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Resources by Topic: Community health workers

Examination of Community Health Workers in Rural Pennsylvania
Assesses the extent to which Community Health Workers (CHWs) are used in rural Pennsylvania to address the healthcare needs of underserved people. Includes statistics on CHW salaries, caseloads, hours of paid work, health outcomes, demographic characteristics, and training and certification.
Additional links: Executive Summary
Author(s): Darlene Ardary, Jennifer DellAntonio, Joyce Du Gan, et al.
Date: 11/2017
Sponsoring organization: Center for Rural Pennsylvania
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Care Coordination for Community Transitions for Individuals Post-Stroke Returning to Low-Resource Rural Communities
Assesses the Kentucky Care Coordination for Community Transitions (KC3T) program of employing a specially trained community health worker (CHW) as a navigator to aid in the transition of individuals who have had a stroke from acute inpatient care to their rural community. The goal of the study was to determine the community navigation and resources required by people who have had a stroke in order to transition back to rural communities with few resources and to facilitate positive health outcomes.
Author(s): Patrick Kitzman, Keisha Hudson, Violet Sylvia, Johnnie Lovins
Citation: Journal of Community Health, 42(3), 565-572
Date: 06/2017
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Living in Limbo: Latinas' Assessment of Lower Rio Grande Valley Colonias Communities
Highlights the activities conducted by promotoras during an intervention study using community asset mapping (CAM) to identify factors that may facilitate or create barriers to physical activity among Latina residents in the U.S.-Mexico border region of Texas.
Author(s): DeAnne K. Hilfinger Messias, Patricia A. Sharpe, Lulis del Castilo-Gonzalez, Laura Treviño, Deborah Parra-Medina
Citation: Public Health Nursing, 34(3), 267-275
Date: 05/2017
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Integrating Community Health Workers into Complex Care Teams: Key Considerations
Examines effective strategies for integrating community health workers (CHWs) into complex care teams. Discusses factors to consider, such as recruiting and hiring, training and career progression, team integration, support and retention, and more. Includes a brief description of characteristics that are particularly important for CHWs working in rural areas.
Author(s): Jim Lloyd, Caitlin Thomas-Henkel
Date: 05/2017
Sponsoring organization: Center for Health Care Strategies
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Using Community Health Workers and Volunteers to Reach Complex Needs Populations
A recorded webinar that discusses how to integrate community health workers (CHWs) and volunteers into the healthcare system to care for complex patients in hard-to-reach areas. Includes a case study from rural Montana about collaborating with volunteers to help socially isolated patients access community resources and social services.
Date: 04/2017
Sponsoring organization: Center for Health Care Strategies
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Community Health Workers Get Trained to Reduce Oral Health Disparities
Highlights programs serving the Navajo Nation, Texas colonias, and Appalachian Maryland that use community health workers to provide oral health education and improve access dental care.
Author(s): Jenn Lukens
Citation: Rural Monitor
Date: 03/2017
Sponsoring organization: Rural Health Information Hub
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Community Health Workers: Recommendations for Bridging Healthcare Gaps in Rural America
Policy brief reviewing research findings on community health worker (CHW) integration, and how CHWs can help bridge healthcare gaps in rural communities. Also reviews various state policies related to CHWs, identifies a number of care settings where CHWs are working in rural areas, and makes policy recommendations to support the continued integration of CHWs into the rural healthcare delivery system.
Author(s): Kailyn Dorhauer Mock, Tracy Morton, Prisci Quijada, Julie St. John
Date: 02/2017
Sponsoring organization: National Rural Health Association
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State Law Fact Sheet: A Summary of State Community Health Worker Laws
Details the state laws pertaining to community health workers as of June 30, 2016. Includes laws defining scope of practice, team-based care models, reimbursement, and the core certification process.
Date: 2017
Sponsoring organization: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
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Rural Health Networks and Care Coordination: Health Care Innovation in Frontier Communities to Improve Patient Outcomes and Reduce Health Care Costs
Discusses the findings of a single-case, community-based participatory design study in a frontier community in northern Minnesota to determine the effectiveness of developing a community care team focused on collaboration and care coordination to improve patient outcomes and reduce emergency room use.
Author(s): Pat Conway, Heidi Favet, Laurie Hall, Jenny Uhrich, Jeanette Palcher, et al.
Citation: Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved, 27(4A), 91–115
Date: 11/2016
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Innovations in Rural Health System Development: Recruiting and Retaining Maine's Health Care Workforce
Illustrates examples of rural-focused medical education programs to support an adequate supply of physicians in rural Maine. Discusses behavioral and oral health workforce development, and promising programs utilizing other types of healthcare workers such as community paramedics and community health workers (CHWs) to increase the availability and accessibility of healthcare in rural Maine and in other rural regions of the U.S.
Author(s): Amanda Burgess, Andrew F. Coburn
Date: 11/2016
Sponsoring organizations: Maine Health Access Foundation, Maine Rural Health Research Center
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