Community Health
​Publications

Understanding Available Data Sources to Estimate the Size and Distribution of Community Health Workers in the United States
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Community health workers are an important workforce for health care systems to achieve health equity and reduce health disparities in vulnerable communities. However, because CHWs are a non-licensed workforce who work across system settings with various job titles, it is difficult to estimate and characterize this workforce. 
This article discusses the estimated size and state distribution of the community health workforce in the US by comparing 3 national data sources and explores the influence of state reimbursement and certification on the number of community health workers per 100,000 people in each state. 

A Qualitative Review of Community Health Workers’ Training, Supervision, and Service Delivery Needs

Community Health Workers (CHW) are part of an emerging workforce in the field of mental health, but few studies have examined their training, supervision, and service delivery needs in the United States.

Community Health Workers

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Medicaid Billing for Community Health Worker Services Growing, but Remains Low, 2016-2020
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Community Health Workers (CHWs) are increasingly recognized as essential healthcare providers in the United States. Valued for their deep understanding of the communities they serve, CHWs play a crucial role in building high-impact partnerships with low-income, underserved, and racial and ethnic minority populations. This article examines the trends in community health worker billing for Medicaid services across states from 2016 to 2020. 

Rural Community Health Toolkit

This toolkit provides rural communities with the information, resources, and materials they need to develop a community health program in a rural community.

Rural Community Health Worker Programs: Proving Value and Finding Sustainability

For decades, community health workers (CHWs) provided their services outside usual healthcare reimbursement models. In recent years, with research supporting CHWs as professionals effectively assisting patients with navigating health-related social determinants, federal and private payers are exploring reimbursement mechanisms. Four rural healthcare organizations share both the impact and the continued sustainability challenges and successes of their CHW programs.

TOOLKIT: Public Health Departments Contracting with Community-based Organizations to Implement Community Health Worker Programs

This toolkit, developed by the National Association of Community Health Workers (NACHW) in partnership with the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO), will provide tips for hiring, training, and building CHW career pathways through your contract.

Community Health Workers: Evidence
of Their Effectiveness

Community health workers (CHWs) are critical to improving individual and community health through their ability to build trust and relationships and deepen communication between patients and providers. CHWs have a deep understanding of their communities through lived experience, which makes them uniquely qualified to address social and behavioral determinants of health.

​The Role of State and Territorial Health Agencies in Supporting and Hiring Community Health Workers

​As communities across the United States continue to face barriers to accessing care—whether due to geographic constraints, an overburdened clinical workforce, or social and economic barriers—community health workers (CHWs) can establish trusting relationships and create bridges that help clients navigate and access services. CHWs can also facilitate the identification of community needs and improve community capacity to self-advocate within the service delivery system.

Hiring Practices That Support State Integration of Community Health Workers

During the COVID-19 pandemic, NACHW partnered with the 
Community-Based Workforce Alliance to create a playbook 
focused on Advancing CHW Engagement in COVID-19 Response Strategies. While this playbook was specifically designed for local health departments that wanted to increase engagement 
of CHWs within their COVID-19 Response Strategies, this 
resource provides a valuable basis of knowledge for state and territorial health agencies 
wishing to integrate CHWs into their workforce throughout the 
COVID-19 response and beyond. 

Iowa Chronic Care Consortium Presents ​Community Health Workers: Iowa Success Stories

​​Over the course of the last three years, ICCC has invited Community Health Workers(CHWs) participating in the CHW Professional Skills course to share success stories -examples of situations the CHW assisted with that they felt especially good about or learned something important from. To date, 45 stories have been received. While each story is fascinating to read, they have been summarized and excerpted for brevity. This document highlights the information collected from these examples of CHW success in Iowa.

​Community Health Workers (CHWs)

A community health worker is a frontline public health worker who is a trusted member of and/or has an unusually close understanding of the community served. This trusting relationship enables the worker to serve as a liaison/link/intermediary between health/social services and the community to facilitate access to services and improve the quality and cultural competence of service delivery.