Quality Improvement in Diabetes Care Using Community Health Workers

Authors: Jon Liebman and Dawn Heffernan

Community health centers take care of patients who are at high risk for adverse medical outcomes because of poverty, linguistic isolation, poor education, and poor health habits. Because of their population focus, health centers are positioned to implement systems-level changes affecting many patients. This article discusses the quality improvement initiatives at Holyoke Health Center with the integration of CHWs. CHWs have played an integral part in our efforts to improve care for patients with diabetes. In many settings, CHWs function principally as peer health educators and may recruit community members for screening tests or other services. In contrast, this project has demonstrated the utility of integrating CHWs into the primary care team, both to support ongoing medical care and to assist patients in overcoming barriers to adherence to their medical plan.