Certification without over-professionalization increases the likelihood that community health workers (CHWs) will get hired and that their services will get paid. For background see Tomorrow’s Health Care System Need Community Health Workers: a Policy Agenda for Connecticut.

A group of CHW stakeholders is forming through Connecticut’s State Innovation Model (“SIM”) initiative to make recommendations for CHW certification requirements and processes for Connecticut. Connecticut’s Medicaid (“HUSKY”) program is also interested in certification approaches.

A starting point for determining the right route for Connecticut is to study the approaches of other states that have established and pending CHW certification systems.

This resource provides at-a-glance information about the approaches of 15 other states. Certification is an evolving process for many and there will be changes with time. The table reveals commonalities and wide variability across states.