Community Health Workers: Expanding the Scope of the Health Care Delivery System

Ensuring that underserved populations receive needed health care services is a challenge for policymakers. The changing landscape of the U.S. population, which is growing older and more diverse, coupled with other challenges—the increasing complexity of the health care system, rising health care costs, growing numbers of uninsured, more people with chronic diseases, and provider shortages—have policymakers looking for ways to extend the already strained health care system and more effectively reach underserved communities. In response, states are examining how community health workers (CHWs) can connect underserved populations with health and human service providers.