Federal hospital discharge-planning caregiver implementation
Federal hospital conditions of participation require discharge planning to include patients and caregivers or support persons as active partners in post-discharge care planning.
Federal · Effective · Implementation Jul 1, 2026
What it is
- What changed
- The current eCFR text for 42 CFR 482.43 says the hospital discharge-planning process must focus on patient goals and treatment preferences, include the patient and caregivers/support persons as active partners, provide discharge-planning evaluation on request of the patient, patient's representative, or physician, and help patients, families, or representatives use post-acute quality and resource-use data.
- Why it matters
- Discharge is where many family caregivers inherit complex tasks. This row is the federal implementation anchor for explaining when caregivers and representatives should be brought into planning, without replacing state CARE Act or hospital-specific rights.
- Who it touches
- Family caregivers, Care providers and plans, People receiving carehospital patients, family caregivers, support persons, patient representatives, discharge planners, post-acute care providers
Sources
Last reviewed Jul 4, 2026. This is information, not legal advice; check the source for the current text.