For National Family Caregivers Month, we’re shining the spotlight on one of our focus populations: older adults and their family caregivers. In the United States, millions of family caregivers provide vital support for an older loved one, becoming an essential part of their care team. At the Health Foundation, we believe our health care system has the opportunity to better support family caregivers and recognize the important role they play in our care economy.
What does caregiving look like?
Family caregivers are relatives who take care of a loved one. In some instances, they might also be a close friend of the older adult.It may be a cliché to describe caregivers as unsung heroes, but in fact, this group can have a positive influence on health outcomes.
Family caregivers often take on several roles—care coordinator, advocate, and decision-maker—and their involvement reflects a wide range of activities:
- Health care management – including managing medications, scheduling appointments, communicating with providers, and monitoring symptoms
- Care coordination – including managing health insurance benefits, arranging for services such as home care, adult day programs, and respite care, and providing transportation
- Personal care and meals – including helping with mobility issues, showering, toileting, dressing, and grooming, as well as meal prep
- Social and emotional support – including companionship and memory support
- Everyday administrative support – including managing finances, paying bills, and keeping official documents such as advance directives
According to a July 2026 report from AARP and the National Alliance for Caregiving, caregivers of adults 85 and older tend to be adult children in their 50s and 60s. This means that many caregivers juggle work, other family responsibilities, and their own health conditions—on top of caring for an aging parent.
Roughly 80 percent of care done at home is provided by caregivers. The varied responsibilities can be personally rewarding and bring a deep sense of purpose. But they can also be draining and lead to burnout.
In addition to the mental and emotional toll, individuals might experience physical health problems because of stress or sleep deprivation. Due to the demands of caregiving, they might put their own financial stability at risk by covering out-of-pocket expenses, dipping into retirement savings, or cutting back on their regular work hours.
The foundation of our care economy
The majority of family caregivers are unpaid—they may care for a family member out of a sense of duty or love and never consider financial compensation. They might not even identify as a caregiver. Regardless of motivation, caregivers are the foundation of our care economy. According to a 2023 report from the AARP Public Policy Institute, caregiving is uncompensated labor valued at approximately $600 billion in care each year.
Given their firsthand knowledge and hands-on role, caregivers should be recognized as an integral member of the care team. Exploring an age-friendly approach is a helpful way to confirm their valuable contributions.
Connecting caregiving with an age-friendly approach
Age-Friendly Health Systems provide holistic care to older adults by focusing on mobility, mentation and cognitive health, ensuring medications are appropriate, and most importantly, prioritizing what matters most to the patient.
Many caregiving responsibilities fit into the age-friendly framework, creating opportunities for close collaboration with the older adult’s care team. For instance, besides making sure prescriptions are filled properly, caregivers can follow up with their loved one’s doctors to confirm which medications are necessary and which combinations might pose a health risk for an older patient.
In fact, involving a family caregiver in the care plan can create a number of benefits:
- Improved communication about symptoms and challenges
- Better monitoring of medications
- Earlier detection of health issues before they become emergencies
- A fuller understanding of the older adult’s priorities for a good life
The caregiver, in turn, benefits from more support and less stress.
Caring for caregivers supports better care
Most older adults would prefer to age at home instead of moving to a senior facility. But maintaining a safe and comfortable living environment depends on how well a person’s caregiver can manage numerous responsibilities without being overwhelmed.
In 2025 we brought an existing model, Caring for Caregivers, to western New York. The pilot is led by our longtime partner, the Healthcare Association of New York State (HANYS), and Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. The goal is to support caregivers while reinforcing a holistic approach to care. Caregivers are screened for burnout and depression and linked with appropriate services and resources. Meanwhile, the care team draws on the age-friendly framework to treat the older person. From using the 4Ms to providing caregiver support, Caring for Caregivers lays the groundwork for an integrated approach.
Caregivers as systems-level partners, not peripheral helpers
Caregivers are valuable partners for doctors and health care teams. Instead of seeing them as observers who remain outside the health system, we should affirm family caregivers as critical partners who can contribute to a more holistic approach to a loved one’s care.
Older adults who are managing chronic conditions or simply navigating the process of advanced aging deserve a health care system that understands their needs. As our population ages, close collaborations between providers and family caregivers can help determine what makes a system truly age-friendly. Seeing caregivers as essential partners can increase the possibilities for better outcomes.
