Integrating Community Health Workers (CHWs) into Health Care Organizations.

Health care organizations increasingly employ community health workers (CHWs) to help address growing provider shortages, improve patient outcomes, and increase access to culturally sensitive care among traditionally inaccessible or disenfranchised patient populations. Scholarly interest in CHWs has grown in recent decades, but researchers tend to focus on how CHWs affect patient outcomes rather than whether and how CHWs fit into the existing health care workforce. This paper focuses on the factors that facilitate and impede the integration of the CHWs into health care organizations, and strategies that organizations and their staff develop to overcome barriers to CHW integration. We use qualitative evaluation data from 13 awardees that received Health Care Innovation Awards from the Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Innovation to enhance the quality of health care, improve health outcomes, and reduce the cost of care using programs involving CHWs. We find that organizational capacity, support for CHWs, clarity about health care roles, and clinical workflow drive CHW integration. We conclude with practical recommendations for health care organizations interested in employing CHWs.

Smokefree policies to reduce tobacco use. A systematic review.

In 2001, a systematic review for the Guide to Community Preventive Services identified strong evidence of effectiveness of smoking bans and restrictions in reducing exposure to environmental (secondhand) tobacco smoke. As follow-up to that earlier review, the focus here was on the evidence on effectiveness of smokefree policies in reducing tobacco use. Smokefree policies implemented by worksites or communities prohibit smoking in workplaces and designated public areas. The conceptual approach was modified for this review; an updated search for evidence was conducted; and the available evidence was evaluated. Published articles that met quality criteria and evaluated changes in tobacco-use prevalence or cessation were included in the review. A total of 57 studies were identified in the period 1976 through June 2005 that met criteria to be candidates for review; of these, 37 met study design and quality of execution criteria to qualify for final assessment. Twenty-one studies measured absolute differences in tobacco-use prevalence with a median effect of -3.4 percentage points (interquartile interval: -6.3 to -1.4 percentage points). Eleven studies measured differences in tobacco-use cessation among tobacco users exposed to a smokefree policy compared with tobacco users not exposed to a smokefree policy. The median absolute change was an increase in cessation of 6.4 percentage points (interquartile interval: 1.3 to 7.9 percentage points). The qualifying studies provided sufficient evidence that smokefree policies reduce tobacco use among workers when implemented in worksites or by communities. Finally, a systematic economic review identified four studies that, overall, demonstrated economic benefits from a smokefree workplace policy. Additional research is needed to more fully evaluate the total economic effects of these policies.

A systematic review of selected interventions for worksite health promotion. The assessment of health risks with feedback.

BACKGROUND: Many health behaviors and physiologic indicators can be used to estimate one's likelihood of illness or premature death. Methods have been developed to assess this risk, most notably the use of a health-risk assessment or biometric screening tool. This report provides recommendations on the effectiveness of interventions that use an Assessment of Health Risks with Feedback (AHRF) when used alone or as part of a broader worksite health promotion program to improve the health of employees. EVIDENCE ACQUISITION: The Guide to Community Preventive Services' methods for systematic reviews were used to evaluate the effectiveness of AHRF when used alone and when used in combination with other intervention components. Effectiveness was assessed on the basis of changes in health behaviors and physiologic estimates, but was also informed by changes in risk estimates, healthcare service use, and worker productivity. EVIDENCE SYNTHESIS: The review team identified strong evidence of effectiveness of AHRF when used with health education with or without other intervention components for five outcomes. There is sufficient evidence of effectiveness for four additional outcomes assessed. There is insufficient evidence to determine effectiveness for others such as changes in body composition and fruit and vegetable intake. The team also found insufficient evidence to determine the effectiveness of AHRF when implemented alone. CONCLUSIONS: The results of these reviews indicate that AHRF is useful as a gateway intervention to a broader worksite health promotion program that includes health education lasting > or =1 hour or repeating multiple times during 1 year, and that may include an array of health promotion activities. These reviews form the basis of the recommendations by the Task Force on Community Preventive Services presented elsewhere in this supplement.