Community Health Worker Program Increased Access to Outpatient Care

February 2023

Sage Journals Research Article Executive summary

Community health worker (CHW) interventions can lead to measurable improvements in health outcomes. By providing support from CHWs, an Elevance Health-affiliated Medicaid plan increased access to outpatient care, including both virtual and in-person care, for members with significant health-related needs.

CHWs are trusted public health workers who come from the communities they serve. They build relationships with people who are often from similar backgrounds and cultures to help connect them to medical care and social services. Their goal is to improve the health of community members by providing services such as health education, referrals to community resources, language interpretation and translation, informal counseling, and patient advocacy.

This analysis found that health plan CHW programs can meaningfully increase access to outpatient care. Program participants experienced significant increases in outpatient office visits (18%), including a 21% increase in primary care visits, and no associated increase in inpatient admissions, emergency department utilization, or total spending relative to a comparison group.

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Topics

Community Health Workers
Medicaid Managed Care
Results
Considerations for Population Health

Sage Journals Research Article

Executive summary

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