Healthcare Facilities Cite Voice Recognition Accuracy Critical Driver Nuances RadWhere Solution

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Healthcare Facilities Cite Voice Recognition Accuracy as Critical Driver for Choosing Nuance’s RadWhere Solution

 

Nuance Communications, Inc., a leading supplier of speech solutions, announced that its RadWhere speech recognition solution has significantly improved radiology workflow and productivity at three highly regarded facilities: Cook Children’s Health Care System in Fort Worth, Texas; University of Florida Health Science Center Jacksonville; and University of Mississippi Medical Center. With accuracy rates up to 99 percent, RadWhere improves the day-to-day tasks of everyone involved in the interpretation and delivery of diagnostic imaging exams, from referring physician to technologist, and ultimately increases the quality of patient care.

At the core of the RadWhere application is the latest in structured speech recognition technology, optimized specifically for the radiology domain to work within picture archiving and communication system (PACS) and radiology information system (RIS) environments and significantly reduce or eliminate the need for transcription. RadWhere goes beyond speech recognition, offering numerous dictation options to meet the unique needs of each user. Radiologists may complete reports in real-time with free text speech recognition, standard site templates, individual radiologist templates and other features focused on meeting the industry need for reduced turnaround time, increased accuracy and consistency of reporting, as well as improved provider efficiency.

Cook Children’s Health Care System

“We switched to RadWhere because of its superior speech recognition abilities, even with foreign dialects,” said John Mowry, Digital Imaging Manager, Cook Children’s Health System. “The number of studies that we’re able to compete with so few radiologists since implementing RadWhere is astonishing. RadWhere has enabled us to go from about 46 percent self-editing with more than a 20-hour turnaround time (TAT) to 99 percent self-editing with less than a six-hour average TAT.”

Cook Children’s Health Care System, a pediatric hospital that services Tarrant County in Texas, went live with RadWhere in September 2008. The facility is tasked with processing approximately 135,000 studies per year with only three full-time radiologists. RadWhere helped tremendously with productivity, eliminating wasted time spent on sign-off by enabling radiologists to complete reports all at once without the back-and-forth transcription approval process. Cook’s has saved approximately $9,000 per month since implementing RadWhere, totaling about $54,000 in less than six months. Return on investment (ROI) was realized in just four months.

University of Florida Health Science Center Jacksonville

“We were looking for a more sophisticated system offering faster speeds and advanced capabilities to coincide with institutional growth,” said Arif Kidwai, MD, Clinical Assistant Professor and Chief of the Division of Informatics, University of Florida Health Science Center Jacksonville. “RadWhere is a prime example of how intelligent software can streamline workflow while helping to also cut costs and improve care.”

University of Florida Health Science Center Jacksonville, a 700-plus bed facility with a large emergency room and Level 1 Trauma Center, switched to RadWhere in September 2007. With 16 attending radiologists and 21 residents, the facility completes 280,000 exams per year. At initial implementation, it took just one weekend for RadWhere to become fully functioning within the current PACS environment. The flexibility and workflow management capabilities of RadWhere, specifically its ability to provide for peer and technologist review all within the same system, have made it an invaluable tool for enhancing both productivity and quality.

The University of Mississippi Medical Center

“Since deploying RadWhere, the productivity of the radiologists at The University of Mississippi Medical Center has gone through the roof,” said Daryle Heath, Director of Imaging Services, The University of Mississippi Medical Center. “These are tough times for us all and healthcare entities are certainly not immune to economic pains. Now more than ever, we’re relying on strategic IT investments, such as RadWhere, because of their proven return on investment.”

The University of Mississippi Medical Center, which has 25 resident radiologists and less than 20 staff radiologists, has been fully utilizing RadWhere since May 2008 within their current PACS. Currently, about 40 radiologists are servicing physicians from all over the state using RadWhere to process approximately 260,000 exams per year. Deployment of the technology took less than 90 days, and since then the facility has eradicated all transcription, leading to annual savings of approximately $900,000. ROI was realized in less than six months, while TAT went from 80 percent of reports completed within 24 hours to 99.9 percent of reports completed in that same timeframe.

RadWhere offers integration into existing radiology workflow, from a single multi-site worklist to automated structured reporting to voice-driven navigation, editing, and electronic signature. For more information about RadWhere, please visit http://www.nuance.com/healthcare/products/radwhere.asp.

Nuance’s Healthcare Business

Nuance’s healthcare portfolio of proven, speech-enabled clinical documentation and communication solutions includes the eScription platform for computer aided medical transcription (CAMT), Dictaphone Enterprise Speech System on-premise platform for integrated transcription workflow and speech recognition, Dragon Medical for real-time speech recognition within an EHR, the SpeechMagic information capturing platform, radiology solutions including PowerScribe, RadWhere, RadPort, RadCube, Focus Infomatics, Inc. for outsourced transcription services, and Veriphy critical test results management. All of these solutions enable healthcare provider organizations to reduce operating costs, increase reimbursement, and enhance patient care and safety. No matter the specific requirements of a healthcare provider organization, Nuance has solutions to meet its needs.