New Pilot Program Supports Family Caregivers in Pennsylvania

PITTSBURGH—The Jewish Association on Aging (JAA), a provider of home-based senior services, and RubyWell, a technology company building the infrastructure to integrate family caregivers into the healthcare system, launched a family caregiver pilot in Allegheny and Westmoreland counties, Pennsylvania, with consultative support from Integra Strategies. The initiative was made possible with a grant awarded to JAA from the Richard King Mellon Foundation.

The 16-month pilot will enroll 50 older adults on Medicare and their family caregivers, providing structured training, a dedicated Care Navigator and a monthly stipend for caregivers based on care tasks they complete on a weekly basis. The program is designed to demonstrate that training, providing wrap-around support and compensating family caregivers results in engagement and activities that lead to a reduction in avoidable emergency department (ED) visits, hospitalizations and skilled nursing facility (SNF) stays—improving outcomes for patients while lowering costs to healthcare systems.

“This program gives JAA an unprecedented opportunity to provide family caregivers with the enhanced tools, support and recognition they need and deserve,” says Mary Anne Foley, president and CEO of JAA. “JAA’s Care Navigators serve at the heart of the program, bridging the gaps between seniors, their families and clinical care teams.”

Care Crises Begin at Home

Millions of older adults with complex chronic conditions—heart failure, diabetes, COPD, dementia—want to age at home. The challenge is that home is the least connected, least supported part of the care system. Family caregivers provide the majority of day-to-day support, but their work is informal, clinically invisible and uncoordinated. As a result, no scalable model exists to capture early warning signs or intervene before crises occur, with most acute events originating at home, between clinical contacts.

“The evidence is clear that episodic, visit-based care is insufficient for patients with complex chronic conditions,” said Cooper Linton, co-founder of Integra Strategies. “What’s needed is continuous, preventive support in the home—and trained, engaged family caregivers represent the most cost-effective way to provide this support.”

Over 63 million family caregivers provide an estimated $1 trillion in care annually. The average family caregiver provides 27 hours of care per week, and two in three report moderate to high emotional stress. Despite their central role, family caregivers remain almost completely outside the healthcare system.

A 2025 actuarial analysis by Wakely Consulting, commissioned by RubyWell, found that structured caregiver support and home health services are associated with significantly lower rates of hospital admissions, ED visits and SNF usage. Based on the Wakely Consulting analysis, if all Medicare-eligible beneficiaries who qualify for home health received those services, Medicare could save an estimated $17 billion annually.

A ‘Between Visits’ Care Layer

The care model activates the family caregiver as a member of the care team. Each enrolled family caregiver is paired with a dedicated Care Navigator—a JAA-employed social worker with deep expertise in healthcare navigation for older adults. Through this program, family caregivers receive:

• Free online training videos tailored to their loved one’s specific health conditions
• Weekly virtual support from their Care Navigator and a peer cohort of local family caregivers
• A structured escalation pathway to flag early warning signs before they become emergencies
• A monthly stipend of up to $300 for active participation for 12 months

Care recipients enrolled in the program receive medically necessary, Medicare-covered home health services from JAA Home Health. Individuals caring for a family member or friend on Original Medicare (Parts A & B) or a participating Medicare Advantage plan are encouraged to check eligibility at rubywell.com/pa-program.

The model is designed to complement—not replace—home health agencies, primary care providers and health plan care management teams. RubyWell’s technology platform translates clinical care plans into actionable home-based activities, tracks caregiver observations and reporting, (e.g., escalations) and generates structured reporting for care partners.

“Family caregivers have been the invisible backbone of our healthcare system for decades—doing essential, difficult work with few pathways to training, support and compensation,” said Julie Kennedy, CEO and co-founder of RubyWell. “This program is an opportunity to prove that when we invest in family caregivers, patients stay healthier, health systems spend less and family caregivers experience less strain and burnout.”

The program, which is free for family caregivers, launched May 1, 2026, in Allegheny and Westmoreland Counties.

A Model Built to Scale

JAA and RubyWell designed this program to support caregivers in the Pittsburgh, Penn. area. RubyWell said it anticipates the program will generate rigorous, claims-based evidence and lead to broader adoption by Medicare Advantage plans and Accountable Care Organizations. Outcomes will be assessed by Wakely Consulting, a national healthcare actuarial firm, using claims data, caregiver-reported observations and clinical records, tracking reductions in hospitalizations, ED visits and SNF usage against matched populations.

Organizations and health plans interested in learning more are encouraged to contact RubyWell directly.