275065 Community Health Worker Credentialing: Massachusetts Perspective on Successful Practices & Lessons Learned

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Gail Hirsch, MEd , Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Boston, MA
Lisa Renee Holderby, LSWA , Massachusetts Association of Community Health Workers, Shrewsbury, MA
Joanne L. Calista, MS, LICSW , Executive Director, Central Massachusetts Area Health Education Center, Inc. (CM AHEC), Worcester, MA
This roundtable session will highlight key aspects of CHW credentialing and training from Massachusetts. The purpose of credentialing (certification is a type of credentialing) and training is to provide leadership for the enhancement, development and implementation of statewide training and certification standards and administrative rules as pertaining to CHWs. We will briefly describe Massachusetts' program: 1) purpose and goals; 2) brief history of credentialing, and training programs; 3) discussion of the credentialing environment; 4) discussion of current legislation as pertaining to the credentialing, certification, and training; 5) issues related to CHW credentialing and training; 6) special highlights of our process/program; 7) lessons learned and CHW credentialing best practices; and 8) future plans.

Learning Areas:
Ethics, professional and legal requirements
Public health or related organizational policy, standards, or other guidelines

Learning Objectives:
• Describe at least 2 purposes of credentialing community health workers in Massachusetts. • Identify current legislation pertaining to credentialing, certification, and/or training of community health workers in Massachusetts.

Keywords: Certification, Community Health Promoters

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am eligible to present because I am the Director of the Office of Community Health Workers at the Massachusetts Department of Public Health and directly involved with the implementation of our certification law, MGL Chapter 322, Acts of 2010.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.