ORPRN Collaborates with the Federal Reserve on Community Health Worker Programs

Since 2023 ORPRN has collaborated with the Community Development Program at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (FRBNY) to convene experts to discuss innovative Community Health Worker (CHW) payment models to increase the scale and sustainability of this important workforce. CHWs are frontline healthcare workers who help patients understand and navigate the healthcare system and connect to social care services.  

In 2023, ORPRN partnered with the FRBNY to present a national webinar on the evidence supporting CHWs, and a roundtable meeting with experts in impact investing, human resources, health care and health policy to discuss how to bring an employer-based CHW employee benefit to fruition (event information can be found on the FRBNY website ). That model, called CHWs in Employment Settings, is currently being piloted at OHSU under the leadership of Brian Frank, MD, with consultation from Anne King, M.B.A., Associate Director of ORPRN and Nithya Ramalingam, Ph.D., Senior Qualitative Data Analyst & Qualitative Core Lead at ORPRN. The model provides CHW services as a benefit to employees of two departments at OHSU and has already seen positive results, including connecting employees to health care, food and stable housing.  

In June of 2024, ORPRN returned to the FRBNY for a convening co-organized by ImpactCare to discuss strategies to advance financing and infrastructure for CHW models. Numerous state, federal, and CHW partners were in attendance. Of potential interest to ORPRN clinical partners who employ CHWs, Meena Seshamani, M.D., Ph.D.,  Deputy Administrator and Director of the Center for Medicare, presented the new CPT codes that clinics can use for CHW reimbursement for assessing and coordinating health and social care for Medicare members.  

ORPRN continues to advance CHW programs through collaborations, technical assistance and research and encourages ORPRN members and interested parties to connect on this work. 

Anne King and Brian Frank, MD outside of the Federal Reserve Bank of NY
Anne King, MBA, ORPRN’s Associate Director, and Brian Frank, Assistant Professor of Family Medicine and ORPRN Core Investigator, join partners and national leaders at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to advance Community Health Worker (CHW) Programs and Payment Models.