Minnesota Community Health Worker Project
Who We Are
Minnesota’s Community Health Worker Project is a statewide initiative whose mission is to reduce cultural and linguistic barriers to health care, improve quality and cost effectiveness of care, and increase the number of health care workers who come from diverse backgrounds or underserved communities. Community Health Workers come from the communities they serve, working at the grassroots level building trust and vital relationships which make them effective culture brokers between their own communities and systems of care. CHWs:
- Teach navigation through the health care system - increasing health care access
- Educate health care knowledge – lowering health disparities
- Bridge the gap between cultures and health care systems – improving health outcomes
Project Innovation
This project is a tribute to the coalition of partners (educators, health care industry, health care payers, public and private organizations & CHWs) who committed to improve the system of delivering health care services to all persons in Minnesota. This project:
- Developed a standardized curriculum to educate CHWs in Minnesota;
- Developed professional standards for CHWs that define their role in the health care delivery system;
- Created a sustainable employment market, incorporating CHWs into the health care workforce;
- Demonstrated that trained CHWs are effective, and that a CHWs time with a patient is a billable/reimbursable valued service.
Project Accomplishments
- Developed an 11 credit Community Health Worker Curriculum
- 2005 – 2007 enrolled 211 students into the CHW training
- 144 students graduated and received a certificate which makes their services eligible for reimbursement
- 42 graduates employed into newly created CHW jobs
- 62 were awarded scholarships provided through funding partners
- Successfully advocated for passage of new Minnesota Legislation mandating Medicaid reimbursement for Community Health Workers to begin in 2008.
- Published workforce analysis, outcome analysis and other national studies to build a foundation of support for the Community Health Worker position.
- Published the Minnesota Community Health Worker Curriculum
Project Information:
Community Health Worker Alliance
Contact: Project Director, Anne Willaert, anne.willaert@mnsu.edu
Funding Partners:
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota Foundation, UCare Minnesota, Health Partners, Minnesota Department of Health, Otto Bremer Foundation, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Local Initiative Funding Partners, Fairview Health Services, Delta Dental of Minnesota, Minnesota State Colleges and University System, Minneapolis Foundation, Randy Shaver Foundation, Susan B. Komen Foundation, Mayo Clinic.
Community Partners:
Minnesota Department of Human Services, Minnesota Nurses Association, Twin Cities Healthy Start, Medica, Minnesota International Health Volunteers, Neighborhood Health Care Network, Summit Academy OIC, Minnesota Area Health Education Center, Norhtpoint Health and Wellness Center, Open Cities Health Care Center, YWCA of Mankato, Fremont Health, Portico Health Network, Ramsey, Blue Earth and Hennepin Counties.