L.A. Care Health Plan now offers Community Health Worker (CHW) services to Medi-Cal members and
D-SNP members who have their Medi-Cal benefits under L.A. Care Medi-Cal. These services are at no cost to you!
CHW services can help you work on your health goals and meet your basic needs. The goal of CHW
services is to help you stay healthy and live longer.
A CHW is:
- A trusted person who has lived experience with the community being served.
- A trained non-clinical expert – this means they are not a doctor or nurse.
- Your support!
A CHW can help you:
- Give you information about chronic health conditions like diabetes.
- Help you make appointments with your doctors and other preventative services like screening
- for cancer.
- Build healthy habits like exercising more.
- Link you to other support for other needs that may alter your health like not having enough
- healthy food.
- Help you get support from an L.A. Care partner if you are dealing with violence.
Do you want to work with a CHW? Follow these steps:
- Call your doctor, therapist or any other health care provider. Ask them to send a “written
- recommendation” for you.
- You or your provider can download the written recommendation form
You can get basic CHW services if a health care provider says you have at least one or more of these:
- Diagnosis of one or more chronic health (including behavioral health) conditions, or a suspected mental disorder or substance use disorder that has not yet been diagnosed.
- Presence of medical indicators of rising risk of chronic disease that indicate risk but do not yet warrant diagnosis of a chronic condition.
- Any stressful life event presented via the Adverse Childhood Events screening.
- Presence of known risk factors, including domestic or intimate partner violence, tobacco use, excessive alcohol use, and/or drug misuse.
- Results of a SDOH screening indicating unmet health-related social needs, such as housing or food insecurity.
- One or more visits to a hospital emergency department (ED) within the previous six months.
- One or more hospital inpatient stays, including stays at a psychiatric facility, within the previous six months, or being at risk of institutionalization.
- One or more stays at a detox facility within the previous year.
- Two or more missed medical appointments within the previous six months.
- Member expressed need for support in health system navigation or resource coordination services
- Need for recommended preventive services, including updated immunizations, annual dental visit, and well childcare visits for children.
Members going through interpersonal and/or domestic violence can get support through L.A. Care
partners that have specific training and experience. A health care professional needs to see if you have
at least one or more of these:
- The Member has been violently injured as a result of community violence.
- The Member is at significant risk of experiencing violent injury as a result of community violence.
- The Member has experienced chronic exposure to community violence.
Who cannot get CHW Services?
You are cannot get CHW services through this program if you are already getting support from another
program that offers you the same CHW services. This includes Enhanced Care Management, Complex or
High Risk Care Management, or Hospice.
There are two ways to work with a CHW:
1. You can visit an L.A. Care Community Resource Center at one of these six locations:
2. Through the L.A. Care contracted network. Use the L.A. Care online provider directory to find one in your area.