With the aging of the Baby Boomers (among whom I count myself), a renewed emphasis on “aging in place” and the growing burden of long-term care on state Medicaid programs, the era of community health workers (CHWs) has arrived. CHWs have been engaged in population health in disadvantaged and hard-to-reach communities for 50 years or more, but have moved rapidly into new roles as part of clinical care teams, spurred in part by healthcare reform.
By Carl H. Rush
With the aging of the Baby Boomers (among whom I count myself), a renewed emphasis on “aging in place” and the growing burden of long-term care on state Medicaid programs, the era of community health workers (CHWs) has arrived. CHWs have been engaged in population health in disadvantaged and hard-to-reach communities for 50 years or more, but have moved rapidly into new roles as part of clinical care teams, spurred in part by healthcare reform.