Critical Links

Through our “Critical Links” community health workers (CHWs) initiative, the Blue Cross Foundation has served as a catalyst to promote the use of CHWs as a strategy for improving health care cultural competence, increasing the size and diversity of Minnesota's health care workforce and reducing health disparities by race, ethnicity and foreign-born status.

Bridging cultural groups and health systems

CHWs deliver culturally appropriate health education, health promotion and supportive health services to patients who face linguistic and cultural barriers to accessing health care. Their functions vary across the organizations that employ them and the populations they serve.

In some cases, CHWs help patients obtain health coverage, make medical appointments and follow through on treatment recommendations. In other cases, CHWs provide outreach, referral and education about specific health issues such as diabetes or teenage pregnancy. Typically, they are bicultural and bilingual individuals whose effectiveness stems from their membership in and understanding of the communities they serve. CHWs serve as a crucial bridge between cultural groups and the health systems that serve them.

Advancing the field

Critical Links advances the training and use of CHWs through:

Strategic partnerships

The Blue Cross Foundation has provided a two-year grant to the Healthcare Education and Industry Partnership (HEIP), a program of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities, to develop a standardized training curriculum for community health workers through the state’s community college system. The foundation’s successful nomination of HEIP under the Local Initiatives Funding Partnership led to a planning grant by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and subsequent implrmentation.

Grantmaking

The foundation provides grant support to CHW programs throughout Minnesota. See “grantees” for more information.

Research and dissemination

In 2002 the foundation commissioned a survey of organizations that employ CHWs to better understand their roles, recruitment, training, compensation and future hiring prospects. Survey findings led to the Foundation’s decision to focus on CHW training opportunities in our state.    As a next step, the foundation commissioned Wilder Research Center to conduct focus group research on the training needs identified by practicing CHWs in our state (2003).  While they corroborated the importance of credit-based training, they also identified peer support as an important element in CHW professional growth and continuing education.   

Most recently we commissioned a study focusing on funding models nationally and in Minnesota.