Contact Center Solutions Featured Article

IVR Messages Find Use Outside the Call Center

March 31, 2014

The ultimate aim of cancer screening is to reduce the number of people who lose their battles to it, as well as to lower the number of people who develop the disease. The current study published online in the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Preventing Chronic Disease, explores how Latinas perceive cancer screening and how they react to interactive voice response (IVR) messages for scheduling screenings.


A bilingual researcher and colleagues conducted seven focus groups with 40 Latina community health center patients in needed of one or more cancer screenings, and came up with some interesting results.

The survey respondents appeared to be familiar with the concept of cancer screening but were put off by many other allied factors. Many were embarrassed or afraid of the procedure and the outcome, while the lack of or insufficient insurance coverage were bottlenecks for others.

Also, many of them in need of multiple sittings were unaware that they were due or overdue for a screening. Although healthcare organizations often remind patients of overdue screenings through letters and telephones, it’s hard to sustain such a reminder system in community health centers that cater to low-income populations.

IVR messages, often used as part of a call center solution, are a low-cost strategy for patient reminders and culturally appropriate messages, which did appear to have a more receptive audience with those included in the report. This suggests that such a strategy may be more acceptable to promote cancer screening among underserved Latin patients.

Patients can interact with prerecorded messages through menu-driven options. Patients can hear a message and then, depending on what they want, they go through the additional menu options.  IVR messages can be customized by language or name to make them more acceptable.

Thus, IVR messages can emphasize the importance of preventive screening and may be able to push patients into scheduling necessary screenings.

The study found that IVR messages had mixed success in promoting cancer screenings. It appeared to assist prostate cancer screening choices, but these automated phone calls may well help increase colon cancer screening also. However more information was required to design IVR messages to meet recipients’ needs.

“Additional research is needed to determine the effectiveness of IVR messages in promoting completion of cancer screening," noted the authors of the study.




Edited by Alisen Downey



Home