Product Spotlight: Speech Recognition

By Chip Means
11:08 AM

Adoption curve on the horizon for speech tools

The speech recognition market for the healthcare industry is on the verge of a "long-term growth curve of adoption," according to Ben Brown, general manager of Imaging Informatics at KLAS. "I think (adoption) will continue to accelerate," Brown said. "You can't get to evidence-based medicine and personalized medicine in healthcare unless you have, number one, an EMR, and number two, good documentation." Vendors such as Nuance - which holds a strong market-share position with acquisitions of eScription, Commissure and Philips' Speech Magic - are expanding their scope by adding analytics tools and other features for reporting and patient safety measures. "You're seeing more of the vendors look at wireless technology and using devices and cell phones and other kinds of technology being utilized for speech recognition and access to reports," said Brown.


Agfa Healthcare's Integrated Diagnostic Reporting tool interoperates with Agfa’s radiology information systems and picture archiving and communication systems.
3 TRENDS TO WATCH
Ben Brown, general manager of Imaging Informatics for KLAS, sees the following trends developing for the speech recognition industry:

1.ADOPTION : Speech recognition is still fairly under-utilized, but it’s extending more and more, especially with back-end solutions.

2.ROI : With strained healthcare IT budgets, providers want to invest in technology that has a clear return on investment. Many adopters of speech recognition tools can point to increased efficiencies, savings and faster turnaround times.

3.INTEGRATION : Providers are showing interest in integrating speech recognition into the EMR workflow. More products, such as RIS and PACS, are starting to have speech recognition tools embedded.

Speech Tools Target Integration

Agfa Healthcare Integrated Reporting
Agfa's Integrated Diagnostic Reporting solution improves efficiency in the radiology department by providing radiologists fast and easy access to all relevant information residing in both Agfa's RIS & PACS. This integrated reporting solution provides hospitals and private radiology practices with the highest level of reporting flexibility utilizing specialized vocabularies and language models that more accurately match departmental dynamics. Integrated reporting supports the diagnostic process effectively and efficiently through the use of worklists, resident report routing, dictation options, batch processing options, template efficiencies and industry standard coding and has been noted to improved interpretation and report turnaround times. Contact: Contact: Renee Stacey, 905-785-7017, renee.stacey@agfa.com

Dolbey Solutions Fusion Expert
Dolbey's Fusion Expert with Speech Recognition is designed to provide the model of once-and-done reporting.  In a single system, Fusion Expert meets the needs of all users by offering both front-end and background speech recognition and the simplicity of standard dictation only.  Also available in Fusion Expert are advanced tools for automated normals, PACs, RIS and EMR integration and electronic signature.  Report distribution in Fusion Expert includes envelopes for mailing, email reports with encryption or fax reports with detailed audit trails. Contact: Bob Leslie, 800-756-7828, 
rleslie@dolbeyco.com
MedQuist Speech Q Radiology
An accurate, flexible speech recognition software solution designed specifically for radiologists, MedQuist's SpeechQ for Radiology seamlessly integrates with most leading RIS and PACS. SpeechQ helps streamline reporting workflow and maximize efficiency. Users see turnaround times reduced from days to hours and minutes, with ROI realized in as little as four months. Contact: Christopher Spring, 856-368-1155, cspring@medquist.com
Nuance
Dragon Medical Enterprise 10 is the solution for providers wishing to deploy speech recognition across the enterprise. Dictate medical findings directly into any Windows-based EMR with up to 99 percent accuracy. Dragon Medical supports HIPAA compliance guidelines, helping a healthcare enterprise to raise standards of care while improving efficiency and profitability. Contact: Keith Belton, 781-565-4755, 
keith.belton@nuance.com

User Reviews

"We were most interested in the ROI associated with implementing a speech-enabled technology. We were spending close to $1.2 million on transcription costs in our primary care network and with the implementation of Dragon Medical to complement our Allscripts EMR, our projected cost for transcription has been brought to zero."
Betty Rabinowitz, MD, Primary Care internist, University of Rochester Medical Clinics

For just over two months I've had early access to Dragon Medical 10, which I've found to be extremely fine-tuned for the needs of medical users and clinical workflow. It is faster, more accurate and integrates beautifully with our homegrown electronic health record system. I'm excited to share the latest version of Dragon Medical with my colleagues and showcase its ability to improve physician productivity by facilitating the creation of highly detailed and accurate medical records. When compared to the cost of transcription, I'd estimate that the institution [Dartmouth Hitchcock] has saved around $150,000 over the last five years by Dragon Medical working successfully for me alone. The cost of the software purchase can be recouped in a few weeks, not months."
Jon W. Wahrenberger, MD, Cardiology, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center
"SpeechQ for Radiology is used by all attending radiologists at SIUH, as well as by the radiology residents. We dictate our reports and instantly review the speech-recognized text on our computer screens. This allows for immediate editing and electronic signature while the patient's image is still displayed."
David Hirschorn, MD, director Radiology Informatics/Attending Radiologist, Staten Island University Hospital
"Although we were previously PowerScribe users, when it came time to upgrade, I chose SpeechQ for our three-hospital group because of its superior speech recognition and the extensive microphone functionality options, which reduce mouse clicks and voice commands."
Kris Van Lom, MD, radiologist, Scripps Medical Center
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