers can safely take on, and how results will be measured.
Kusserow’s remarks do not identify a future announcement or deadline. Further developments would depend on companies and payers specifying program terms and reporting evidence on access, quality and costs. Until then, the “next version” he described remains a direction for the sector rather than a confirmed industry-wide shift.
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Key Questions
What does Kusserow mean by the “next version of home health”?
He means a longer-term model that combines skilled clinical care with caregiver support, help with daily activities, technology and accountability for care outcomes.
What does Careforth do for family caregivers?
According to the report, Careforth offers caregiver payment, training, technology, clinical backup and other support. Kusserow said the company trains and pays some family members or others in the home of people receiving a Medicaid waiver.
Did Kusserow announce a new home health program?
No new program or policy was announced in the reported remarks. He outlined a strategic view of how home-based care providers should evolve.
Has the proposed model been shown to reduce costs or hospitalizations?
The source report does not provide outcome data demonstrating those effects. Kusserow argued that home-based care can help manage chronic illness, but measured results were not reported.
Source: rss
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