Growing interest in advancing health equity among health systems, payers, government agencies, and community-based organizations, and initiatives such as the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) Framework for Health Equity has created a window of opportunity to translate evidence gathered during the COVID-19 pandemic into broader, equity-focused health care transformation efforts. The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the importance of developing and sustaining a robust health workforce at the community level.

Community Health Workers (CHWs) that collaborated with RADx-UP projects served in multiple roles on a continuum ranging from advisory to outreach to shared project leadership. In the majority of studies we reviewed, where the CHW role was defined, CHW roles included disseminating culturally and linguistically appropriate information about the COVID-19 pandemic, providing direct services such as administering COVID-19 tests, and coordinating care and health system navigation.