Community Health Workers: Minimize Healthcare Cost and Increase Access
Community health workers (CHWs) work one-on-one with patients to ensure utilization of Primary Care Providers instead of costly emergency rooms. Data indicates that utilization of CHWs has led to reduction of Medicaid costs and unnecessary ER visits, leading to cost savings in numerous settings. CHWs have also shown strong results in reducing premature and low […]
Effectiveness of a Community Health Worker–led Diabetes Self-Management Education Program and Implications for CHW Involvement in Care Coordination Strategies
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a Community Health Worker (CHW)–led diabetes self management education (DSME) program and to understand how CHWs and primary care providers (PCPs) work together to provide comprehensive diabetes care.
Meeting Minutes September 28, 2006
Meeting minutes referring to research sharing and the Center of Excellence’s mini documentaries on domestic violence, STI/HIV, substance abuse, and unintended pregnancy.
Creating and Sustaining Partnerships among families, providers and communities
Presentation on Texas Health Steps goal to increase the participation of Medicaid eligible children in Early Periodic Screening, Diagnosis and Treatment (EPSDT) programs and achieve a medical/dental home to assure continuity of care.
The Houston Community Health Worker Survey: Unanticipated Effects of Certification
We present in this paper the results of an evaluation of community health worker (CHW) utilization in Houston, Texas from May to August 2007. We present the state of the field in a diverse city; identify challenges, including certification; and discuss community-based solutions.
H.B. No. 636
It is in the best interest of the citizens of this state that the State of Texas create a health insurance exchange, the Texas Health Insurance Connector, to facilitate, and make transparent the purchase of, small employer and individual health benefit plan coverage in this state, to provide assistance with enrollment of eligible individuals in […]
Impact on Texas if Medicaid is Eliminated
House Bill 497, passed by the 81st Texas Legislature, directs that the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) and the Texas Department of Insurance (TDI) conduct a study “to determine the effect on the health care infrastructure in this state if the state Medicaid program is abolished or a severe reduction in federal matching […]
Children’s reporting of food insecurity in predominately food insecure households in Texas border colonias
Background: Food insecurity is associated with detrimental physical, psychological, behavioral, social, and educational functioning in children and adults. Greater than one-quarter of all Hispanic households in the U.S. are food insecure. Hispanic families in the U.S. comprise 30% of households with food insecurity at the child level, the most severe form of the condition. Methods: […]
Texas’ Community Health Workforce: From State Health Promotion Policy to Community-level Practice
Promotores, a community health safety net and a natural extension of the health and human services agencies, improve health at the neighborhood level. Certification brings renewed commitment to serving others and a distinction to those who have been the unsung heroes of public health for decades.
The Outcome Evaluation of a CHW Cancer Prevention Intervention: Testing Individual and Multilevel Predictors Among Hispanics Living Along the Texas-Mexico Border
Abstract This paper evaluates the effectiveness of community health workers/promotores (CHWs) in promoting cancer preventive behaviors in the 2011–2013 Education to Promote Improved Cancer Outcomes (ÉPICO) project. The ÉPICO project utilized CHWs to disseminate cancer education to predominately Spanish-speaking Hispanics living in colonias in the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas. The CHWs received training […]