What does this research mean for the field?

Expanding community health worker (CHW) health insurance training and outreach can improve Medicaid enrollment among eligible individuals in the Latino community in North Carolina. Novelty: ClaimNovelty.NOVEL_FINDING. Consensus alignment: ConsensusAlignment.NEUTRAL.

What question did this study set out to answer?

To investigate the role of community health workers in improving Medicaid enrollment among Latino communities in North Carolina.

March 10, 2026Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities0 citationsOpen Access

Medicaid Expansion for La Comunidad Latina in North Carolina: Community Health Workers’ Role in Outreach

NFNatalie Sanchez FarezDuke University KPKristin PodsiadDuke Institute for Health Innovation PRPaulina A. RuizDuke University

Key Points

To investigate the role of community health workers in improving Medicaid enrollment among Latino communities in North Carolina.
Assessing community members' knowledge of health insurance
Evaluating the impact of community health workers on engagement and trust
Expanding training programs for community health workers
Community members exhibited limited understanding of health insurance options.
Increased language concordance through CHWs led to greater trust in health systems.
CHW-led outreach efforts improved Medicaid enrollment rates among eligible individuals.

Abstract

Most community members had limited health insurance knowledge, which is a known barrier to enrollment. CHWs increase language concordance, trust, and engagement with health systems and resources. Expanding CHW health insurance training and CHW-led outreach can improve Medicaid enrollment among all eligible individuals.

Ask AI

Helpful

Bookmark

View Full Paper