Penn Center for Community Health Workers (IMPaCT)

The Penn Center for Community Health Workers is a national center of excellence with the mission to advance health equity through effective, sustainable community health worker programs. The center developed IMPaCT, a standardized, scalable program that leverages community health workers – trusted laypeople from local communities – to improve health. IMPaCT has been tested in three randomized controlled trials and improves chronic disease control, mental health and quality of care while reducing total hospital days by 65%. IMPaCT has a $2:1 annual return on investment to payers and has been delivered to over 10,000 high-risk patients in the Philadelphia region. In the last three years, IMPaCT has become the most widely disseminated community health worker program in the United States; it is being replicated by organizations across 18 different states including Veterans Health Administration, state Medicaid programs and integrated healthcare organizations.