Policy to Advance Community Health Workers in Illinois: Contact Tracing & COVID-19

professionals and members of Community Health Workers (CHWs) are often on the multidisciplinary teams that can improve both front lines of defense in combating illness and the the quality and delivery of healthcare. [...] After state legislation in There are many steps forward to be made in Illinois 2007, the Minnesota Department of Services and nationally to solidify, amplify, and support the successfully sought federal approval for MHCP role of CHWs in the healthcare infrastructure. [...] Particularly at this • New Mexico, SB58, Community Health Workers moment in history as we come together to address the Act, created a voluntary, statewide certification program for CHWs through the Department of pandemic of Covid-19, the skills of CHWs should be deployed and amplified as part of the healthcare Health team. [...] Now is the time to demand • Arizona, 2018, HB2324, Community Health Worker improvement to our health care systems, to (CHW) Volunteer Certification legislation initiated collaborate on policy solutions, and to lift up the role by the Arizona CHW Association (AzCHOW) and of the Community Health Worker as an integral part the Arizona CHW Workforce Coalition to unify, of addressing health inequities. [...] Health & Medicine has successfully developed health policy recommendations and implementation strategies for different public and private entities, earning the trust of the legislature, advocates, the media, researchers and policymakers at all levels of government in Illinois to become the region’s “honest broker” on healthcare policy matters.