Community Health Workers Evidence-Based Models Toolbox. HRSA Office of Rural Health Policy.

摘要

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), Office of Rural Health Policy (ORHP) coordinates activities related to rural health care within HHS. ORHP has department-wide responsibility for analyzing the possible effects of policy decisions on 62 million residents of rural communities. ORHP was created by Section 711 of the Social Security Act to advise the Secretary of Health and Human Services on health issues within rural communities, including the effects of Medicare and Medicaid on rural citizens access to care, the viability of rural hospitals, and the availability of physicians and other health professionals. ORHP administers grant programs designed to build health care capacity at both the local and State levels. Currently there are many challenges to identifying promising practice models and evidence-based models in rural communities. As such, ORHP recognized the need to develop these for specific issue areas ORHP grantees focus on. ORHP selected Community Health Workers (CHW) as the first topic area due to Agency priorities and the important role CHWs play in rural communities in providing needed health care. The intent was to conduct extensive literature reviews on CHW models that have been proven to work and then share those strategies with rural communities so that they do not have to reinvent the wheel.