Grace Health News - House Bill 525

Community Health Worker Bill

House Bill 525 Passes Kentucky House

Grace Health's Eligibility Assistance Workers (Outreach Team) are essential to providing better access to care for our communities. Like Community Health Workers (CHWs), they work tirelessly within the community to help patients overcome barriers to care, like socioeconomic status or health literacy. They are vital in helping our patients find supportive services to achieve and maintain good health and well-being. Our Outreach Team is key in making access to high-quality health care easy. We are thankful for all the team does within the healthcare system to improve access to care and are proud to support Kentucky House Bill 525 (HB525),

HB525, also known as the Community Health Worker (CHW) Bill, was introduced by Rep. Kimberly Moser in February during the 2022 Kentucky Legislative Regular Session. HB525 aims to require Medicaid reimbursement for certain services provided by certified community health workers (CCHWs). It will also establish CHW certification and direct Kentucky Children's Health Insurance Program (KCHIP) to reimburse certain services provided by CCHWs.

Rep. Kimberly Moser, chair of the Kentucky House Health and Welfare Committee, shared that she filed HB525 to pave the way to address Kentucky’s health care worker shortage and increase access to care. On February 24, members of the Grace Health team, including CEO Michael Stanley, traveled to Frankfort to provide supportive voices for the bill. During a legislative breakfast, Mr. Stanley joined other Kentucky Primary Care Association (KPCA) members for healthy conversations about expanding access and improving health outcomes for Kentuckians. We are happy to announce that HB525 passed the House unanimously with a vote of 94-4 on March 1.

On March 16, after only a week in the Health & Welfare Committee, the committee reported favorably on the bill, which placed it on the calendar for the following day. After a second reading, we are happy to report that the bill is continued successfully through the Senate and has been sent to the governor for signature. We invite you to pray with us that a favorable vote will be announced soon and the bill will be signed into law by the governor.