Conversational IT for Better, Safer Pediatric Primary Care

Interactive telephony technologies offer a potentially highly effective, patient-centered communication modality by guiding parents at home through interactive discussions that can gather information and actively reinforce recommendations and treatments. Interactive telephony systems are particularly well suited for use in vulnerable populations since access to the telephone is nearly universal, and the system does not rely on reading printed text. The investigators propose to develop and evaluate an integrated patient-centered health information system, the Personal Health Partner (PHP). The PHP will use fully automated, interactive, conversations to gather personal health data and counsel parents before scheduled visits, exchange that data with the child's primary care clinician via the electronic health record (EHR), and offer personalized follow-up assessment and counseling after visits. The information technology-based approach to be evaluated in this project will link parents and children outside the clinical setting with their primary care center and will offer comprehensive assessments AND counseling to reinforce and support parental behavior change.