Community Health Workers and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act: An opportunity for a research, advocacy, and policy agenda

Abstract: Community health workers (CHWs) have the potential to be important members of an interdisciplinary health care team. CHWs have been shown to be effective in multiple roles in the provision of culturally appropriate healthcare in a variety of settings. Recent efforts have started to explore how best to integrate CHWs into the health system. However, to date, there has been limited policy guidance, support, or evidence on how to best achieve this on a larger scale. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), through several provisions, provides a unique opportunity to create a unified framework for workforce integration and wider utilization of CHWs. This review identifies four major opportunities to further the research, policy, and advocacy agenda for CHWs. Keywords Community health worker; health reform; interdisciplinary health care team; community health