April & May: Statewide Partnership to Train Community Health Workers in Patient Centered Outcome

As part of the recently awarded engagement award from the Patient Centered Outcome Research Institute (PCORI) to principal investigator Olveen Carrasquillo M.D. MPH, a statewide project has developed and is implementing a structured research training program in PCOR for Community Health Workers (CHWs). The sessions are scheduled for April 15 in Orlando, FL, April 22 in Palm Beach County,April 29 in Jacksonville, May 10 and May 11 in Northwest and North central Florida, and on May 19 in St. Petersburg, FL.

Attendees are being recruited from across the state of Florida for the training workshop sessions as CHWs, outreach workers, patient navigators, and include patient advocates from the local health departments, federally qualified health centers, health insurance service providers, faith-based organizations, and advocacy organizations, amongst other private and federal organizations.

This training and dissemination engagement award is building on this experience and has already developed a PCOR elective seven hour module that can be used by CHWs toward their state certification or renewal for their credentials. A toolkit will also be developed for PCORI that can be used by groups in other states to develop a similarly structured program.

Community Health Workers, also known as promotores de salud, serve as a liaison between health services and the community to facilitate access to services and improve the quality of service delivery. CHWs are also an important stakeholder group in patient-centered outcomes research.

Over the past four years, the University of Miami, the Health Council of South Florida and the Florida Community Health Worker Coalition have led a multi-stakeholder group in developing the state certification program for CHWs that has been available to the public since January 1st, 2015, certifying over 304 CHWs to date.

Brendaly Rodríguez, MA, is CTSI-CECD Program Manager, PCORI Ambassador since 2013, and Co-President of the Florida Community Health Worker Coalition. She has lead the development of this training and will facilitate the incoming training sessions across the state. More sessions will be scheduled for later dates in 2016.

If you or your organization is interested in this opportunity, please contact: brodriguez@med.miami.edu or at 305-243-8433

Visit the Community Collaborators page at the Miami CTSI CECD Program website, the Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) webpage, and the Florida Community Health Worker Coalition website to learn more.