The effectiveness of a community health worker outreach program on healthcare utilization of west Baltimore City Medicaid patients with diabetes, with or without hypertension.

Objectives: Assess impact of community health workers (CHWs) on healthcare utilization of African-American Medicaid patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) with/without hypertension (HTN).

Design: Maryland Medicaid claim files were analyzed to compare utilization of emergency rooms, hospitalization, and costs in a population managed by CHWs (N=117).

Setting/patients: Patients were recruited from the discharge rolls of the University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS) and/or the Maryland Diabetes Care Program from March 1992 to June 1994.