A multi-institutional, federally funded demonstration project was initiated by the Illinois Cancer Council and the Illinois Department of Public Health to evaluate methods for improving home health nurse performance in providing cancer patient care. A total of 29 home health agencies in two health planning regions of Illinois were randomized into one of three study groups: (a) those which received the services of an oncology nurse specialist plus continuing education on cancer, (b) those which received only continuing education on cancer, and (c) those which were only observed. In general, improvement in the home health nurse's assessment and management skills of patients with colon or breast cancer was noted among all study groups. Significant improvement was found in the nutritional assessment skills of the home health nurses in the group receiving the consultative services of the oncology nurse, supplemented with continuing education on cancer. Evaluation results indicate that further study should be directed toward more intensive methods for influencing home health nurse performance in cancer care, particularly for pain management.