Documenting Community Health Worker Roles in Primary Care: Contributions to Evidence-Based Integration Into Health Care Teams
Authors: Reinschmidt K, Ingram M, Morales S, Sabo S, Blackburn J, Murrieta L, David C, and Carvajal S
Year: 2015
State: AZ
Website link: https://journals.lww.com/ambulatorycaremanagement/Abstract/2017/10000/Documenting_Community_Health_Worker_Roles_in.11.aspx
Publicly Available: No
Certification: CHW role scope of practice, Training and training programs
Evidence Generation: Documentation of how CHWs can work within care teams, Evidence-based interventions, General other, Surveys and assessment tools to define and develop workforce, White papers
Sustainable Financing: General other, Reimbursement TA for FQHCs Medicaid etc., Surveys and assessment tools to define and develop workforce
Workforce Development: Data sharing between social services and clinical teams, General other (including mention of “employment practices”), Outreach campaigns to identify CHWs
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act provided community health workers (CHWs) with new opportunities, and current efforts develop evidence-based guidelines for CHW integration into clinical teams. This qualitative study documents CHW roles and activities in 3 federally qualified health care centers in southern Arizona. Community health worker clinical roles, activities, and integration varied by health center and were in flux. Integration included complementary roles, scheduled and everyday communications with team members, and documentation in the electronic health records. These findings contribute to evidence-based guidelines for CHW integration into clinical teams that are critical to maximizing CHW contributions to patient health improvements.