https://www.ruralhealthinfo.org/topics/community-health-workers Community Health Workers in Rural Settings resources related to rural health, with information provided by the Rural Health Information Hub en Copyright 2026 Rural Health Information Hub https://www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2026/26_0142.htm Discusses the impact of having community health workers (CHWs) integrate behavioral healthcare into a rural lifestyle change intervention focused on reducing cardiovascular disease risk. Analyzes CHW visits with participants in the Colorado Heart Healthy Solutions (CHHS) program from 2019-2023 and provides data on completed behavioral health screening assessments, connections to care, and CHW-delivered health coaching interventions. Discusses sustainability and feasibility of integrating behavioral health into CHW-led programs in rural communities. https://www.ruralhealthinfo.org/resources/28944 Fri, 09 Oct 2026 10:10:43 -0500 https://achi.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/260529E_Community-Health-Workers-Explainer-Update.pdf Discusses the roles of community health workers (CHWs) and provides evidence of their effectiveness. Focuses on Arkansas's plans for a CHW certification process and reimbursement pathway, and other policy considerations. Features state-level maps showing state approaches to funding mechanisms for CHWs. -- Arkansas Center for Health Improvement https://www.ruralhealthinfo.org/resources/28291 Wed, 08 Jul 2026 09:54:18 -0500 https://www.healthaffairs.org/content/forefront/tennessee-s-community-health-worker-strategy-succeeding-which-state-next Discusses the role community health workers (CHWs) can play in improving healthcare outcomes and addressing unmet needs in both rural and urban communities. Details Tennessee's state-funded implementation of a evidence-based CHW infrastructure, and highlights the outcomes over the first two years of the program. Explores how this approach could be implemented in other states. https://www.ruralhealthinfo.org/resources/27966 Wed, 20 May 2026 09:00:29 -0500 https://library.samhsa.gov/sites/default/files/advisory-expanding-behavioral-health-teams-care-deserts-pep26-07-001.pdf Report explores the role community health workers can play in expanding behavioral health access to rural areas and care deserts. Highlights how community health workers can support behavioral health access through outreach activities, serving as community liaisons, screening for behavioral health concerns, and providing community education, among other measures. -- Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration https://www.ruralhealthinfo.org/resources/27614 Fri, 20 Mar 2026 17:30:44 -0500 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IPxmcrX3tw Webinar recording examines community health worker (CHW) programs in Oregon, Tennessee, and Virginia that support access to essential health services in rural areas. Focuses on integrating CHWs into interdisciplinary teams within health systems, program design, CHW training and certification, and more. Transcript available below description. -- Center for Health Care Strategies https://www.ruralhealthinfo.org/resources/27592 Thu, 19 Mar 2026 09:51:53 -0500 https://nashp.org/rural-health-transformation-program-state-focus-on-community-health-workers/ Describes examples of state initiatives regarding community health workers (CHWs) outlined in Rural Health Transformation Program (RHTP) applications from Arizona, Iowa, Nebraska, and Wisconsin. Includes results of a scan of CHW proposals for each state with a publicly available RHTP application. -- National Academy for State Health Policy https://www.ruralhealthinfo.org/resources/27419 Mon, 23 Feb 2026 10:08:20 -0600 https://agsjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jgs.70279 Describes a pilot program implementing the 4Ms of the Age-Friendly Health System framework by embedding community health workers in rural primary care teams for 388 older adult medically frail patients. Assesses patient and clinician satisfaction and associated healthcare utilization. https://www.ruralhealthinfo.org/resources/27232 Wed, 28 Jan 2026 11:40:20 -0600 https://mhpsalud.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/One-Page-Report-ROI-Analysis-Community-Health-Worker-Programs.pdf Describes ways in which a return on investment analysis helps evaluate the economic impact of community health worker programs. Includes brief descriptions of notable examples. -- MHP Salud https://www.ruralhealthinfo.org/resources/27017 Thu, 18 Dec 2025 14:16:41 -0600 https://www.agrisafe.org/courses/chw/ Offers multiple live and self-paced trainings for community health workers covering agricultural health and safety topics including naloxone use, farmer mental health and suicide prevention, and human papillomavirus (HPV) prevention. Includes continuing education opportunities. -- AgriSafe Network https://www.ruralhealthinfo.org/resources/26633 Fri, 24 Oct 2025 09:26:50 -0500 https://www.ruralhealth.us/nationalruralhealth/media/documents/advocacy/2025/nrha-policy-paper-chws-and-age-friendly-care-final.pdf Discusses the roles of community health workers (CHWs) in enhancing access, quality, and affordability of healthcare for older adults in rural areas. Describes challenges and opportunities for integrating CHWs into rural health systems. Offers policy and action recommendations to enable and support CHWs in improving healthcare for rural older adults. -- National Rural Health Association https://www.ruralhealthinfo.org/resources/26602 Tue, 21 Oct 2025 09:56:09 -0500 https://www.ruralhealthinfo.org/rural-monitor/rural-chw-update Features four rural healthcare organizations describing the impact of their community health worker (CHW) programs and strategies for sustaining them. Discusses CHW roles, activities, reimbursement options, and more. -- Rural Health Information Hub https://www.ruralhealthinfo.org/resources/23696 Wed, 24 Jul 2024 14:51:31 -0500 https://www.nationalacademies.org/projects/HMD-BPH-23-01/publication/27146 Summarizes presentations and discussions from an April 2023 workshop on the use of community health workers and youth ambassadors to promote health literacy in their communities. Highlights lessons learned by Advancing Health Literacy to Enhance Equitable Community Responses to COVID-19 and the National Infrastructure for Mitigating the Impact of COVID-19 within Racial and Ethnic Minority Communities (NIMIC) grantees who implemented health literacy approaches in community health worker and youth ambassador programs. Includes rural references throughout. -- Health and Medicine Division (HMD), National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine https://www.ruralhealthinfo.org/resources/21128 Tue, 25 Jul 2023 10:47:32 -0500 https://www.astho.org/communications/blog/how-community-health-workers-are-impacting-rural-communities/ Describes ways in which communities can use funding to build community health worker programs in order to reduce health disparities. Highlights the University of Kansas Medical Center's Local Health Equity Action Teams initiative in 10 counties, 6 of which are rural. -- Association of State and Territorial Health Officials https://www.ruralhealthinfo.org/resources/20527 Thu, 06 Apr 2023 09:54:42 -0500 https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/18/11660 Explores the role community health workers, or promotoras de salud, played in the design, implementation, and evaluation of a father-focused health program for rural communities on the U.S.-Mexico border. Highlights some of the health and wellness issues for children and adults in the poor and under-resourced colonias along the U.S.-Mexico border. https://www.ruralhealthinfo.org/resources/19397 Tue, 27 Sep 2022 18:16:57 -0500 https://www.macpac.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Medicaid-coverage-of-community-health-worker-services-1.pdf Provides an overview of types of community health workers (CHWs) and the services they provide. Summarizes studies examining the effects of CHW programs on health outcomes and costs. Discusses state approaches to covering CHW services through Medicaid, including the services covered, regulatory authorities used to provide Medicaid payment, the populations served, and training and certification requirements. -- Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission https://www.ruralhealthinfo.org/resources/18461 Thu, 21 Apr 2022 11:02:45 -0500 https://www.chcs.org/media/CHCS-CHCF-CHWP-Brief_010920_FINAL.pdf Discusses the ways in which community health workers and promotores (CHW/Ps) contribute to the healthcare system, with a focus on California. Gives examples of the ways in which CHW/Ps in rural areas can alleviate workforce shortages, strengthen patient engagement with the healthcare system, and act as liaisons to social structures, including churches and Native American tribal organizations. -- Center for Health Care Strategies https://www.ruralhealthinfo.org/resources/13680 Fri, 10 Jan 2020 11:47:16 -0600 https://familiesusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HEV_Making-CHWs-Fundamental_Fact-Sheet_v2.pdf Summarizes key findings from previous Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) funded studies in 9 states on Community Health Workers (CHWs) interventions and their effect on diverse ethnic, racial, socioeconomic and geographic backgrounds, including rural. Offers evidence-based recommendations to help state policymakers integrate CHWs into healthcare delivery teams to improve health outcomes and reduce the cost of healthcare for individuals and populations. -- Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute https://www.ruralhealthinfo.org/resources/13612 Wed, 18 Dec 2019 10:06:35 -0600 https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5600147/ 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. https://www.ruralhealthinfo.org/resources/12086 Wed, 27 Feb 2019 15:00:11 -0600 https://nashp.org/state-tracker/state-community-health-worker-policies/ Offers information on how states are defining, training, certifying, and paying for the community health worker (CHW) workforce. Also describes how states are developing cross-agency and state-to-local strategies to improve community health in partnership with CHWs. Features interactive national map with state-level information. -- National Academy for State Health Policy https://www.ruralhealthinfo.org/resources/10060 Wed, 24 Jan 2018 09:06:06 -0600 https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3795976/ Highlights a study on changes in health knowledge relating to pesticides of indigenous farmworkers in Oregon. Details the results of participants' pesticide knowledge from pre/post-intervention questionnaires and biological testing. https://www.ruralhealthinfo.org/resources/10058 Tue, 23 Jan 2018 16:10:11 -0600 http://www.chcs.org/media/CHW-Brief-5-10-17.pdf 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. -- Center for Health Care Strategies https://www.ruralhealthinfo.org/resources/8802 Mon, 15 May 2017 15:03:21 -0500 https://www.ruralhealthinfo.org/rural-monitor/chw-oral-health 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. -- Rural Health Information Hub https://www.ruralhealthinfo.org/resources/8574 Wed, 15 Mar 2017 16:30:13 -0500 https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4602368/ Examines the cost and effectiveness of a hospital affiliated community health program staffed by 3 community health workers in rural Vermont. Cost data was compiled from 2 categories that included the personnel involved and operational costs from 2010 to 2011. https://www.ruralhealthinfo.org/resources/7173 Wed, 05 Oct 2016 16:10:42 -0500 https://www.ncfh.org/ Dedicated to improving the health status of farmworker families by providing information services, training and technical assistance, and a variety of products to community and migrant health centers, as well as other organizations and individuals involved in farmworker health. https://www.ruralhealthinfo.org/organizations/371 Thu, 07 Jul 2016 08:59:57 -0500 https://www.aspe.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/migrated_legacy_files//132001/CHWPolicy.pdf Identifies and discusses health services research on the utilization and integration of Community Health Workers (CHWs) into healthcare service delivery. Includes an analysis regarding the various CHW models, employment data, training and credentialing, and challenges associated with the development of this occupation. -- HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation https://www.ruralhealthinfo.org/resources/6651 Wed, 20 Jan 2016 10:36:23 -0600 https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3518330/pdf/AJPH.2012.301068.pdf Evaluates the effectiveness of a Community Health Worker system of care to help decrease coronary heart disease in primarily rural and frontier Colorado counties. Includes data and statistics broken down by age, risk factors, and geographic location. https://www.ruralhealthinfo.org/resources/6456 Tue, 22 Dec 2015 09:29:54 -0600 https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3222438/ Discusses the development and evaluation of a community health worker curriculum intended to inform Hispanic farmworker women about cervical cancer, human papillomavirus (HPV), and the HPV vaccine. https://www.ruralhealthinfo.org/resources/6036 Tue, 21 Apr 2015 23:24:33 -0500 https://bit.ly/44NOorV Searches PubMed's collection of journal article citations on the topics of community health workers and rural health. -- U.S. National Library of Medicine https://www.ruralhealthinfo.org/resources/5838 Mon, 12 Jan 2015 00:00:00 -0600 https://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/publication/32556/413072-The-Evolution-Expansion-and-Effectiveness-of-Community-Health-Workers.PDF Reviews the development of Community Health Worker roles, accomplishments, and future contributions in rural and urban settings. Discusses the education and training of CHWs, and includes a detailed table of their activities in promoting prevention and well-being. -- Urban Institute https://www.ruralhealthinfo.org/resources/5673 Fri, 24 Oct 2014 10:18:53 -0500 https://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/publication/22436/413073-Promising-Approaches-to-Integrating-Community-Health-Workers-into-Health-Systems-Four-Case-Studies.PDF Identifies the scope of practice, supervision, financing, and the workforce standards implemented by states and employers in the development of community health worker (CHW) programs. Four case studies that include rural counties illustrate the challenges and opportunities for integrating CHWs into health systems. -- Urban Institute https://www.ruralhealthinfo.org/resources/5662 Mon, 20 Oct 2014 11:27:41 -0500