1. Home
  2. »
  3. DRC Resource
  4. »
  5. Integrating community health workers into HIV care teams: Impact on HIV care outcomes

Integrating community health workers into HIV care teams: Impact on HIV care outcomes

Year:
2020
State:
NatDoc: National Document
Website Link:
Publicly Available:
No
Billing and Reimbursement:
Certification:
CHW role scope of practice
Evidence Generation:
Documentation of how CHWs can work within care teams, Evidence-based interventions, General other, White papers
Policy:
Sustainable Financing:​
Evidence-based interventions
Workforce Development:
Chronic Disease, General other (including mention of “employment practices”), Recruiting and convening CHWs stakeholders, Training- Content modes delivery, Training- Continuing education

Summary

Objectives: To assess the impact of a Community Health Worker (CHW) intervention within HIV primary care on patient outcomes.

Methods: We evaluated a 10-site initiative integrating CHWs into HIV care, examining changes in three outcomes: viral load suppression, a prescription for ART, and appointment attendance. We also assessed the relationship between the three outcomes and the number of CHW encounters.

Results: Of 397 participants, most were male and African- American. The mean days of encounters over the first 6 months was 11 per participant. All outcomes improved in the first 6 months: percent with a primary care visit from 49.9 to 84.7% (p<.000); percent with an active ART prescription from 66.9 to 91.3% (p<.000); percent virally suppressed from 22.4 to 43.7% (p < .000). No statistically significant relationship between number of encounters and improvement in out- comes was found.

Conclusions: CHW interventions in HIV primary care can lead to improvements in HIV outcomes.