Telephone Coaching for Patients with Chronic Illnesses

Almost every health system is seeking ways to reduce costs while improving patient outcomes. One advocated method is telephone coaching of patients by healthcare professionals. In this study, investigators compared hospital use and costs in 2700 adult patients with heart failure, coronary heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or diabetes who had histories of hospital use and who received telephone coaching with age- and disease-matched controls.

The intervention consisted of regular (usually monthly) phone calls by nurses who focused on care management (e.g., how and when to get help, setting treatment goals, taking medicines correctly, making lifestyle changes to lower risk, keeping follow-up appointments). For both the inte…