Community health workers and promotores (CHW/Ps) are trusted community members with deep cultural ties to those they serve. CHW/Ps are critical to improving health outcomes and increasing health equity for Californians.

Medi-Cal, through CalAIM (California Advancing and Innovating Medi-Cal), will in January 2022 begin covering services provided by CHW/Ps, which could lead to the biggest expansion of this workforce in state history. As this milestone approaches, it’s important that California’s Medi-Cal managed care plans are ready to maximize the value that CHW/Ps can bring to their members.

CHCF recently released Advancing California’s Community Health Worker & Promotor Workforce in Medi-Cal. For the past year, the Community Health Workers & Promotores in the Future of Medi-Cal project has gathered, reviewed, and organized the best available information to help California’s Medi-Cal managed care plans hire, train, and integrate CHW/Ps into their programs and services. All this information is now compiled into an easy-to-use online resource center and comprehensive printable compendium.

The resource center focuses on four topic areas and contains a variety of tools and case studies, including a program design checklist (PDF). Readers can explore the content through the links below and can also download the complete toolkit as a PDF.

Join project partners for a webinar as they share key lessons and introduce the valuable resources assembled by the project. The webinar will include diverse perspectives from managed care plans, CHW/Ps, and other community voices on the important role CHW/Ps play in our health care system. Speakers will share strategies for managed care plans to better integrate CHW/Ps into publicly funded health care programs and services and ways to access practical resources.

Date: Thursday, October 14, 2021

Time: 11:00 AM (PT)

Participants include:

• Joseph Calderon
  Senior Community Health Worker, Transitions Clinic Network
• Lakshmi Dhanwanthari, MD
  Chief Medical Officer, Health Plan of San Joaquin
• Alex Fajardo
  Executive Director, El Sol Neighborhood Educational Center
• Carlina Hansen
  Senior Program Officer, California Health Care Foundation

A recording of the webinar is available below.