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At Home Health Care News’ FUTURE conference in August, Paul Kusserow argued that home health should move beyond episodic clinician visits. He said providers will need to combine skilled services with paid and trained family caregivers, technology and support for daily needs as they care for people with chronic illness over longer periods.
Paul Kusserow, CEO and executive chairman of Careforth and chairman of Elara Caring, said home health providers must move beyond episodic, clinician-led visits and build longer-term models combining skilled care, caregiver support and technology. Speaking at Home Health Care News’ FUTURE conference in August, he argued that this broader approach is needed to support people with chronic conditions at home and to make care accountable for outcomes over time.
Kusserow described the next version of home health as a mix of clinical services and support from family caregivers, personal care workers and community resources. He said providers taking responsibility for patients over longer periods must address activities of daily living, or ADLs, and social determinants of health alongside medical needs. He also argued that companies should develop disease-specific services and take on patients with more complex conditions.
He pointed to Careforth as one example of a caregiver-support model. The Boston-based company works with home-based caregivers in nine states, providing payment, training, technology, clinical backup and other resources. Kusserow said Careforth identifies family members or others in the home of a person receiving a Medicaid waiver, trains them and pays them to provide care. He cited a rate of $50 a day for 24/7 care, along with support and breaks; the source report did not detail how that amount varies by program or state.
Kusserow also said technology and data can help providers identify changes in a patient’s condition and decide when intervention is needed. As an example, he described using information gathered from many people with congestive heart failure to inform care for an individual. He said technology can support continuity and more predictable care, but did not specify a product, study or measured result behind the example.
Care Models Must Reach Beyond Visits
The proposal speaks to a structural challenge for home-based care: medical visits alone may not meet daily needs for people living with chronic illness over years. Family and other unpaid caregivers already supply substantial support, but Kusserow’s argument is that providers and payers need models that recognize and support that work rather than treating it as separate from formal care.
The scale of caregiving is reflected in a separate AARP estimate cited in the source report. AARP estimated that 59 million family caregivers helped an adult family member, neighbor or friend with daily activities in 2024, and valued that adult caregiving at $1.01 trillion. Those figures describe the number of caregivers and estimated economic value for that year; they do not establish that a particular payment model reduces costs or improves health outcomes.
For providers, expanding into higher-acuity and longer-term care could create opportunities to support people at home instead of relying on repeated institutional care. But doing so requires staffing, training, clinical oversight and reliable payment. Kusserow’s remarks outline a direction for the sector, not proof that the proposed approach will work at scale or produce savings.
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Kusserow’s Home-Care Roles
Kusserow has held leadership roles across home-based and broader health care. He was CEO and chairman of Amedisys from 2014 to 2025; UnitedHealth acquired the company in a $3.3 billion deal that closed in August 2025. He became Careforth’s CEO in June 2026 and joined Elara Caring’s board in August. He also serves as executive chairman of Unified Women’s Healthcare and sits on the board of Matrix Medical Network.
Careforth provides payment and support for home-based caregivers across nine states. Elara Caring, headquartered in Dallas, provides skilled home health, hospice, behavioral health and personal home care across 18 states. The different services offered by the companies reflect the breadth of the sector Kusserow was discussing, though his conference remarks do not establish that either company has adopted a single industry-wide model.
In describing the shift, Kusserow linked longer-term care to the economics of chronic illness. He said recurring hospitalizations over years would be economically difficult for health plans and government payers. His conclusion was that providers should develop the skills to care for people with more complex, disease-specific needs at home. The comments are his assessment of the opportunity; the source report does not provide payer data to quantify the cost comparison.
“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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Evidence and Payment Questions
The conference remarks set out a strategic view, but they do not establish whether the model improves outcomes, lowers total costs or can be expanded across different health systems. The source report does not provide comparative results, a defined evaluation period or a detailed account of how the approach performs for patients with different conditions.
It is also unclear how caregiver compensation would be funded and structured across states and payer programs, or how providers would ensure consistent training, supervision and respite. The cited Careforth payment of $50 a day is a description Kusserow gave of the company’s model, not a universal rate. His examples about data and congestive heart failure likewise do not specify what information is collected, how it is used or what results have been measured.
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From Vision to Measured Care
Kusserow did not announce a new program, rollout timetable or policy change at the conference. The next steps for providers pursuing this approach would include defining which caregiver tasks can be supported safely, establishing clinical backup and payment arrangements, and measuring outcomes for patients and caregivers. The source report does not state that Careforth or Elara Caring has set a new milestone tied to his remarks.
Further evidence would help determine whether caregiver training, technology and disease-specific services can maintain continuity and reduce avoidable institutional care. For now, Kusserow’s remarks offer a view of how home health could evolve; adoption, reimbursement details and demonstrated results remain open questions.
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Key Questions
What did Paul Kusserow propose for the next version of home health?
He said providers should combine skilled clinical care with trained caregiver support, technology and help with daily needs, rather than relying only on episodic clinician visits.
Where did Kusserow make the remarks?
He spoke at Home Health Care News’ FUTURE conference in August 2026. The remarks were reported in October 2026.
How does Careforth support family caregivers?
Kusserow said Careforth provides caregiver payment, training, technology, clinical backup and other resources. He cited $50 a day for 24/7 care in the model he described; the source report does not establish that amount as a rate available in every state or program.
Has this model been shown to lower costs or improve outcomes?
The source report does not provide comparative evidence establishing cost savings or better outcomes. Kusserow argued that home-based care can help address chronic illness over time, but the results and economics of broader adoption remain unclear.
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