McKnight’s Home Care Daily readers are most interested in stories that help them improve care quality and better understand regulatory developments. And they want to learn more about palliative care and informal caregiving.

Those are key findings from a reader survey available to recipients of the daily e-newsletter on May 4-13. The survey asked a variety of questions, from how readers like to receive information to the stories they want to read about to the ways COVID-19 has affected their businesses. A total of 76 people, who represented home care — personalized care, home health and hospice/palliative care — and other long-term care services, participated in the survey. The largest group were administrators/assistant administrators/executive directors. As a survey incentive, McKnight’s gave away five $50 gift cards.

When asked what types of issues matter to them, the largest group (63) said improving care quality. That answer was followed by regulatory developments (57) and Medicare payment/reimbursement (41). Medicaid payment/reimbursement, clinical developments and workforce-related developments each tied for the next highest number of votes, with 39 each.

Readers also ranked various subjects of interest. Palliative care (74) and informal caregiving (73) topped the list. Following closely behind were hospice, telehealth, Medicare Advantage/supplemental benefits and COVID-19, which each received 71 votes. Several other subjects also ranked high. They included SNF-at-home (69), no-pay RAP (67), hospital-at-home (66) and PDGM, a new home health payment system (65).

The survey comes at a historic time for both palliative care and informal caregiving. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has indicated it likely will offer a palliative care payment model through its Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation arm. Meanwhile, President Biden has turned the spotlight on the paid and unpaid care that takes place in the home through his American Jobs Plan. He has proposed spending $400 billion on Medicaid home- and community-based services.

A follow-up story on the survey in Tuesday’s McKnight’s Home Care Daily story will address how COVID-19 has affected readers’ businesses.