AHHQI Announces Third Annual Home Health Research Grant Awardee

The research looks at family caregiver training, needs, barriers, and best practices

WASHINGTON – The Alliance for Home Health Quality and Innovation (AHHQI) awarded today the 2020 home health research grant to researchers from Johns Hopkins University for their study titled, “Challenges and Best Practices in Delivering Family Caregiver Training During Medicare Home Health.”

This year’s research project will look at communications between caregivers and home health care. This includes assessing current methods for identifying family caregiver training needs, and identifying barriers and best practices. Researcher Julia Burgdorf, PhD, of Johns Hopkins University will be conducting a qualitative analysis centered on delivering training to family caregivers during Medicare home health episodes.

“The Alliance is thrilled to fund this important research as part of our home health research grant program,” said Joan Doyle, Chairman of the Alliance’s Board of Directors. “The work of Dr. Burgdorf and her colleagues at Johns Hopkins University is critically needed at any time, but especially in light of COVID-19 as caregiving and care in the home take center stage. Better understanding of barriers and best practices of communication between caregivers and home health providers will be crucial in improving care in the home.”

This year’s grant award marks the third year of Alliance-sponsored research grants. As the only organization providing grant funding to projects focused solely on care provided in the home, the Alliance is a leading the way in the future of home health care. Dr. Burgdorf’s work joins that of her colleagues Bruce Leff, MD, Cynthia Boyd, MD, MPH, and Orla Sheehan, MD, PhD who received a grant in 2018 to study the communications and care coordination between physicians and home health providers. Five other grant-funded projects are currently in either the research or paper submissions stages. Those projects range in topic from home health for patients with dementia, a hospital to home intervention program, policy implications for home health care delivery, the impacts of frontloading, and caring for culturally diverse patients.

All projects were selected for their excellence in improving the delivery of care at home, as well as aligning with the Alliance’s mission of demonstrating the value of home health care.

The 2021 funding cycle is expected to be open from October to mid-December. For more information about the Alliance’s grant funding efforts, or to learn more about future grant opportunities, please visit the Alliance’s website at www.ahhqi.org or reach out to the Alliance’s Executive Director, Jennifer Schiller, at jschiller@ahhqi.org.

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The Alliance for Home Health Quality and Innovation (the Alliance) is comprised of leaders in the home health care community – including several of the largest home health care providers in the United States and the largest national trade association representing home health care providers. The mission of the Alliance is to foster research and education on the value of home health care to patients and the overall U.S. health care system. The Alliance is dedicated to improving the nation’s health care system through development of high quality and innovative solutions aimed at achieving optimal clinical outcomes. To learn more, visit www.ahhqi.org.

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