Duong: Improving health while reducing costs in a federal funding desert - San Jose Spotlight

"The full scale of the devastating cuts in federal health care spending contained in H.R. 1 will be felt this year in Santa Clara County and throughout the nation, and for several years after. That is why it is critical that we take rapid and concrete steps to improve the health of our residents and prevent future emergency room visits as much as possible, and we need our private sector healthcare partners to tangibly step up and join us."

"In late April, the Board of Supervisors was presented with a program to improve the health of some of our most vulnerable residents that already proved its effectiveness during the pandemic: the Promotores and Community Health Worker Program. Promotores and community health workers are frontline public health professionals who share the culture, language and lived experience of the communities they serve."

"During the first year of the pandemic, through the Community Health & Business Engagement Team, 200 promotores knocked on 180,000 doors on the Eastside and in South County. They had more than 120,000 conversations with individuals and visited 40,000 businesses to deliver crucial information about the importance of COVID testing and vaccines in historically and economically marginalized communities that were resistant to traditional outreach methods, or bypassed by those methods. The promotores got through to those communities because they were from those communities and spoke their languages."

"Implementing a full-scale promotores and community health worker program will bring improved health outcomes to residents in every part of the county. The report presented concluded that every dollar spent on promotores or community health workers delivers approximately $2.50 in savings through avoided healthcare costs. This means less hospital visits and fewer crowded emergency rooms throughout Santa Clara County."

Federal health care spending cuts will create major strain on community health in Santa Clara County this year and for several years. Rapid, concrete steps are needed to improve residents’ health and prevent emergency room visits, with private sector partners joining the effort. A program presented to the Board of Supervisors uses promotores and community health workers as frontline public health professionals who share the culture, language, and lived experience of the communities they serve. During the pandemic, 200 promotores knocked on 180,000 doors, held more than 120,000 conversations, and visited 40,000 businesses to promote COVID testing and vaccines in communities resistant to traditional outreach. A full-scale program is expected to improve health outcomes countywide, with an estimated $2.50 in savings per dollar spent through avoided healthcare costs.

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