October 28, 2016
(Helena, Mont.) – Mountain-Pacific Quality Health is supporting the Alaska Primary Care Association and Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development and other health care partners to develop and implement a community health worker apprenticeship program. Mountain-Pacific is also working with other health care providers to identify additional opportunities to establish community health worker programs.
The United States Department of Labor awarded the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development $700,000 to create a Registered Apprenticeship program for a community health worker system within Alaska Primary Care Association member clinics. The apprenticeship program provides on-the-job training and technical instruction while apprentices earn a pay check.
Mountain-Pacific, the Alaska Primary Care Association, Alaska Healthcare Apprenticeship Consortium, Area Health Education Centers and the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services will partner together in the development and training of the community health worker program.
“Mountain-Pacific commends the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development team in coordinating health care partners and community stakeholders in strengthening the community health worker initiative,” said Sharon Scudder, Mountain-Pacific Alaska director. “This project will improve patient health outcomes, impact unnecessary readmissions for Alaskans and ultimately reduce overall health care costs for all of us.”
The program serves two primary purposes: to expand the number of qualified workers trained in the community health worker system; and to improve health care outcomes, reduce admission rates while reducing costs. The goal of the program is to enroll at least 40 Community Health Worker apprentices within the first 18 months of the program, in addition to other apprentices in occupations such as Billing and Coding Specialist.
“Community Health Worker apprenticeships present an exciting opportunity to improve health outcomes, manage costs, and create new job opportunities in support of Medicaid Redesign and the Governor’s Healthy Alaska Plan,” said state Labor Commissioner Heidi Drygas.
Mountain Pacific, the Department of Labor and Workforce Development, and the Department of Health and Social Services have been working with health care employers for over a year to research and establish Community Health Worker Training.
About Mountain-Pacific—Mountain-Pacific is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation and holds federal and state contracts that allow them to oversee the quality of care for Medicare and Medicaid members. Mountain-Pacific works within its region (Montana, Wyoming, Alaska, Hawaii and the U.S. Pacific Territories of Guam and American Samoa and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands) to help improve the delivery of health care and the systems that provide it. Mountain-Pacific’s goal is to increase access to high-quality health care that is affordable, safe and of value to the patients they serve. www.mpqhf.org
Developed by Mountain-Pacific Quality Health, the Medicare Quality Innovation Network-Quality Improvement Organization (QIN-QIO) for Montana, Wyoming, Alaska, Hawaii and the U.S. Pacific Territories of Guam, American Samoa and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, under contract with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Contents presented do not necessarily reflect CMS policy. 11SOW-MPQHF-AK-16-04