Connecticut should establish a process for certifying community health workers, along with training and experience requirements, to better document worker’s skills for potential employers and insurers, according to a policy brief from the Connecticut Health Foundation (CT Health).
Community health workers (CHW) can improve health outcomes and contain costs, and the brief outlines steps Connecticut can take to integrate and pay for a community health workforce in the state’s healthcare delivery system.
Legislation certifying CHWs is one of five recommendations the brief offers, including urging the state to add CHW services to the set of Medicaid-covered services and establish a Medicaid payment rate to provide sustainable funding for these services.
The report notes that 10 states have established a certification process to formalize CHW knowledge and skills and to increase recognition of the CHW workforce. The benefits of certification are that healthcare providers are more likely to hire certified CHWs, and Medicaid programs and private health insurers are more likely to approve payments for services provided by certified CHWs, the release said.
“CT Health hopes that this research and the advances in other states provide the evidence and blueprint needed to convince key decision makers in Connecticut that community health workers must be supported through training, certification, practice transformation, and payment if the state is to meet the changing needs of the health care system,” Elizabeth Krause, vice president of policy and communications, said in the release.
