Home Talk/Healthy Talk: improving patient's health status with telephone technology

This article describes Home Talk and Healthy Talk, two practical applications of telephone technology developed at the VNA of Cleveland. Home Talk is a disease-specific monitoring system with preprogrammed automated questions that immediately score patient responses. If any responses fall out of the safety zone, the system calls the supervisor and a live intervention follows for assessment and appropriate action. Healthy Talk is a series of age-specific automated health screens used by nurses in community centers to engage clients to follow through with self-selected health goals. The use, cost-effectiveness, and impact on outcomes are also discussed.