Richard L. Kravitz, M.D., M.S.P.H.
Distinguished Professor of Medicine, Division of General Medicine;
Director, UC Center Sacramento
Richard L. Kravitz is not currently accepting new patients. For assistance finding a UC Davis doctor, please call 800-2-UCDAVIS (800-282-3284).
Locations and Contact
Lawrence J. Ellison Ambulatory Care Center
General Medicine
4860 Y St.
Sacramento, CA 95817
Phone: 916-734-2737
Additional Numbers
Physician Referrals
Philosophy of Care
Growing up, I was a big fan of John Wooden and the UCLA Bruins. I've always admired Wooden's emphasis on basketball fundamentals, and I've tried to apply his philosophy to clinical medicine. Take a good history. Do a careful physical examination. Judiciously order laboratory tests and specialty referrals. Most importantly, listen to the patient.
Clinical Interests
Dr. Kravitz is a general internist with interests in medical education, individualized care, and health policy. His practice is largely restricted to supervision of students and trainees in ambulatory settings.
Research/Academic Interests
Dr. Kravitz has research interests in primary care quality, health communication, and individualization of care. He is a two-time winner of the Academy Health Article-of-the-Year Award and author of Understanding Clinical Negotiation [McGraw-Hill, 2021].
Division
Center/Program Affiliation
Undergraduate School
B.S., Biological Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford CA 1979
Medical School
M.D., UC San Francisco School of Medicine, San Francisco CA 1983
Other School
M.S.P.H., Epidemiology, UCLA School of Public Health, Los Angeles CA 1988
Internship
Internal Medicine, UCLA, Los Angeles CA 1983-1984
Residency
Internal Medicine, UCLA, Los Angeles CA 1984-1986
Fellowship
Health Services Research, UCLA/VA Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars, Los Angeles CA 1986-1988
Elnora Rhodes Service Award (Society of General Internal Medicine), 2018
American Academy for Communication in Healthcare, 2014
George Engel Award for Contributions to Theory Practice and Teaching of Health Communication, 2013
Academy Health, Article of the Year Award, 1992, 2006
Society of General Medicine, Best Published Research Paper of the Year, 2006
Jerant A, Kravitz RL, Sohler N, Fiscella K, Romero RL, Parnes B, Tancredi DJ, Aguilar-Gaxiola S, Slee C, Dvorak S, Turner C, Hudnut A, Prieto F, Franks P. Sociopsychological tailoring to address colorectal cancer screening disparities: a randomized controlled trial. Ann Fam Med. 2014 May-Jun;12(3):204-14. doi:10.1370/afm.1623. PMID:24821891.
Li N, Orrange S, Kravitz RL, Bell RA. Reasons for and predictors of patients' online health information seeking following a medical appointment. Fam Pract. 2014 Oct;31(5):550-6. doi:10.1093/fampra/cmu034. Epub 2014 Jun 24. PMID:24963151.
Duan N, Kravitz RL, Schmid CH. Single-patient (n-of-1) trials: a pragmatic clinical decision methodology for patient-centered comparative effectiveness research. J Clin Epidemiol. 2013 Aug;66(8 Suppl):S21-8. doi:10.1016/j.jclinepi.2013.04.006. PMID:23849149.
Wilkes MS, Day FC, Srinivasan M, Griffin E, Tancredi DJ, Rainwater JA, Kravitz RL, Bell DS, Hoffman JR. Pairing physician education with patient activation to improve shared decisions in prostate cancer screening: a cluster randomized controlled trial. Ann Fam Med. 2013 Jul-Aug;11(4):324-34. doi:10.1370/afm.1550. PMID:23835818.
Trancredi DJ, Slee CK, Jerant A, Franks P, Nettiksimmons J, Cirpri C, Gottfeld D, Huerta J, Feldman MD, Jackson-Triche M, Kelly-Reif S, Hudnut A, Olson S, Shelton J, Kravitz RL. Targeted versus tailored multimedia patient engagement to enhance depression recognition and treatment in primary care: randomized controlled trial protocol for the AMEP2 study. BMC Health Serv Res. 2013;13(1):141. doi:10.1186/1472-6963-13-141.
Hoerger M, Epstein RM, Winters PC, Fiscella K, Duberstein PR, Gramling R, Butow PN, Mohile SG, Kaesberg PR, Tang W, Plumb S, Walczak A, Back AL, Tancredi D, Venuti A, Cipri C, Escalera G, Ferro C, Gaudion D, Hoh B, Leatherwood B, Lewis L, Robinson M, Sullivan P, Kravitz RL. Values and options in cancer care (VOICE): study design and rationale for a patient-centered communication and decision-making intervention for physicians, patients with advanced cancer, and their caregivers. BMC Cancer. 2013 Apr 9;13:188. doi:10.1186/1471-2407-13-188. PMID:23570278.
Moreland CJ, Kravitz RL, Paterniti DA, Li CS, Lin TC, White RH. Anticoagulation education: do patients understand potential medication-related emergencies? Jt Comm J Qual Patient Saf. 2013 Jan;39(1):22-31. doi:10.1016/s1553-7250(13)39005-9. PMID:23367649.
Kravitz RL, Bell RA. Media, messages, and medication: strategies to reconcile what patients hear, what they want, and what they need from medications. BMC Med Inform Decis Mak. 2013;13 Suppl 3(Suppl 3):S5. doi:10.1186/1472-6947-13-S3-S5. Epub 2013 Dec 6. PMID:24565216.
Kravitz RL, Franks P, Feldman MD, Tancredi DJ, Slee CA, Epstein RM, Duberstein PR, Bell RA, Jackson-Triche M, Paterniti DA, Cipri C, Iosif AM, Olson S, Kelly-Reif S, Hudnut A, Dvorak S, Turner C, Jerant A. Patient engagement programs for recognition and initial treatment of depression in primary care: a randomized trial. JAMA. 2013 Nov 6;310(17):1818-28. doi:10.1001/jama.2013.280038. PMID:24193079.
Chen C, Haddad D, Selsky J, Hoffman JE, Kravitz RL, Estrin DE, Sim I. Making sense of mobile health data: an open architecture to improve individual- and population-level health. J Med Internet Res. 2012 Aug 9;14(4):e112. doi:10.2196/jmir.2152. PMID:22875563.