Providers report a demonstrable return on their speech recognition dollars, according to a new report from the Orem, Utah-based KLAS. Speech Recognition 2010: Vocalizing Benefits includes feedback from 355 providers and covers both back-end and front-end speech-recognition technology. Participants of the study indicated benefits of speech recognition such as staff reductions, improved report turnaround times, and increased physician satisfaction, among others.
Still there is room for improvement. Providers would like speech systems to learn more quickly. Some customers report accent challenges with speakers who are not native English speakers. Some also report that adopting a front-end speech technology tends initially to be disruptive to workflow.
Though there is a learning curve, and some providers report a workflow interruption while adopting speech recognition technology, physicians are getting used to it and embracing it.
Nuance continues to be the power player in the speech recognition market. Nuance's eScription takes first place in the back-end section of the report, a direct result of happy, loyal customers who are able to document direct savings. Dolbey Fusion Speech performs well against Nuance with their back-end speech system.
