What Is a Health Navigator?

As the U.S. health system becomes more and more complex, the term “Health Navigator” is starting to appear in the national media as the newest emerging career.

For example, Health Insurance Navigators are employed to assist individuals find their way through the Affordable Care Marketplace. In other venues, Health Navigators are called Community Health Workers or Patient Navigators. However, the general term “Health Navigator” is increasingly used to describe a variety of job descriptions.

“There is now a growing commitment to provide [Health Navigator] job positions and an emerging strategy for integrating these positions into the health care and public health systems.”

—Kay Perrin, MPH, PhD

What Curriculum Is Involved for Health Navigators?

The two reports recommend that all health navigators at the associate degree level complete the following seven courses: 1.) Population and 2.) Personal Health; Overview of Public Health; 3.) Health Communications; 4.) Prevention and Community Health; 5.) Healthcare Delivery; 6.) Health Insurance; 7.) Health Information.

In addition, the two reports recommend up to nine semester hours of electives with specialized courses focused on specific categories, such as: 1.) HIV Navigators; 2.) Cancer Navigators; 3.) Pediatric Navigators; 4.) Medicare Navigators.

Health Navigators will be trained to assist individuals with limited health literacy as well as the elderly with accessing the maximum array of benefits from community services, clinical care, and health insurance. They may facilitate access to care and followup for sick and complicated patients with cancer, HIV, and a range of other complex health problems. In addition, these individuals can assist with identifying and enrolling patients in various health insurance plans including ACA Exchanges, Medicaid, Medicare, and disability services.

Who Is Going to Train the Health Navigators?

The answer to this question is being addressed by two prominent national organizations. First, the League for Innovation in the Community Colleges, which represents over 800 of the 1,100 community colleges, issued the Community College and Public Health Report and the Recommendations. This report details the two prototype curricular models that have been developed with support from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and include the Health Navigator and the Public Health Generalist and Specialization with specializations in health education, health administration, and environmental health designed for transfer to bachelor’s degree programs.

Second, the Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health (ASPPH) has made recommendations for several academic degrees and certificate programs to be offered by community colleges. In their November 2014 Community Colleges and Public Health Report, they describe how the new degrees are designed to prepare students to work as health navigators.

What Employment Opportunities Are Available for Health Navigators?

While this need has existed for a long time, until recently there have not been paid positions with well-defined roles. This is rapidly changing. There is now a growing commitment to provide job positions and an emerging strategy for integrating these positions into the health care and public health systems. New funding mechanisms as part of the Medicaid/Medicare 30-day hospital re-admission policy, and the Affordable Care Act have dramatically increased interest in developing the types of paid positions requiring academic Health Navigator education. The salaries for these positions range from $30,000 to $55,000 per year. The Labor Department estimates that such positions will increase at least 25 percent by 2022 due to the expanding elderly population.

It is important to recognize that entry level and supervisory positions are being defined, providing the potential for career advancement. In addition, the two reports recommend that associate degree health navigator programs be designed to allow students to transfer to bachelor’s degree programs in Health Education.