Community Health Workers and State Government Collaborating To Promote Policies That Integrate And Sustain The CHW Workforce

Collaboration between, and joint leadership of, the organized CHW workforce and the state public health agency are essential for promoting state policies that integrate and sustain the CHW workforce. In Massachusetts, the statewide CHW professional organization (MACHW) and the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (MDPH) have worked together for over 10 years to identify critical policy arenas and needs, and strategies for jointly maximizing impact. Together, they have achieved major successes, created a blueprint for future action, and, very significantly, brought to the table and facilitated consensus among a broad range of key public and private stakeholders.

Policy areas for supporting the CHW workforce include: strengthening the professional identity among CHWs, other providers and in communities; identifying funding streams and mechanisms; workforce development, including competency-based core CHW training; considerations of occupational regulation; and establishing a state infrastructure, to coordinate research efforts, workforce surveillance, career and policy development, and capacity-building. Within these policy arenas, MACHW and MDPH make unique contributions, that together lay the foundation and create the forward momentum necessary for systems changes.

With the release of the report of the statewide CHW Advisory Council to the Legislature in January 2010 (“Community Health Workers in Massachusetts: Improving Public Health and Health Care”), MACHW and MDPH are collaborating strategically to implement the report's 34 recommendations. In this interactive session, participants will have the opportunity to share, from their state's perspective, the status of CHW organization and public health agency commitment, as well as identify opportunities for future collaboration.