Community health workers in action: Community-clinical linkages for diabetes prevention and hypertension management at 3 community health centers

Authors: David A Stupplebeen, Tetine L Sentell, Catherine M Pirkle, Bryan Juan, Alexis T Barnett-Sherrill, Joseph W Humphry, Sheryl R Yoshimura, Jasmin Kiernan, Claudia P Hart, and L Brooke Keliikoa

A 2014 Center for Disease Control and Prevention cooperative agreement enabled the Hawai’i Department of Health to partner with federally qualified health centers (FWHCs) to target local-level health systems interventions. One intervention used CHWs to target diabetes prevention and hypertension control. David Stupplebeen and his colleagues examined the facilitators and barriers to relationships between FWHCs and CHWs. They found that funding and reimbursement stabilization are key to maintaining an effective working relationship between these groups.