Community Health Workers in Minnesota: Bridging Barriers, Expanding Access, Improving Health

This Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota Foundation report highlights the accomplishments of a collaborative effort to improve the health of underserved populations through the training and use of community health workers.

The report details the many accomplishments that have been achieved in Minnesota in the past decade. Highlights include:

• The development of a formal training curriculum offered by the state’s community college system so that more people are trained and qualified to help.
• The passage of legislation authorizing Medical Assistance payment for specific services provided by trained and supervised community health workers (CHWs), increasing sustainability of the financing.
• Documented cost savings. For example, one study found that a CHW outreach program serving Medicaid patients with diabetes resulted in a 40% decline in emergency room visits, average savings of $2,245 per patient, and improved quality of life.
• The development of action steps that education, health, government, business and nonprofit organizations can take to help increase the use of CHWs, based on lessons learned in the first decade.

Read the report.