SBIR-STTR Award

This research will develop and pilot test a voice-interactive computer for assessing risks of substance abuse among patients presenting for routine primary care. A pre-recorded voice speaks questions and directs the patients to respond using the touch tone telephone keypad. The patient can complete the assessment from existing telephones in the waiting room or examination room. If the patient is seen on an inpatient basis, the patient may complete the assessment from the telephone next to the hospital bed. Since any touch tone telephone can be used, the patient could also call prior to the clinic visit from home, work, a pay phone, or other convenient phone. The computer completes a risk assessment profile for each patient which is immediately generated at the practice site, either at an on-site printer, or by fax if the computer is located off-site. The system alerts physicians of high risk patients. The ultimate goal of the effort is to improve the rate of physician intervention in the context of primary care, by making identification quick, convenient, and cost-effective. A secondary goal is to assist primary care physicians in tracking patients who receive interventions.Awardee's statement of the potential commercial applications of the research:This system provides a convenient and extremely cost-effective way of screening for substance abuse. The primary market will be family practice physicians. While aimed at a primary care setting, the system will also be useful for service agencies which deal with alcohol abuse, as well as for HMOs, large corporations, and other organizations which provide substance abuse treatment and counseling services to their patients or employees.National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)

The purpose of this Phase II effort is to further develop an interactive technology for substance abuse screening in primary care, the RAPID (Rapid Assessment for Primary Intervention for Drug use). The risk assessment is administered using an interactive voice response (IVR) system. Patients respond by use of a touch tone telephone. Screening may be performed from any call-in location, such as home, work, the medical practice waiting room or examination room, or inpatient room. Results are immediately scored by the computer and results are sent by fax to the medical care provider. The fax output consists of four sections: (1) Assessment; (2) Recommendations; (3) Patient Responses Indicating High Risk; and (4) Possible Referrals for This Patient. Phase II effort will include the addition of HIV/AIDS risk screening, translation of the assessment into Spanish, the development of an Adolescent RAPID system, and model intervention manuals. The Phase II RAPID study will implement the screening system in a managed care, HMO setting and perform risk screening and primary care intervention in a sample of 1000 adults and 500 adolescents. Results will be compared to a control group of 1000 adults and 500 adolescents. The RAPID system will be developed and evaluated as a model technology for managed care screening that is cost-effective, physician time-efficient, and effective for early intervention for substance abuse and HIV risks.National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)