|
|
(HealthNewsDigest.com) – As more health organizations transition to Electronic Health Record (EHR) systems, speech recognition technology continues to play a significant role. There are two workflows that clinicians and healthcare facilities can choose from when incorporating speech recognition technology into their clinical practice, front-end (know as real-time) and background (sometimes referred to as back-end).
WellSpan Health is one of many organizations transitioning to EHRs and while the WellSpan team recognizes that point-and-click templates would be sufficient for billing, they also realize that some parts of their structured data notes need to be done in a narrative fashion. The solution to this problem was not limiting clinicians EHR data input mechanism to the keyboard and point-and-click templates alone. To expand clinicians’ EHR information input options WellSpan offered its clinicians real-time speech recognition technology, Dragon Medical, which allows direct dictation within their EHR system via a microphone or headset. Simultaneously while the doctor dictates, words appear on the screen. Once dictation is finished, the physician reviews the EHR, making any corrections that may be needed, signs it, and files the final EHR document within the system. R. Hal Baker, M.D., F.A.C.P., WellSpan Health vice president and chief information officer, notes that with Dragon Medical’s real-time workflow he can dictate his thoughts, descriptions and plans at the point-of-care and have the detailed document ready to pass along to the patient by the time they go to check out. Also, according to Baker, WellSpan has reported that its transcription costs have dropped between 90 percent and 95 percent in its offices. Because what the clinician says appears in real-time, there is no need for medical transcription support.
Prevea Health is another example of a health organization incorporating speech recognition technology into its clinical practice workflow. Though unlike WellSpan, Prevea chose to use the background, computer aided medical transcription (CAMT), workflow. Prior to background speech recognition, Prevea faced difficulty managing the workload and staffing at its health centers. In fact, Prevea realized that it was only capable of handling about 60 percent of its medical transcription work (resulting in having to outsource the remaining 40 percent). In an effort to resolve this problem, Prevea Health’s information manager, Monica Zeller, deployed eScription from Nuance across its 16 health centers. With eScription, physicians’ dictations are easily uploaded and quickly made available within the EHR system. After the physician dictates via a headset or digital handheld recorder, the dictation travels to a voice recognizer, which creates a high-quality draft document. The document is then sent to a transcriptionist to edit and make sure SmartLinks are correctly linked to important EHR information. Once the editing is finished the document goes back to the physician for review and approval, and ultimately into the EHR. “It’s amazing how the drafts come through with the correct punctuation, numbered lists, and paragraph breaks – things which are not dictated or spoken by the physicians,” says Zeller. Since eScription has been integrated into Prevea’s workflow they no longer have transcriptionists logging in overtime hours nor do they outsource transcription services. Prevea has also seen a productivity increase of 133 percent and a turnaround time of less then 24 hours, compared to their original five days.
The speech recognition technology that a health organization chooses all depends on the workflow for which it and its clinicians wish to employ. Real-time workflow eliminates the need for medical transcriptionists, can speed patient care, while incorporating the narrative into EHRs. While background speech recognition helps to dramatically improve medical transcriptionist productivity and reduce or eliminate overflow outsourced work.
To learn more about Nuance’s Dragon Medical and eScription as well as the many other healthcare solutions please visit http://www.nuance.com/healthcare.
Monica Zeller is the director of health information management at Prevea Health System, a 20-clinic facility network based in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
Dr. Hal Baker is vice president and chief information officer for WellSpan Health, in York, Penn.
Subscribe to our FREE Ezine and receive current Health News, be eligible for discounted products/services and coupons related to your Health. We publish 24/7.
HealthNewsDigest.com
We videotape Press Conferences, produce Satellite MediaTour’s, B-rolls, PSA’s, – all with distribution: HealthyTelevisionProductions[email protected]