Welcome to the Employers, Providers & Supervisors Page

This page will provide:

 Information and resources in two areas to assist providers in making the case to hire CHWs and in integrating community health workers in their organization’s health care teams:

  • Training resources on integrating community health workers in the health care team
  • Articles on return on investment for utilizing community health workers

 

Provider Training

Many providers recognize the need to address the social needs of patients to improve health. According to the 2011 report “Health Care’s Blind Side,” 4 out of 5 physicians said socio-economic needs are as important to address as medical needs.  Yet when asked, many are not sure how to address these needs with their patients.  Community Health Workers (CHWs), a key resource in addressing the social needs of patients, have not traditionally been included in most health care delivery systems.  As a result, physician response to integrating CHWs on health care teams varies based on physician knowledge of this workforce.  In addition, other members of the health care team, nurses, social workers, and case managers sometimes feel CHWs overlap with their roles. The training resources in this section will assist providers in understanding the roles of community health workers and how to integrate this new workforce into health care teams. 

Provider training helps organizations understand the roles of CHWs and increases acceptance among staff of this new role. Two types of training are emerging as best practices for increasing utilization of community health workers:

  1. Supervisor training focuses on helping a supervisor think about the day to day integration of the CHW including the CHWs role on the team, the duties of the CHW, how staff makes referrals to the CHW, where the CHW see’s patients, how the CHW documents their work, and evaluation of the CHW’s work.
  2. Provider education are training programs and public education campaigns that increase awareness among health organizations about the roles and efficacy of CHWs.

RESOURCE MATERIALS

Several state and national programs have developed materials for training health providers and supervisors:

CARE COORDINATION SYSTEMES (CCS)
THE MINNESOTA DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH OFFICE OF RURAL HEALTH AND PRIMARY CARE CHW TOOLKIT
THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO INTEGRATED PRIMARY CARE AND COMMUNITY SUPPORTS MODEL (IPACS)
THE NATIONAL RURAL HEALTH INFORMATION HUB | COMMUNITY HEALTH WORKERS TOOLKIT
THE MASSACHUSETTS DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH | HEALTH PROMOTION CLEARINGHOUSE

Return on Investment

Making the case to hire CHW’s can be strengthened by proving evidence of their return on investment and their efficacy in addressing the social determinants of health among at risk populations (specifically, low income, racial, ethnic, and rural populations). There are many studies that link community health workers to improved health outcomes and lower health care cost for the above populations.

For example:

  • CHWs have been shown to be effective in increasing knowledge and promoting behavior change 1;
  • CHW interventions have been shown to improve utilization patterns 2; and
  • CHW care management has produced significant reductions in:
    • Emergency room visits
    • Hospital admissions
    • Total patient cost 3

RESOURCE MATERIALS

The following articles include evidence-based cost saving approaches utilizing Community Health Workers with racial, ethnic, and rural populations:

COMMUNITY HEALTH WORKERS IN RESEARCH WITH ETHNIC MINORITY WOMEN 1
A COMMUNITY-BASED ASTHMA MANAGEMENT PROGRAM: EFFECTS ON RESOURCE UTILIZATION AND QUALITY OF LIFE 2
THE EFFECTIVENESS OF A COMMUNITY HEALTH WORKER OUTREACH PROGRAM ON HEALTHCARE UTILIZATION OF WEST BALTIMORE CITY MEDICAID PATIENTS WITH DIABETES, WITH OR WITHOUT HYPERTENSION 3
INTEGRATING COMMUNITY HEALTH WORKERS IN OHIO’S HEALTH CARE TEAMS
COMMUNITY HEALTH WORKER HOME VISITS FOR MEDICAID-ENROLLED CHILDREN WITH ASTHMA: EFFECTS ON ASTHMA OUTCOMES AND COSTS
MEASURING RETURN ON INVESTMENT OF OUTREACH BY COMMUNITY HEALTH WORKERS
THE CARE SPAN: MEDICAID SAVINGS RESULTED WHEN COMMUNITY HEALTH WORKERS MATCHED THOSE WITH NEEDS TO HOME AND COMMUNITY CARE
ADDRESSING THE SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH IN A CLINIC SETTING: THE WELLRX PILOT PROGRAM IN ALBUQUERQUE NEW MEXICO