Governor Ducey signs CHW Voluntary Certification into law!
2019 Update:
On April 30th, 2018, Arizona’s 23rd Governor, Doug Ducey, signed Community Health Worker (CHW) Volunteer Certification HB2324 legislation into law. The bill’s passage represented another step in a long journey initiated by the Arizona CHW Association (AzCHOW) and the Arizona CHW Workforce Coalition to unify, support, and build recognition for CHWs. AzCHOW sought feedback from CHWs and Community Health Representatives around the state to ensure consensus for voluntary certification. After considering several alternative options to establish voluntary certification, the coalition engaged allies in the health care and public health care arenas in the effort to pursue the legislation, which marks an important stage in establishing the sustainability of the workforce. It has been a 4-year journey of collaboration and effort that has brought this great success to the persistent work of many. Although there are extensive policy efforts to build health equity and address the social determinants of health, few focus on the importance of supporting a workforce largely responsible for addressing health disparities within the health care system. Over the next year, the Arizona Department of Health Services will convene a CHW Advisory Board responsible for making recommendations for the Voluntary Certification Process.
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The final version of HB2324 passed out of the house 55 votes to 2 on April 30th 2018.
Just two weeks later on May 16th 2018, Governor Doug Ducey official signed HB2324, officially making it law . It has been a long journey full of collaboration and endless efforts that has brought this great success to the persistent work of many. With the success of this legislation the CHW Coalition and AzCHOW will continue to work together to make sure that voluntary certification leads to greater recognition of community health workers and the sustainability of the workforce.
On behalf of AZCHOW and the Coalition the AzPRC extends out a profound thanks to everyone who has worked on this bill and continues to support the recognition of and sustainability of community health workers in our state.