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338891
Community Health Worker Reimbursements: Implementing Federal Policy at State Level


Sunday, November 1, 2015

Donaji Stelzig, MPH, CHES, CHWI, School of Public Health, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX
Background: The movement for state certification of community health workers/promotores de salud (CHWs) has increased considerably. However, not precise effort has been made to evaluate it and assess its influence on CHWs careers and reimbursement. Evaluating the competency of CHWs is a step to support reimbursement for their jobs.

Methods: I designed and administered a survey to assess status of the CHW certification in the Gulf Coast Region in Southeast Texas. The survey focused on the type, level and number of training programs completed by CHWs.  We also asked the CHWs about their job title and recognition. Survey was distributed at the annual CHW conference region. Attendance to this conference is usually 250 people including non-CHWs.

Results: A total of 103 surveys were collected. We found that the most common ways to obtain certification were by attending a 160-hour training program (54.5%) and by performing over 1,000 hours of CHW work (37.4%). Concerning the type and level of training, 24.2% indicated having only a specific topic training. Beyond this specific topic training, we listed 18 different specialized health topics. The most common training received was on diabetes (51% respondents), followed by healthy eating (48%), and cancer prevention (46%). In total, 78% reported having received trainings on at least two of the listed topics; for more than half of the respondents (54%) the number was at least five.

Conclusion: Results suggest that certification generates motivation to seek continued education to meet criteria for renewal. Even when CHWs have completed their “quota” to be eligible for renewal, they continue seeking professional development. These results assess the current status of the CHWs certification in the region. Further work is needed to implement and distribute surveys to compare results from other areas in Texas. Also, surveying a larger pool to obtain better statistical precision will help to obtain more information in other geographical areas.

Learning Areas:

Advocacy for health and health education

Learning Objectives:
Assess the status of community health workers/promotores to advocate for state policy change on reimbursement.

Keyword(s): Affordable Care Act

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have performed the practicum, developed survey and collected data addressed on the submitted document.
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.

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