Rachel Willard-Grace, MPH
Associate Professor
Family Community Medicine
School of Medicine

Rachel's scholarly work with Dr. David Thom has advanced the growing field of health coaching by providing the first research evidence that medical assistants acting as health coaches could improve clinical indicators, medication adherence, and experience with the healthcare system for patients with diabetes and cardiovascular disease. She spearheaded work to understand how community health centers engage their patients as partners in quality improvement. She has contributed to policy discussions around primary care practice transformation, the well-being of primary care clinicians and staff, and the role of team-based care as a means to improve both quality of care delivered and the sustainability of the primary care workforce. She worked with Drs. Thomas Bodenheimer and Kevin Grumbach to develop the 10 Building Blocks model of high performing primary care that is now used as a practice improvement model across the United States.

Prior to joining the CEPC, Rachel was a medical assistant, pharmacy tech, interpreter, and subsequently the executive director of a free clinic. Throughout her career, she has worked in the safety net to partner with vulnerable populations and seek better ways of providing healthcare support.

• Care Management For Patients With Type 2 Diabetes: The Roles Of Nurses, Pharmacists, And Social Workers.
  Health affairs (Project Hope) 2022 Bodenheimer TS, Willard-Grace R
• Health Coaching Across the Stages of Vaccine Readiness and Action: A Practical Guide for Public Health Nurses.
  American journal of public health 2022 Harris OO, Taylor KD, Maher A, Willard-Grace R
• Virtual Trainings Effectively Prepared the Public Health Workforce to Support Schools During the COVID-19 Pandemic in California in 2021.
  Journal of public health management and practice : JPHMP 2022 Kiernan B, Alonis A, Diala JA, Willard-Grace R, Welty S, White K, Dorian A, Dunn C, Peare A, Westfall M, Shodahl S, Brickley DB
• Establishment and Evaluation of a Large Contact-Tracing and Case Investigation Virtual Training Academy.
  American journal of public health 2021 Golston O, Prelip M, Brickley DB, Cass A, Chen L, Dorian A, Gandelman A, Keh C, Maher A, Myrick R, Reid MJA, White K, Willard-Grace R, Shafir S
• California's COVID-19 Virtual Training Academy: Rapid Scale-Up of a Statewide Contact Tracing and Case Investigation Workforce Training Program.
  Frontiers in public health 2021 Brickley DB, Forster M, Alonis A, Antonyan E, Chen L, DiGiammarino A, Dorian A, Dunn C, Gandelman A, Grasso M, Kiureghian A, Maher AD, Malan H, Mejia P, Peare A, Prelip M, Shafir S, White K, Willard-…
• Implementation and Impact of the Pulmonary Specialist Health Coach Consultation Model to Improve Care for Patients with COPD.
  Joint Commission journal on quality and patient safety 2021 Tsao S, Willard-Grace R, Wolf J, Chirinos C, De Vore D, Huang B, Su G, Thom DH
• Primary Care Clinician Burnout and Engagement Association With Clinical Quality and Patient Experience.
  Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine : JABFM 2021 Willard-Grace R, Knox M, Huang B, Hammer H, Kivlahan C, Grumbach K
• "She Showed Me How to Help Myself": A Qualitative Study of Health Coaching for Management of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease.
  Journal of health care for the poor and underserved 2021 Willard-Grace R, Masaki S, Joseph R, DeVore D, Huang B, Su G, Thom DH
• Pilot of Brief Health Coaching Intervention to Improve Adherence to Positive Airway Pressure Therapy.
  Joint Commission journal on quality and patient safety 2020 Willard-Grace R, Wolf J, Huang B, Lewis E, Su G
• Team Configurations, Efficiency, and Family Physician Burnout.
  Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine : JABFM 2020 Dai M, Willard-Grace R, Knox M, Larson SA, Magill MK, Grumbach K, Peterson LE
• Electronic health records and burnout: Time spent on the electronic health record after hours and message volume associated with exhaustion but not with cynicism among primary care clinicians.
  Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association : JAMIA 2020 Adler-Milstein J, Zhao W, Willard-Grace R, Knox M, Grumbach K
• Lay Health Coaching to Increase Appropriate Inhaler Use in COPD: A Randomized Controlled Trial.
  Annals of family medicine 2020 Willard-Grace R, Chirinos C, Wolf J, DeVore D, Huang B, Hessler D, Tsao S, Su G, Thom DH
• Capacity to Address Social Needs Affects Primary Care Clinician Burnout.
  Annals of family medicine 2019 Kung A, Cheung T, Knox M, Willard-Grace R, Halpern J, Olayiwola JN, Gottlieb L
• A Longitudinal Study of Trends in Burnout During Primary Care Transformation.
  Annals of family medicine 2019 Grumbach K, Knox M, Huang B, Hammer H, Kivlahan C, Willard-Grace R
• Correction to: Health coaching to improve self-management and quality of life for low income patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD): protocol for a randomized controlled trial.
  BMC pulmonary medicine 2019 Huang B, Willard-Grace R, De Vore D, Wolf J, Chirinos C, Tsao S, Hessler D, Su G, Thom DH
• Strategies for recruitment and retention of underrepresented populations with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease for a clinical trial.
  BMC medical research methodology 2019 Huang B, De Vore D, Chirinos C, Wolf J, Low D, Willard-Grace R, Tsao S, Garvey C, Donesky D, Su G, Thom DH
• Burnout and Health Care Workforce Turnover.
  Annals of family medicine 2019 Willard-Grace R, Knox M, Huang B, Hammer H, Kivlahan C, Grumbach K
• Physician Burnout and Higher Clinic Capacity to Address Patients' Social Needs.
  Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine : JABFM 2019 De Marchis E, Knox M, Hessler D, Willard-Grace R, Olayiwola JN, Peterson LE, Grumbach K, Gottlieb LM
• Patient Engagement in Community Health Center Leadership: How Does it Happen?
  Journal of community health 2018 Sharma AE, Huang B, Knox M, Willard-Grace R, Potter MB
• Randomized Controlled Trial of Health Coaching for Vulnerable Patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease.
  Annals of the American Thoracic Society 2018 Thom DH, Willard-Grace R, Tsao S, Hessler D, Huang B, DeVore D, Chirinos C, Wolf J, Donesky D, Garvey C, Su G
• How Is Family Medicine Engaging Patients at the Practice-Level?: A National Sample of Family Physicians.
  Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine : JABFM 2018 Sharma AE, Knox M, Peterson LE, Willard-Grace R, Grumbach K, Potter MB
• Creating and Sustaining Care Teams in Primary Care: Perspectives From Innovative Patient-Centered Medical Homes.
  Quality management in health care 2018 Howard J, Miller WL, Willard-Grace R, Burger ES, Kelleher KJ, Nutting PA, Hahn KA, Crabtree BF
• The Impact of the Patient-Centered Medical Home on Health Care Disparities: Exploring Stakeholder Perspectives on Current Standards and Future Directions.
  Population health management 2018 De Marchis EH, Doekhie K, Willard-Grace R, Olayiwola JN
• Maslach Burnout Inventory and a Self-Defined, Single-Item Burnout Measure Produce Different Clinician and Staff Burnout Estimates.
  Journal of general internal medicine 2018 Knox M, Willard-Grace R, Huang B, Grumbach K
• Higher Perceived Clinic Capacity to Address Patients' Social Needs Associated with Lower Burnout in Primary Care Providers.
  Journal of health care for the poor and underserved 2018 Olayiwola JN, Willard-Grace R, Dubé K, Hessler D, Shunk R, Grumbach K, Gottlieb L
• Understanding the Potential for Patient Engagement in Electronic Consultation and Referral Systems: Lessons From One Safety Net System.
  Health services research 2017 Olayiwola JN, Knox M, Dubé K, Lu EC, Woldeyesus T, James IE, Willard-Grace R, Tuot D
• Health coaching to improve self-management and quality of life for low income patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD): protocol for a randomized controlled trial.
  BMC pulmonary medicine 2017 Huang B, Willard-Grace R, De Vore D, Wolf J, Chirinos C, Tsao S, Hessler D, Su G, Thom DH
• Perspectives of low-income chronically ill patients on complex care management.
  Families, systems & health : the journal of collaborative family healthcare 2017 Mao AY, Willard-Grace R, Dubbin L, Aronson L, Fernandez A, Burke NJ, Finch J, Davis E
• "How Can We Talk about Patient-centered Care without Patients at the Table?" Lessons Learned from Patient Advisory Councils.
  Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine : JABFM 2016 Sharma AE, Willard-Grace R, Willis A, Zieve O, Dubé K, Parker C, Potter MB
• Engaging patients as partners in practice improvement: A survey of community health centers
  J Clin Outcome Manag 2016 Willard-Grace R, Sharma A, Parker C, Potter MB
• What Happens After Health Coaching? Observational Study 1 Year Following a Randomized Controlled Trial.
  Annals of family medicine 2016 Sharma AE, Willard-Grace R, Hessler D, Bodenheimer T, Thom DH
• Costs for a health coaching intervention for chronic care management.
  The American journal of managed care 2016 Wagner TH, Willard-Grace R, Chen E, Bodenheimer T, Thom DH
• Strategies for Primary Care Stakeholders to Improve Electronic Health Records (EHRs).
  Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine : JABFM 2016 Olayiwola JN, Rubin A, Slomoff T, Woldeyesus T, Willard-Grace R
• Teamlets in Primary Care: Enhancing the Patient and Clinician Experience.
  Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine : JABFM 2016 Bodenheimer T, Willard-Grace R
• Clinician perspectives on working with health coaches: A mixed methods approach.
  Families, systems & health : the journal of collaborative family healthcare 2015 Dubé K, Willard-Grace R, O'Connell B, DeVore D, Prado C, Bodenheimer T, Hessler D, Thom DH
• Panel management, team culture, and worklife experience.
  Families, systems & health : the journal of collaborative family healthcare 2015 Willard-Grace R, Dubé K, Hessler D, O'Brien B, Earnest G, Gupta R, Shunk R, Grumbach K
• Health coaching by medical assistants to improve control of diabetes, hypertension, and hyperlipidemia in low-income patients: a randomized controlled trial.
  Annals of family medicine 2015 Willard-Grace R, Chen EH, Hessler D, DeVore D, Prado C, Bodenheimer T, Thom DH
• The panel management questionnaire: a tool to measure panel management capability.
  The Permanente journal 2015 Rogers EA, Hessler D, Dube K, Willard-Grace R, Gupta R, Bodenheimer T, Grumbach K
• The impact of health coaching on medication adherence in patients with poorly controlled diabetes, hypertension, and/or hyperlipidemia: a randomized controlled trial.
  Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine : JABFM 2015 Thom DH, Willard-Grace R, Hessler D, DeVore D, Prado C, Bodenheimer T, Chen E
• Expanding the roles of medical assistants: who does what in primary care?
  JAMA internal medicine 2014 Bodenheimer T, Willard-Grace R, Ghorob A
• Does health coaching change patients' trust in their primary care provider?
  Patient education and counseling 2014 Thom DH, Hessler D, Willard-Grace R, Bodenheimer T, Najmabadi A, Araujo C, Chen EH
• Team structure and culture are associated with lower burnout in primary care.
  Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine : JABFM 2014 Willard-Grace R, Hessler D, Rogers E, Dubé K, Bodenheimer T, Grumbach K
• The 10 building blocks of high-performing primary care.
  Annals of family medicine 2014 Bodenheimer T, Ghorob A, Willard-Grace R, Grumbach K
• In search of joy in practice: a report of 23 high-functioning primary care practices.
  Annals of family medicine 2013 Sinsky CA, Willard-Grace R, Schutzbank AM, Sinsky TA, Margolius D, Bodenheimer T
• Health coaching.
  The virtual mentor : VM 2013 Ghorob A, Willard-Grace R, Bodenheimer T
• The effectiveness of medical assistant health coaching for low-income patients with uncontrolled diabetes, hypertension, and hyperlipidemia: protocol for a randomized controlled trial and baseline characteristics of the study population.
  BMC family practice 2013 Willard-Grace R, DeVore D, Chen EH, Hessler D, Bodenheimer T, Thom DH
• "I don't see myself as a medical assistant anymore": Learning to become a health coach, in our own voices
  i.e., Inquiry in Education 2013 Willard-Grace R, Najmabadi A, Araujo C, Canizalez D, DeVore D, Prado C, Ghorob A, Bodenheimer T
• The building blocks of high performing primary care: Lessons from the field
  The building blocks of high performing primary care: Lessons from the field 2012 Willard R, Bodenheimer T