Community Health Worker Task Force

History

The Community Health Worker (CHW) Task Force was created by House Bill 1028 during the 68th Legislative Session.

Membership

The CHW Task Force consisted of eight members as listed below.

• One representative of the Medical Services division of HHS;
• One representative of the Public Health division of HHS;
• One representative of the Tribal nations in the state;
• One representative of the North Dakota State University School of Public Health;
• One representative of the University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences Center for Rural Health;
• One representative of the hospitals in this state;
• One representative of the Federally Qualified Health Centers; and
• One representative of the emergency medical services profession.

Goals

Task Force goals were to work in collaboration with Health and Human Services (HHS), to:

• Develop a data-driven plan for community health worker
  • Scope of work,
  • Education and training,
  • Certification and regulation,
  • Medical assistance reimbursement, including reimbursements to FQHCs, and
  • A ND community health worker collaborative.
• Provide to HHS a proposal for a Medicaid state plan amendment or waiver to include community health workers.
• Provide to HHS proposed administrative rules for the community health worker
  • Scope of work,
  • Education and training,
  • Certification and regulation, 
  • Medical assistance reimbursement, and
  • A ND community health worker collaborative.
• Collaborate with existing clinical, public health, and home and community-based service systems.

Meetings

The CHW Task Force met monthly between October 2023 - December 2024. All meetings of the CHW Task Force were open to the public. The CHW Task Force met twenty-one (21) times, created three (3) subcommittees, and held three (3) listening sessions. Subcommittees were:

• Training/Education Workgroup which met three times;
• Certification/Regulation Workgroup which met twice; and
• Medicaid Workgroup which met twice.

Meeting Minutes

Meeting minutes appear below for all regular and special CHW Task Force meetings, including listening and public comment sessions and workgroup meetings.

Final Recommendations

Through the CHW Task Force's work, three final recommendations were issued:

• Recommendations for Medicaid coverage of CHWs; 
• Proposed Administrative Rules for CHW Training, Certification, and Regulation; and
• a Proposal for a CHW Collaborative.

Next Steps

HHS will propose draft CHW Administrative Rules for CHW Training, Certification, and Regulation based on the final recommendations put forth by the Task Force. These rules will follow the administrative rulemaking process set forth in North Dakota Century Code.

HHS Medical Services Division will prepare a State Plan Amendment for CHW coverage as preventive services using the Task Force's final recommendation. Public notice of State Plan Changes are published here. Medical Services will prepare a draft policy and subsequently implement CHW enrollment and coverage.