Community Health Workers are frontline public health workers who have a trusted relationship with the community and facilitate access to a variety of services and resources for community members. Building CHWs into the continuum of care has been proven to both improve health outcomes and reduce healthcare costs.
For a picture of how CHWs can fit into a continuum of care, take a look at this report from the NAU Center for Health Equity Research in collaboration with the UA Prevention Research Center (AzPRC) which provides insight into innovative strategies for integrating, sustaining and scaling of the CHW workforce within Medicaid (AHCCCS).
Building CHWs into the healthcare continuum requires that a certification process be in place. The public health community tried for many years to get such a process in place, finally meeting with success 4 years ago with the passage of HB 2324 (sponsored by Representative Carter), which charged the ADHS with implementing a program for the voluntary certification of Community Health Workers.
More than 4 years after the law passed giving the ADHS the responsibility to write rules to provide for the voluntary certification of Community Health Workers – the rulemaking is finally almost finished. The last step is this week’s hearing by the Governor’s Regulatory Review Council – Wednesday September 7 at 10am.
The virtual Council meeting (which is open to the public) will be held on September 7, 2022 at 10:00 a.m.
Google Meet – Join by phone: +1 317-624-2043 PIN: 172 007 846#
Google Meet – Video Link: https://meet.google.com/ryp-jrrt-xos
The Council allows time for public comments on each item on the agenda. To address the council, you’re supposed to complete a Request to Address the Council. Please note that this request form doesn’t become active until the start of the meeting.
Here’s the agenda for the meeting- the CHW Voluntary Certification is item number 4 (Title 9, Chapter 16, Article 8). Right now, it’s on the Consent Agenda- which is a good thing.
To view the Article and included Sections you can reference the most recent Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, filed on March 24, 2022.
The final rules on the Administrative Rules webpage.
