Paving a path to advance the community health worker workforce in New York State

This presentation will describe the process and outcomes of a two-year effort to establish stable financing models for the community health worker (CHW) workforce in New York State. The project was spearheaded by the Community Health Worker Network of NYC and sought to locate and help organize CHWs in strategic locations across the state to inform the development of CHW workforce standards. In addition, the project sought to engage thought leaders in all relevant CHW stakeholder sectors to form a leadership advisory group (LAG) including CHWs, employers, government, payers, regulators, academia, hospitals, CHCs, and CBOs. CHWs made up 25% of the LAG. The project established three work groups from the LAG membership to work on CHW scope of practice, CHW training and credentialing, and CHW financing. Each work group was co-chaired by a CHW and one other member of the LAG. Original research and data analysis were conducted to identify the elements of the CHW scope of practice. Community participatory ranking and a functional task analysis were conducted to categorize and prioritize those elements. The resulting recommendations were then used by the other work groups to develop training, credentialing, and financing recommendations to the state of New York. The draft recommendations were circulated to the broader CHW community both locally and nationally through a public review/comment period. CHW leaders across the country have commented on the uniqueness of the process and the quality of the outcomes as comprehensive, sophisticated, and modern. This work is co-authored and presented by a CHW.