==== Front Innov Aging Innov Aging innovateage Innovation in Aging 2399-5300 Oxford University Press US 10.1093/geroni/igaa057.1897 igaa057.1897 Abstracts Session 5490 (Symposium) AcademicSubjects/SOC02600 Formal and Informal Caregiving: Implications for Paid Family Caregivers Under the Consumer-Directed Model Gallopyn Naomi 1 Boerner Kathrin 2 Iezzoni Lisa 1 1 Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, United States 2 University of Massachusetts Boston, Boston, Massachusetts, United States 2020 16 12 2020 16 12 2020 4 Suppl 1 Program Abstracts from The GSA 2020 Annual Scientific Meeting “Turning 75: Why Age Matters”572 572 © The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America.2020This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.Abstract The case of paid family caregiving under the consumer-directed model introduces unique complexities to patient care, especially in the presence of other formal caregiving. The purpose of this study was to address the interface of paid and family caregiving by exploring scenarios where the two types of caregiving overlap or are merged into one role. Participants were 20 formal caregivers and 21 persons with significant disability, recruited with a purposive sampling approach. In-depth, qualitative interviews were conducted with caregivers and patients to triangulate information from different perspectives. Thematic analysis uncovered pathways into formal caregiving that involved a history of family caregiving, transitions from informal family caregiving to formal family caregiving under the consumer-directed model, and challenges that emerged when formal and informal caregivers co-exist in the same environment. Implications for patient and caregiver experiences in care contexts where the boundaries between paid and unpaid care are blurred are discussed.