Dragon Medical embedded in MEDITECH Expanse streamlines system maintenance and enhances physician satisfaction.
Challenge
- Need for more efficient voice-driven clinical documentation processes, including speech recognition and mobility options
- Desire to eliminate multiple system logins and simplify workflow
- Complexities associated with a shift from desktop to tablet computing
- On-site clinical documentation technology management and maintenance costs straining budgets and resources
Solution
- Dragon® Medical embedded in MEDITECH Expanse—an exclusive solution available only from Nuance
- Nuance® Dragon Medical One
Results
- Increased productivity through voice-driven documentation at the point of care
- Improved physician satisfaction rates as speech recognition usage rates climbed to greater than 94 percent
- Improved quality of care by engaging patients throughout the process
- Eliminated on-site technology and support costs for speech recognition; drastically reduced support calls
- Avoided transcription costs in ambulatory clinics
Embedded speech recognition approach to clinical documentation offers renewed freedom and flexibility
Hancock Health, located in Greenfield, Indiana, is focused on being a caring community partner. With more than 20 locations, the organization strives to “give every person the personalized attention necessary for a happy, healthy life.”
“Completing the majority of my documentation while in the room with the patient means all my notes are finished at the end of the day and ready for review. This workflow is a win for everyone. I get my work done in the office at the point of care—making patient records more complete and accurate and preserving my personal family time.”
Dr. Matthew Surburg, physician
Hancock Family Practice
Hancock Health has long recognized the role of technology in delivering quality patient care. For over a decade, the organization has relied on its relationship with Nuance to incorporate speech recognition technologies into the MEDITECH EHR. In the fall of 2016, the team opted to update their systems to further improve physician productivity and satisfaction. Hancock Health transitioned to tablet-based PCs and MEDITECH’s new web platform. The advantages of deploying Dragon Medical embedded within MEDITECH Expanse were very appealing and the team chose an aggressive deployment. Within a short time frame, physician satisfaction rates improved dramatically as speech recognition usage rates climbed to more than 94 percent.
Together, these technologies offer renewed freedom and flexibility. By enhancing the overall clinical documentation process, physicians can focus their attention back on patients and more efficiently capture their stories at the point of care—all while improving clinical documentation quality and reducing costs.
Flexible tools focus on efficiency, quality, and overall physician satisfaction
To give patients the personalized attention they deserve, Hancock Health focused on equipping their physicians with a better, more efficient clinical documentation process. The streamlined ability to complete system upgrades and shift to Windows®-based tablets reduced system downtime, gave physicians greater flexibility, offered opportunities for improved efficiency, and provided more control of their workflow.
With the use of tablets, the physicians are now able to document patient care beyond the desktop. The use of Windows®-based tablets, combined with Dragon Medical embedded within the MEDITECH Expanse platform, further improved the experience by offering a robust architecture to quickly and conveniently capture a patient’s complete story. The increased face-to-face process became a vehicle to improve patient engagement and ensure an accurate account of the patient’s health.
“I actually do most of my dictation while the patient is present in the exam room with me. There’s a kind of ‘wow factor’ as they see the words populate the screen. But more importantly, patients are listening to exactly what’s going into their charts,” said Dr. Matthew Surburg, physician, Hancock Family Practice. “If I say, ‘left foot’ instead of ‘right foot,’ they correct me right away, and can add more clarity and details as appropriate.”
Accuracy and document quality are critical to both patient care and physician satisfaction. With patients more engaged and physicians using Dragon Medical to record details directly into the MEDITECH EHR, there is less chance of missing critical details or having to edit documentation during the assessment and planning stage. Physicians can dedicate more of their time to their patients during the visit and less of their free time to paperwork after they leave the office.
“ Our providers are finding that they do not need to do voice profile training. The embedded speech recognition is easily accessible within the EHR. They’re almost completely self-sufficient now; we hardly get any help calls at all. There’s nothing to install on-site, so we have nothing to maintain, which is an added benefit that has also reduced our costs.”
Doug Hogue, information support analyst
Hancock Regional Hospital
“Completing the majority of my documentation while in the room with the patient means all my notes are finished at the end of the day and ready for review. This workflow is a win for everyone. I get my work done in the office at the point of care—making patient records more complete and accurate and preserving my personal family time.”
Truly embedded cloud solution offers smooth transition at reduced costs
The organization’s long-established partnership with Nuance and MEDITECH was a testament to the systems’ ability to complement one another. With quality and ease of use paramount to performance and tied closely to patient care and reimbursements, the team was confident this partnership could deliver on this next generation of clinical documentation.
Dragon Medical embedded in MEDITECH Expanse offers a completely cloud-based speech recognition solution for organizations like Hancock Health. Unlike competing speech recognition solutions, there was no additional software to install, download, or support, and there were no additional sign-on requirements for Hancock Health’s providers; they maintain 100 percent portability and can easily utilize Dragon Medical embedded anywhere they can access documentation from MEDITECH Expanse.
When upgrading to the embedded solution and using the tablets, the organization found most physicians were migrating from a prior version of Dragon Medical to the embedded option, which had already been installed on their desktops for several years.
“Our providers are finding that they do not need to do voice profile training. The embedded speech recognition is easily accessible within the EHR. They’re almost completely self-sufficient now; we hardly get any help calls at all,” said Doug Hogue, information support analyst for Hancock Health. “There’s nothing to install on-site, so we have nothing to maintain, which is an added benefit that has also reduced our costs.”
Hancock Health clinicians will have the same personalized and consistent speech-enabled documentation experience across smartphones and similar devices when deployed—further supporting mobility with a truly portable clinical documentation solution. As a result, the organization has avoided transcription costs in its ambulatory practices.
“When it’s time to begin a session, Dragon Medical is there and ready to use within MEDITECH Expanse. Our physicians can use the EHR anywhere they go, and Dragon Medical is right there too. It doesn’t even matter if they change machines—as long as the session is active, it’s ready to go,” Hogue concludes.
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