With a growing aging population, the number of persons with chronic conditions continues to escalate and challenges related to chronic care quality, effectiveness and cost remain unresolved. Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHC) have experienced increasing numbers of patient visits for chronic conditions, and FQHC patients are more likely to have serious chronic conditions when compared to patients being cared for by non-FQHC providers. Effectively managing multiple chronic conditions is particularly challenging for both patients and health professionals, and costs of care rise as the number of co-morbid conditions increases. FQHCs primarily serve patients with public insurance or those who are uninsured. Consequently, simultaneously controlling costs and improving chronic care is a critical issue for the FQHC system. Two approaches that have been used to improve health status and reduce health care utilization are preventive home visiting and patient activation counseling. Preventive home visiting allows for multidimensional assessment and individualized, patient-centered care, and there is wide agreement that engaging patients to be an active part of the care process is an essential element of the quality of care. This concept is known as "health activation".