Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2006 Jun;12(6):321-5.

Interactive voice response telephone calls to enhance bone mineral density testing

Jennifer M Polinski  1 , Amanda Patrick, Colleen Truppo, Laura Breiner, Ya-Ting Chen, Cathy Egan, Saira Jan, Minal Patel, Thomas W Weiss, Daniel H Solomon
Affiliations
  • PMID: 16756451
Free article

Interactive voice response telephone calls to enhance bone mineral density testing

Jennifer M Polinski et al. Am J Manag Care. 2006 Jun.
Free article

Abstract

Objective: Bone mineral density (BMD) testing is a key tool used to diagnose and treat osteoporosis. We assessed the rate of scheduling BMD tests among health plan members at risk for osteoporosis who received interactive voice response (IVR) calls.

Study design: Cohort study.

Methods: Study patients included persons age 45 years with either a prior fracture or 90 days of glucocorticoid use and all women age 65 years during the 2-year baseline period. The IVR call provided educational content and then offered members an opportunity to transfer to schedule a BMD test. The primary outcome was scheduling a BMD test.

Results: We targeted 1402 health plan members, and 708 (50%) were successfully contacted. Of 54 patients who transferred to schedule a BMD test, only 3 actually did so. Because so few patients scheduled a BMD test, predictors of transfer were examined as a secondary end point. In a multivariate model, only self-reported intention to schedule a BMD test was a significant predictor (odds ratio = 4.4, 95% confidence interval = 2.2, 8.8). Members' age, sex, history of a prior fracture, self-report of a BMD test in the previous 2 years, acknowledgement of barriers to BMD testing, and discussion of BMD testing with one's physician were not related to transferring to schedule a BMD test.

Conclusion: A letter and an IVR call prompted few to schedule a BMD test. More interventions to improve BMD testing should be developed and tested.

PubMed Disclaimer

Publication types