A $2.4 million federal grant provides funding for a study at Davis Medical Center that compares the effectiveness of three models of home health care with care delivered via episodic office visits.

Prior research has found a "quality chasm" between the conventional approach of periodic office visits in caring for chronic illness and patient-centered care that emphasizes a partnership among practitioners, patients and their families to ensure that decisions include patient desires, needs and preferences.

The conventional approach regarded as insensitive to patient preferences, driven by the healthcare provider and focused on diseases. Patient-centered care achieves high-quality chronic illness care by fostering continuous healing relationships between patients and the health-care system. These relationships allow patients to receive care when they need via different forms of communication media, rather than receiving it only during office visits.

The principal investigator the UC Davis study is Anthony Jerant, assistant professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine.