>> SUCCESS STORIES
real person,” says Dr. Amy Rubin, direc-
tor of automated programs for the BMC
team and a counseling psychologist.
“Using speech, what we’re trying to do,
and what the research also shows is
helpful, is to identify people early on and
to treat them in a nonjudgmental med-
ical setting. If you wait until someone is
seriously ill or dependent, then they
may have already lost jobs and their
families—and that’s really very late.”
Keeping Tabs
Even before SAMHSA issued an RFP
looking for universal ways that primary
care practices could better detect alcohol
and drug problems among their patients,
BMC had been using interactive voice re-
sponse (IVR) systems to care for patients
with chronic health conditions. For exam-
Intervention via
ple, in the late 1980s, BMC’s Medical In-
formation Systems Unit team built a
system to monitor patients with hyperten-
sion between their doctor appointments.
Automation
Boston Medical Center designs a federally funded IVR system
“In the ICU we’re monitoring people
second to second, [but out of the office]
how do we ensure that they actually do
what we tell them?” says Dr. Robert Fried-
man, head of the BMC team developing
to detect patients at risk of substance abuse | BY GAYLE KESTEN voice solutions and a physician who has
worked in the field of biomedical informat-
rgans can be transplanted. Advanced cancer treatments are ics since the early 1960s. “We rely too
saving lives. Babies are being born to previously infertile cou- much on patients and family members. I
ples. Without a doubt, the medical field has come a long way. thought, we need a way to somehow mon-
But