Tipping Point

In 2012, Southeast Health Group stepped outside of its traditional role in providing behavioral health care to developing an innovative Health Navigator program in collaboration with Otero Junior College (OJC) and the local hospital, federally qualified health center, and health department.  The program is designed to improve the health of Prowers County, Colorado residents who are high utilizers of Medicare and Medicaid dollars.  

Data demonstrated that Prowers County residents could benefit from Health Navigation services as 61% of Medicaid funds were used by 3.7% of Medicaid members in Prowers County.  The project is being funded by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Innovations Award.  As part of this project, SHG hired and trained 6 Health Navigators for Prowers County.  The preliminary results of the project are showing success and savings in Medicaid dollars.  In order to address the growing interest in integrating Community Health Workers (CHWs) and Health Navigators in the U.S. health care and human services systems, OJC developed a CHW Certificate and Associate of Applied Science in Health Navigation.  

The curriculum was designed using the Health Navigator Prototype Curricular Framework proposed by the Community Colleges and Public Health Project, a joint effort of the Framing the Future Task Force, convened by the Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health (ASPPH) and the League for Innovation in the Community College (League).