Enhancing care delivery through integration of behavioral health-focused community health workers into primary care

Recognizing common behavioral health disorders and providing appropriately tailored services remains a significant public health challenge.  Members of underserved populations, in particular, may face substantial social, cultural, and financial barriers to receiving appropriate care and supportive services.  Community health workers (CHWs)—frontline public health professionals who are trusted by the communities they serve—are a unique class of practitioners who are effective in providing personalized support for a myriad of common health issues, often in the context of team-based care.  However, CHWs have historically been underutilized in behavioral health.  Using evidence-based and evidence-informed practices, we developed a novel program to integrate behavioral health-focused CHWs into primary care teams at four pilot sites.  We will outline how CHW activities including outreach, social support, health coaching, and cultural mediation complement, rather than compete with, clinical practitioners’ roles and may enhance ability to individualize care for behavioral health issues.  This presentation will describe replicable processes for integrating behavioral health-focused CHWs into primary care.  We will also present qualitative data from interviews with CHWs and clinical providers on successes and challenges of this model.