title: Return on investment from employment of community health workers.
abstract: Community Health Workers (CHWs) are gaining acceptance in the US health care system, but have been subject to challenges as to their "cost-effectiveness." This situation is shifting, with a growing body of published evidence as to the effectiveness of CHWs, but much of the evidence of cost savings from employing CHWs is still unpublished. Return on investment analysis for CHWs must consider a range of possible CHW roles and stakeholder points of view. Current trends suggest we may be entering a new era of acceptance in which a generally lower threshold of evidence is required in proposing the employment of CHWs.
authors.affiliation: Project on Community Health Worker Policy and Practice, University of Texas-Houston Institute for Health Policy, TX, USA. carl.h.rush@uth.tmc.edu
authors.forename: Carl H
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Rush
mesh_terms: D018672:Community Health Planning; D003153:Community Health Services / Q000191:economics; D003150:Community Health Workers / Q000191:economics*; D017046:Cost Savings; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D006291:Health Policy; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006801:Humans; D014481:United States; D000078329:Workforce