Community Health Workers (CHWs) are champions of health, bridging the gap between underserved populations and essential resources. They advocate for equity while enhancing health care quality and reducing costs for at-risk and marginalized communities. URAC designed its groundbreaking Community Health Worker Program Accreditation to address challenges encountered by some CHW programs.
CHWs need independent external validation to demonstrate their value and quality to payers, including Medicare and Medicaid. Yet, individual certifications often come with barriers, such as cost and educational prerequisites, which can perpetuate wage inequity and limit access. URAC’s Accreditation shifts the focus from individual certification to empowering organizations that support CHWs.
A Collaborative Approach to Building Equity
URAC worked closely with national CHW leaders to develop this first-of-its-kind accreditation. The accreditation evaluates the organization, ensuring systemic improvements that benefit CHWs and their communities.
The Accreditation addresses critical issues to strengthen the CHW workforce:
- Advancing Health Equity: Ensures CHW programs promote health equity, with caregivers that reflect their communities.
- Prioritizing Safety and Workload: Establishes safety protocols and sets appropriate caseload limits.
- Supporting Well-Being: Provides infrastructure to nurture CHWs’ mental health and professional growth while providing fair compensation.
- Fostering Leadership: Offers pathways for career advancement, supervision and leadership development.
“This accreditation reflects our commitment to supporting community health workers and the organizations they serve,” said Shawn Griffin, MD, President and CEO of URAC. “By combining our decades of independent validated oversight with having CHWs around the table from the beginning, we have created a unique program to support CHWs in the way they want to be supported as they serve their communities. This first-in-the-nation program serves to empower CHW programs to better meet the needs of both caregivers and patients alike.”
Margarita Hart, Executive Director of the Indiana Community Health Worker Association (INCHWA), emphasized the accreditation’s significance: “These standards set a benchmark for CHW organizations and highlight the elements critical to supporting CHWs. I hope programs nationwide will embrace this forward-looking accreditation to safeguard the quality of the CHW workforce.”
A Step Toward Sustainable Impact
URAC’s Community Health Worker Program Accreditation represents a critical step in addressing the systemic challenges CHWs face, ensuring their contributions continue to drive meaningful improvements in public health.
- Learn more about URAC’s Community Health Worker Program Accreditation.
- Learn more about URAC’s Health Equity Program Accreditation.
- Learn more about URAC’s Accreditation Process
