Community health workers (CHWs) can help to achieve the goals of the Affordable Care Act—better health, better care, and lower costs. CHWs are typically laypeople whose close connections with a community enable them to win trust and improve health and health services for those they serve. However, challenges with financing structures, workforce training, and service … [Read more...] about Integrating Community Health Workers into a Reformed Health Care System
United States of America
Protocol for the Northern Manhattan Diabetes Community Outreach Project. A randomised trial of a community health worker intervention to improve diabetes care in Hispanic adults
Hispanics in the USA are affected by the diabetes epidemic disproportionately, and they consistently have lower access to care, poorer control of the disease and higher risk of complications. This study evaluates whether a community health worker (CHW) intervention may improve clinically relevant markers of diabetes care in adult underserved Hispanics. The Northern … [Read more...] about Protocol for the Northern Manhattan Diabetes Community Outreach Project. A randomised trial of a community health worker intervention to improve diabetes care in Hispanic adults
Diabetes is a Community Issue: The Critical Elements of a Successful Outreach and Education Model on the U.S.-Mexico Border
Diabetes is reaching epidemic proportions on the U.S.-Mexico Border, and culturally competent diabetes education is not available in many communities. People with diabetes often do not have access to regular medical care, cannot afford medication, and lack the community infrastructure that supports self-management practices. Self-management education and support have great … [Read more...] about Diabetes is a Community Issue: The Critical Elements of a Successful Outreach and Education Model on the U.S.-Mexico Border
The Care Span: Medicaid savings resulted when community health workers matched those with needs to home and community care.
The Affordable Care Act of 2010 builds on earlier efforts to expand home and community-based alternatives to institutional long-term care. Identifying people living in the community who have unmet long-term care needs and who may be at risk for entering nursing homes may be crucial to these efforts. The Arkansas Community Connector Program used specially trained community … [Read more...] about The Care Span: Medicaid savings resulted when community health workers matched those with needs to home and community care.
The Mexican-American Trial of Community Health workers (MATCH): design and baseline characteristics of a randomized controlled trial testing a culturally tailored community diabetes self-management intervention.
Community Health Workers (CHWs) have been recommended to reduce diabetes disparities, but few robust trials of this approach have been conducted. Limitations of prior studies include: unspecified a priori outcomes; lack of blinded outcome assessments; high participant attrition rates; and lack of attention to intervention fidelity. These limitations reflect challenges in … [Read more...] about The Mexican-American Trial of Community Health workers (MATCH): design and baseline characteristics of a randomized controlled trial testing a culturally tailored community diabetes self-management intervention.