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General Assembly Raised Bill No. 859
January Session, 2019
LCO No. 3696
Referred to Committee on PUBLIC HEALTH
Introduced by:
(PH)
AN ACT CONCERNING COMMU NITY HEALTH WORKERS.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. Section 20-195sss of the general statutes is repealed and 1
the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective July 1, 2019): 2
(a) As used in this section, "community health worker" means a 3
public health outreach professional with an in-depth understanding of 4
the experience, language, culture and socioeconomic needs of the 5
community who (1) serves as a liaison between individuals within the 6
community and health care and social services providers to facilitate 7
access to such services and health-related resources, improve the 8
quality and cultural competence of the delivery of such services and 9
address social determinants of health with a goal toward reducing 10
racial, ethnic, gender and socioeconomic health disparities, and (2) 11
increases health knowledge and self-sufficiency through a range of 12
services including outreach, engagement, education, coaching, 13
informal counseling, social support, advocacy, care coordination, 14
research related to social determinants of health and basic screenings 15
and assessments of any risks associated with social determinants of 16 Raised Bill No. 859
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health. 17
[(b) The executive director of the Office of Health Strategy, 18
established under section 19a-754a, shall, within available resources 19
and in consultation with the Community Health Worker Advisory 20
Committee established by said office and the Commissioner of Public 21
Health, study the feasibility of creating a certification program for 22
community health workers. Such study shall examine the fiscal impact 23
of implementing such a certification program and include 24
recommendations for (1) requirements for certification and renewal of 25
certification of community health workers, including any training, 26
experience or continuing education requirements, (2) methods for 27
administering a certification program, including a certification 28
application, a standardized assessment of experience, knowledge and 29
skills, and an electronic registry, and (3) requirements for recognizing 30
training program curricula that are sufficient to satisfy the 31
requirements of certification. 32
(c) Not later than October 1, 2018, the executive director of the 33
Office of Health Strategy shall report, in accordance with the 34
provisions of section 11-4a, on the results of such study and 35
recommendations to the joint standing committees of the General 36
Assembly having cognizance of matters relating to public health and 37
human services.] 38
(b) Not later than January 1, 2020, the Department of Public Health 39
shall establish a certification program for community health workers. 40
The Commissioner of Public Health may adopt regulations, in 41
accordance with the provisions of chapter 54, to implement the 42
provisions of this subsection. 43
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 July 1, 2019 20-195sss
Raised Bill No. 859
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PH Joint Favorable
APP Joint Favorable