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.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://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10693805/ Details a study exploring how rural and urban communities in Kansas are screening for social determinants of health and using community health workers to address challenges. Bases findings on surveys of providers and clinic managers. https://www.ruralhealthinfo.org/resources/22245 Fri, 29 Dec 2023 18:50:14 -0600 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://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9980860/ Describes a care model utilizing community health workers (CHWs) to engage patients by screening for diseases, and offering education and information to help them manage their chronic conditions in an accessible, non-traditional settings such as a food bank distribution centers, county fairs, livestock auctions, and educational events in rural Idaho. Discusses the value of CHWs, along with a primary care team, in improving outcomes for populations at risk, and the absence of payment models to support this model. https://www.ruralhealthinfo.org/resources/20487 Mon, 03 Apr 2023 11:45:36 -0500 https://www.kff.org/medicaid/state-policies-for-expanding-medicaid-coverage-of-community-health-worker-chw-services/ Discusses state Medicaid coverage policies regarding Community Health Workers (CHWs) in place as of July 1, 2022, and planned for fiscal year 2023. Covers CHW coverage initiatives implemented or planned through Medicaid state plan amendments, Section 1115 demonstration authority, and as part of a Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) model. -- KFF https://www.ruralhealthinfo.org/resources/20100 Wed, 25 Jan 2023 09:53:13 -0600 https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12889-022-14239-w Examines the effectiveness of community health worker (CHW) home visiting interventions in the Health Start Program (HSP) in Arizona to improve childhood vaccination rates. Utilizes the Arizona State Immunization Information System (ASIIS) database to compare vaccination uptake among children whose mothers participated in the HSP between 2006 and 2016 to a demographically similar cohort. Analyzes vulnerable populations with a history of low vaccination uptake including Hispanic/Latinx, American Indian, children of low socioeconomic status and/or living with parents with less than a high school education, rural border counties, children with teen mothers, and first-born children. https://www.ruralhealthinfo.org/resources/19486 Mon, 10 Oct 2022 14:18:44 -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.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/8/4514 Describes a culturally tailored community-wide program to augment fruit and vegetable consumption and promote physical activity among 5,686 low-income Latinos of Mexican descent living in Texas. Features demographics and statistics on changes in fruit and vegetable consumption over the course of the intervention. https://www.ruralhealthinfo.org/resources/18532 Wed, 04 May 2022 08:42:46 -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.ruralhealthinfo.org/toolkits/community-paramedicine Resources and best practices to help rural communities develop community paramedicine programs. Identifies program models and examples, and discusses implementation, evaluation, sustainability, and dissemination of program results. -- Rural Health Information Hub https://www.ruralhealthinfo.org/resources/14899 Wed, 22 Jul 2020 13:25:15 -0500 https://ghpc.gsu.edu/2020/05/27/rural-health-organizations-adapt-program-strategies/ Summarizes a series of virtual peer learning sessions in response to COVID-19 for current Rural Health Care Services Outreach Program, Rural Health Network Development, Small Healthcare Provider Quality Improvement, and Delta States Rural Development Network program grantees. Provides an overview of common themes that emerged from the sessions. Discusses the challenges and innovations made to implement rural health and public programs across six areas: community health workers, data collection and evaluation, virtual trainings, peer support services and recovery supports, telehealth utilization, and schools. -- Georgia Health Policy Center https://www.ruralhealthinfo.org/resources/14883 Tue, 21 Jul 2020 14:00:59 -0500 https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7035725/ Highlights a study evaluating the implementation and effectiveness of a cardiovascular disease prevention program using community health worker (CHW) interventions. Analyzes the CHANGE program in rural North Carolina and discusses the program's design, implementation, and outcomes. https://www.ruralhealthinfo.org/resources/14726 Wed, 17 Jun 2020 17:16:29 -0500 https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5871533/ Reports on a pilot study of utilizing bilingual promotoras as patient navigators to help cancer patients and their families in 3 rural counties of southwest New Mexico navigate the healthcare system from cancer diagnosis to treatment. https://www.ruralhealthinfo.org/resources/13841 Wed, 12 Feb 2020 17:11:12 -0600 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://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6728976/ Highlights a study on the cost effectiveness of a community health worker (CHW)-based public health intervention to lower the risk of cardiovascular disease in rural areas. Highlights an intervention that uses software to calculate risk scores and assist CHWs in making referrals and give support. https://www.ruralhealthinfo.org/resources/13610 Wed, 18 Dec 2019 16:59:27 -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://familiesusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/HEV_PCORI-CHW-Report_11-04-19.pdf Reviews the results from 9 studies funded by the Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute supporting the inclusion of community health workers (CHWs) and peer providers (PPs) as effective participants in addressing health and healthcare inequities, particularly for diverse communities. Each study presented focuses on a distinct function of utilizing CHWs and/or PPS such as mentoring, managing chronic conditions, and navigator support for serious mental illness and depression. Discusses why payers and providers should include CHWs and PPS in a variety of capacities to improve outcomes, add value to care, and control costs. -- Families USA https://www.ruralhealthinfo.org/resources/13413 Wed, 06 Nov 2019 10:44:20 -0600 https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6033658/ Discusses the findings of a survey of Community Health Aides/Practitioners (CHA/Ps) in rural Alaska regarding their participation in culturally-relevant online learning modules developed to increase their knowledge about cancer and improve their capacity to interact with patients about cancer. https://www.ruralhealthinfo.org/resources/13280 Mon, 07 Oct 2019 10:36:27 -0500 https://nosorh.org/educational-partnership-reaches-rural-california-communities/ Details a promising practice that works to expand health literacy among rural Latinos in California through a partnership between the California State Office of Rural Health and the California Department of Public Health's Office of Binational Border Health. Details the way the program is reaching rural Latinos through community health worker/promotores training. -- National Organization of State Offices of Rural Health https://www.ruralhealthinfo.org/resources/13249 Fri, 27 Sep 2019 15:18:54 -0500 https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6585106/ Examines the physical activity preferences and changes after a community health worker (CHW) led intervention to decrease sedentary time in 620 Mexican American women from mostly rural colonias settlements in Hidalgo County, South Texas on the U.S.-Mexico border. The Community Health Activities Model Program for Seniors Physical Activity (CHAMPS) instrument was used to predict an increase in moderate to vigorous physical activity. https://www.ruralhealthinfo.org/resources/13166 Mon, 09 Sep 2019 15:54:01 -0500 https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12889-019-6725-1 Describes Linking Individual Needs to Community and Clinical Services (LINKS), a 3-year observational tool developed to examine the impact of CHW-led interventions using electronic health records and other applications to reduce chronic disease risk and promote well-being among Latinos residing in the U.S. Mexico border region of Arizona. https://www.ruralhealthinfo.org/resources/12335 Mon, 15 Apr 2019 07:18:39 -0500