Cedars-Sinai Health System used a blended value model to quantify the return on its community health worker program, finding $4.51 in financial, economic, and social value for every $1 spent and $5.2 million in net value in the first year.
In March 2021, Cedars-Sinai Health System (CSHS) introduced the role of the Community Health Worker (CHW) to support screening and referrals for social needs such as food insecurity and housing support. CSHS wanted to bolster whole person care for their Medicare, Medicaid, and dual eligible patients to support their overall health outcomes.
There was a clear demand for the CHW role. By 2023, the CHW program had expanded from three FTE CHWs to 10 FTE CHWs and one supervisor position. As of 2026, CSHS has a waiting list for clinics wanting a dedicated CHW.
Recent changes to the national social care infrastructure and growing financial challenges within healthcare have increased the pressure to both expand the CHW program to meet expected community needs and showcase the financial, economic, and social value generated by the CHW program in order to secure funding for the program’s future.
As part of CSHS’s social drivers of health strategy, CSHS wanted to implement a social health screening and referral platform. However, the screening and referral initiative would be hard to implement through current staffing models. The role of the CHW was introduced to support social needs interventions with buy-in from key stakeholders on the care team such as nurses and social workers.
The team creating this strategy was originally situated in the Community Engagement arm of CSHS, giving them the unique ability to seek funding through grants and philanthropy. Once the CHW program was established, CSHS moved it to the Office of Health Equity which further improved program implementation and increased collaboration with medical care teams.
In order to sustain the CHW program, the team needed to explore sustainable funding options, separate from philanthropic dollars. To better articulate why CHWs are critical to caring for the communities they serve, CSHS partnered with HealthBegins to develop a Blended Value financial model for their CHW program. CSHS utilized the HealthBegins Blended Value course and associated resources as well as individualized coaching from the HealthBegins team to create a funding pitch that resonated with key stakeholders.
Total Costs
In total, the value created by the CHW program represents $5,206,000 in net value generated and increases to $6,283,000 by the end of the third year of implementation.
Using the HealthBegins Blended Value model, by the end of the first year, the CHW program generated an estimated $4.51 in financial, economic, and social value for every $1 spent on the program. Additionally, utilizing CHWs with Medi-Cal (Medicaid in California) members showed the greatest Blended Value ROI at $4.98 in value per $1 spent, driven mainly by the reduction in hospital admissions.
