Study Finds Automated Voice Response Systems Useful in Providing Follow-up Care

Automated voice response systems can be useful in providing follow-up care to patients in diverse practice settings, according to a new study funded by AHRQ. The study, "Closing the Feedback Loop: An Interactive Voice Response System to Provide Follow-up and Feedback in Primary Care Settings," appeared in the January online edition of the Journal of Medical Systems. Authors developed and used an automated interactive voice response system to obtain information from patients’ electronic health records and provided them with follow-up reminders. Health care providers received a report based on their patients’ responses to the automated system. Select to access the abstract on PubMed.®

2013 Apr;37(2):9905. doi: 10.1007/s10916-012-9905-4. Epub 2013 Jan 23.

Closing the Feedback Loop: An Interactive Voice Response System to Provide Follow-up and Feedback in Primary Care Settings.

Willig JH, Krawitz M, Panjamapirom A, Ray MN, Nevin CR, English TM, Cohen MP, Berner ES.

Source

University of Alabama at Birmingham, 1720 Second Ave. South, Birmingham, AL, 35294, USA.

Abstract

In primary care settings, follow-up regarding the outcome of acute outpatient visits is largely absent. We sought to develop an automated interactive voice response system (IVRS) for patient follow-up with feedback to providers capable of interfacing with multiple pre-existing electronic medical records (EMRs). A system was designed to extract data from EMRs, integrate with the IVRS, call patients for follow-up, and provide a feedback report to providers. Challenges during the development process were analyzed and summarized. The components of the technological solution and details of its implementation are reported. Lessons learned include: (1) Modular utilization of system components is often needed to adapt to specific clinic workflow and patient population needs (2) Understanding the local telephony environment greatly impacts development and is critical to success, and (3) Ample time for development of the IVRS questionnaire (mapping all branching paths) and speech recognition tuning (sensitivity, use of barge-in tuning, use of "known voice") is needed. With proper attention to design and development, modular follow-up and feedback systems can be integrated into existing EMR systems providing the benefits of IVRS follow-up to patients and providers across diverse practice settings.