The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Illinois, the state’s affiliate organization for the nationwide group, plans to focus its efforts on recruiting and training individuals with lived mental health challenges to help provide counseling and treatment for youth with severe mental health conditions. In an interview with State of Reform, Andrew Wade, … Read more
The 2023 Utah State of Reform Conference in Salt Lake City last month brought together a panel of local health policy experts to discuss how to reestablish trust between Utahns and state and federal public health agencies. A survey published in March in the journal Health Affairs revealed that 63% of Americans said … Read more
I hope you had a great Thanksgiving holiday! This month’s edition of “5 Things We’re Watching” in Arizona health policy features information about the new community health worker certification process, the anticipated positive impacts of a recently passed bill to support the state’s nurse workforce, and an overview of ADHS’s “Talk Heals” campaign to deter … Read more
The Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS) has officially launched the community health worker voluntary certification portal, where community health workers in the state will be able to apply to become a certified professional through the ADHS Community Health Workers Program once they meet certain standards and successfully complete an approved training program. … Read more
This month’s newsletter includes a look at Arizona’s ballot initiative that aims to lower medical debt, a successful COVID vaccination incentive effort conducted by Pima County, and recommendations from AzPHA’s Will Humble about how to combat rising rates of fentanyl-related deaths in the state. Thank you for reading! Eli Kirshbaum State of Reform 1. … Read more
The addition of community health workers (CHW) and promotore services as a Medi-Cal benefit is just one part of California’s larger efforts to make these services more accessible across the state, according to Carlina Hansen, Senior Program Officer of Improving Access at the California Health Care Foundation. Gov. Gavin Newsom allocated $16.3 million … Read more
A new community health worker (CHW) training curriculum has been approved to be part of the Arizona Health Start Program, a program that uses CHWs to provide education, support, and advocacy services to pregnant and postpartum women in historically underserved communities throughout the state. Families enrolled in the program receive home visits and case management … Read more
The Utah Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) said that certain racial/ethnic minority groups continue to lag behind in vaccination and booster uptake. According to state COVID-19 case data, Black/African American, Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, and Hispanic/Latino community members have lower rates of vaccination and booster doses compared to other racial and ethnic minority groups … Read more
Medicaid community health workers (CHW) lead to a more positive impact on health care and preventative care, according to a new study by the Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation (IHPI) at the University of Michigan (UM). The study also showed that these CHW programs may lead to better use of Medicaid funding and lower … Read more
In a webinar hosted by the California Health Care Foundation (CHCF) last week, stakeholders sought to understand how the proposed preventive services Medicaid State Plan Amendment (SPA) can support a sustainable community health worker and promotore workforce. They also identified opportunities and challenges of the SPA and discussed how it can support community health workers … Read more