What is a CHW?

 If your organization is interested in integrating CHWs, please review the following checklist provided by the CDC to evaluate your organizational readiness and to identify the next steps for your organization. 

• CHW Inclusion Checklist: Including Community Health Workers (CHWs) in Health Care Settings A Checklist for Public Health Practitioners
• For more information about how to use the checklist: Community Health Workers (CHW) Inclusion Checklist | CDC

Read more about some of the obstacles, successes, and challenges of CHW integration by reading through some of the articles and studies listed below: 

• The impact and importance of integrating CHWs into care teams: In Focus: Integrating Community Health Workers into Care Teams | Commonwealth Fund
• Highlighting the specific obstacles that CHWs face for integration in Arizona: Organizational Readiness for Integrating CHWs (Study): Frontiers | Organizational Readiness for Community Health Worker Workforce Integration Among Medicaid Contracted Health Plans and Provider Networks: An Arizona Case Study (frontiersin.org)
• Strategies to Improve the Integration of Community Health Workers Into Health Care Teams: “A Little Fish in a Big Pond” (Study): Strategies to Improve the Integration of Community Health Workers Into Health Care Teams: “A Little Fish in a Big Pond” (cdc.gov)

If you are interested in learning about why your organization should integrate CHWs, review the studies below that highlight the effectiveness of CHW integration in improving health outcomes.

• CDC Report that shows how CHWs can improve health outcomes especially through chronic disease care services: Policy Evidence Assessment Report: Community Health Worker Policy Components (cdc.gov)
• Study that shows evidence of CHWs ability to improve multiple chronic conditions in low-income populations: Community Health Worker Support for Disadvantaged Patients With Multiple Chronic Diseases: A Randomized Clinical Trial - PMC (nih.gov)
• Study that shows how CHW interventions can decrease hospitalization rates for disadvantaged patients with chronic conditions: Effects of a standardized community health worker intervention on hospitalization among disadvantaged patients with multiple chronic conditions: A pooled analysis of three clinical trials - PMC (nih.gov)
• A WHO report on the evidence on programmes, activities, costs and impact on health outcomes of using community health workers: Microsoft Word - ac_community_health_workers.doc (chwcentral.org)
• Please see our CHW One-Pager to the right to view cost-savings and more!