Understanding the Affordable Care Act: Utilizing Community Health Workers and a Health Education/Promotion Team to acclimate community members to new health care laws and practices

Background: New changes to healthcare laws under the Affordable Care Act provided many new opportunities to utilize health education/promotion programs and Community Health Workers to assist communities in preparing for a new healthcare environment . In 2012, Bronx Community Health Network began training and utilizing its Health Education/Promotion team to educate the community about the programs, benefits and rights under the Affordable Care Act. One year later, the work was expanded into an integrated education and enrollment program.  Due to the web-based nature of the application process and community uncertainty about the Marketplace insurance, an integrated model of education, identification and one-on-one enrollment assistance was developed using Community Health Workers, Patient Navigators and Medicaid Enrollers trained as Certified Application Counselors.  

 Methods: The session will discuss specific strategies Bronx Community Health Network used to overcome both community-related and technical barriers.  Certified Application Counselors and other health promotion team members conducted a multi-directional approach to eliminating barriers to care by: 1. Educating community members about the application process, eligibility and changes to insurance provisions 2. identifying uninsured persons within the community 3. retaining uninsured persons within our network of 15 Federally Qualified Health Centers 4. Converting eligible uninsured in network patients to marketplace insurance. 

Learning Objectives: Discuss the benefits of using “in-reach” and “outreach” personnel to eliminate barriers to care. Explain the process of engaging community partners in the Bronx to educate and enroll community members. Describe implementation of community education and enrollment program.