Community Health Workers in Rural Settings – Resources
Selected recent or important resources focusing on Community Health Workers in Rural Settings.
Community Health Workers and Rural Age-Friendly Care
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.
Author(s): Elizabeth Eckstrom, Denise A. Hernadez, Lindsay Miller, Rebecca Yeboah
Date: 10/2025
Sponsoring organization: National Rural Health Association
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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.
Author(s): Elizabeth Eckstrom, Denise A. Hernadez, Lindsay Miller, Rebecca Yeboah
Date: 10/2025
Sponsoring organization: National Rural Health Association
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Critical Lessons from a Pragmatic Randomized Trial of Home-Based COVID-19 Testing in Rural Native American and Latino Communities
Examines the impact of utilizing community health workers (CHWs) to provide COVID-19 home testing in rural Latino and Native American communities. Includes data on completion of COVID-19 tests and provides qualitative feedback on accessibility, feasibility, and completion of COVID-19 home testing with CHW assistance.
Author(s): Eliza Webber, Sonia Bishop, Paul K. Drain, et al.
Citation: Journal of Rural Health, 40(4), 709-719
Date: 09/2024
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Examines the impact of utilizing community health workers (CHWs) to provide COVID-19 home testing in rural Latino and Native American communities. Includes data on completion of COVID-19 tests and provides qualitative feedback on accessibility, feasibility, and completion of COVID-19 home testing with CHW assistance.
Author(s): Eliza Webber, Sonia Bishop, Paul K. Drain, et al.
Citation: Journal of Rural Health, 40(4), 709-719
Date: 09/2024
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U.S. Community Health Worker Landscape Report
Describes the national community health worker (CHW) landscape and showcases best practices. Features sections on workforce challenges, training and certification, financing, state-by-state comparisons, and more. Includes a section on CHW successes in a rural context. Mentions rural throughout.
Author(s): Pranali Koradia, Jenae Logan, Nicolle Miller, et al.
Date: 07/2024
Sponsoring organization: Partners In Health
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Describes the national community health worker (CHW) landscape and showcases best practices. Features sections on workforce challenges, training and certification, financing, state-by-state comparisons, and more. Includes a section on CHW successes in a rural context. Mentions rural throughout.
Author(s): Pranali Koradia, Jenae Logan, Nicolle Miller, et al.
Date: 07/2024
Sponsoring organization: Partners In Health
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Rural Community Health Worker Programs: Proving Value and Finding Sustainability
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.
Author(s): Kay Miller Temple
Citation: Rural Monitor
Date: 07/2024
Sponsoring organization: Rural Health Information Hub
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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.
Author(s): Kay Miller Temple
Citation: Rural Monitor
Date: 07/2024
Sponsoring organization: Rural Health Information Hub
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Assessing Social Needs and Engaging Community Health Workers in Underserved Kansas Counties: Insights From Primary Care Providers and Clinic Managers
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.
Author(s): Kristina M. Bridges, Joseph W. LeMaster, Daniel J. Parente, et al
Citation: Journal of Primary Care and Community Health, 14
Date: 12/2023
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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.
Author(s): Kristina M. Bridges, Joseph W. LeMaster, Daniel J. Parente, et al
Citation: Journal of Primary Care and Community Health, 14
Date: 12/2023
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Engaging Community Health Workers/Youth Ambassadors to Improve Health Literacy: Proceedings of a Workshop – in Brief
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.
Additional links: Read Online
Date: 07/2023
Sponsoring organization: Health and Medicine Division (HMD), National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
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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.
Additional links: Read Online
Date: 07/2023
Sponsoring organization: Health and Medicine Division (HMD), National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
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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.
Author(s): Shelby Rowell
Date: 04/2023
Sponsoring organization: Association of State and Territorial Health Officials
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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.
Author(s): Shelby Rowell
Date: 04/2023
Sponsoring organization: Association of State and Territorial Health Officials
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Rural Healthcare Disparities in the United States: Can Our Payer Structures Help Us Get Upstream?
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.
Author(s): Kelly McGrath
Citation: Journal of General Internal Medicine, 38 (Suppl 1), 16-17
Date: 03/2023
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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.
Author(s): Kelly McGrath
Citation: Journal of General Internal Medicine, 38 (Suppl 1), 16-17
Date: 03/2023
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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.
Date: 01/2023
Sponsoring organization: KFF
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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.
Date: 01/2023
Sponsoring organization: KFF
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Community Health Worker Intervention Improves Early Childhood Vaccination Rates: Results from a Propensity-Score Matching Evaluation
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.
Author(s): Patrick Wightman, Kelly McCue, Samantha Sabo, et al.
Citation: BMC Public Health, 22,1854
Date: 10/2022
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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.
Author(s): Patrick Wightman, Kelly McCue, Samantha Sabo, et al.
Citation: BMC Public Health, 22,1854
Date: 10/2022
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Last Updated: 10/31/2025