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AHRQ Releases Report on Engaging Community Call Centers in Public Health Response

By Molly D’Esopo, November 2, 2007

On October 25, 2007, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) announced the release of a report that “describes the development, testing, and implementation of a model to enable community health call centers, such as poison control centers, nurse advice lines, and other hotlines, to support home-management and shelter-in-place approaches in certain mass casualty or health emergency events.”1 The report, titled Adapting Community Call Centers for Crisis Support: A Model for Home-Based Care and Monitoring, outlines four planning products that can help community call centers participate in emergency response:

1. National Planning Scenarios Analysis Matrix: This is a matrix of the Department of Homeland Security’s 15 National Planning Scenarios that identifies potential call center response capabilities.
2. Potential Health Call Center Capabilities for Four National Planning Scenarios: This is a list of the four planning scenarios for which call centers are most capable of response and that details call center capabilities.
3. Suggested Elements for Public Health Information and Decision Support Hotlines: the Health Emergency Line for the Public (HELP) Model. This is a “platform for disseminating and collecting consistent, accurate, and up-to-date information, in partnership with public health agencies, during bioterrorism and other public health emergencies. The goal is to provide self-service information to the public so that they can make informed decisions about their health concerns.”
4. Interactive Response (IR) Applications: This consists of “four fully detailed interactive response applications that allow callers to use their touch-tone phones to automatically retrieve information during a public health emergency.”1

Each of these products is designed to be adaptable to meet local needs and to capitalize on existing call center structures. In a related press release, AHRQ Director Carolyn M. Clancy, MD, noted, “Community call centers have long been a credible source that people can turn to for health care information. . . Leveraging these existing resources will allow clinics, outpatient departments and emergency departments to devote their attention to caring for those most in need of help.”2

References

1. Bogdan GM, Scherger DL, Seroka AM, Watson J, Johnson M. Adapting Community Call Centers for Crisis Support: A Model for Home-Based Care and Monitoring. Prepared by Denver Health under Contract No. 290-00-0014-12. AHRQ Publication No. 07-0048. Rockville, MD: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. September 2007. http://www.ahrq.gov/prep/callcenters/callcenters.pdf. Accessed November 1, 2007.
2. AHRQ report recommends use of existing call centers to expand communications in public health emergencies [news release]. Washington, DC: Department of Health and Human Services, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality; October 26, 2007. http://www.ahrq.gov/news/press/pr2007/callctrpr.htm. Accessed November 1, 2007.