The Center for Healthcare Organizational and Innovation Research (CHOIR) at the UC Berkeley School of Public Health was awarded a three-year $2 million award from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI). Under the leadership of Drs. Stephen Shortell and Hector Rodriguez, center researchers will study the impact of patient activation and engagement (PAE) in two large accountable care organizations—Advocate Health Care in Chicago and HealthCare Partners in Los Angeles.
“There is growing evidence that greater patient activation and engagement in their care is positively associated with better outcomes of care,” says Dr. Shortell, who serves as the faculty director of CHOIR. “Yet little is known about how providers might best implement and support such efforts. We hope this research will help to close that gap.”
The study will take advantage of a naturally occurring experiment to assess whether patients with diabetes and/or cardiovascular disease who receive care from practices who are advanced in PAE activities will have better quality and outcomes of care than patients receiving care from practices much less advanced practices.
PCORI is an independent, non-profit organization authorized by Congress in 2010 to fund research that will provide patients, their caregivers, and clinicians with evidence-based information needed to make better-informed health and health care decisions.