In 1999, Texas became the first state in the nation to recognize these workers and their contributions to keeping Texans healthy. This paper examines a state health promotion policy that culminated in a training and certification program for promotores and the impact of this program on the lay health education workforce in Texas. In 1999, the Texas legislature established the … [Read more...] about Texas’ Community Health Workforce: From State Health Promotion Policy to Community-level Practice
Policy
CHWs get credit: a 10-year history of the first college-credit certificate for community health workers in the United States.
Community health workers have become increasingly important in the U.S. health care system, playing a significant role in basic health promotion and care coordination; however, their status and visibility have not kept pace with their wider use. A major impediment has been the absence of systematic preparation-the field needs standardized education in programs that emphasize … [Read more...] about CHWs get credit: a 10-year history of the first college-credit certificate for community health workers in the United States.
Community health workers and medicaid managed care in New Mexico.
We describe the impact of community health workers (CHWs) providing community-based support services to enrollees who are high consumers of health resources in a Medicaid managed care system. The CHWs provided patients education, advocacy and social support for a period up to 6 months. For all measures, there was a significant reduction in both numbers of claims and payments … [Read more...] about Community health workers and medicaid managed care in New Mexico.
Community health workers: Expanding the scope of the health care delivery system
Recent state experience suggests that states and Medicaid programs are increasingly using community health workers (CHW) to expand the health care safety net to reach underserved populations. CHWs do not provide clinical care or replace other health care providers. Instead, they complement services delivered through the more formal health care network “to provide more … [Read more...] about Community health workers: Expanding the scope of the health care delivery system
Developing lay health worker policy in South Africa: a qualitative study
Over the past half decade South Africa has been developing, implementing and redeveloping its Lay Health Worker (LHW) policies. Research during this period has highlighted challenges with LHW programme implementation. These challenges have included an increased burden of care for female LHWs. The aim of this study was to explore contemporary LHW policy development processes and … [Read more...] about Developing lay health worker policy in South Africa: a qualitative study