Adoption of Electronic Medical Report Systems - The Role of Speech Recognition

With the introduction of The American Recovery$44,000 over five years. The Medicare plan also
and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) enacted bystipulates physicians operating in a "health provider
Congress and signed into law by President Barackshortage area" will be eligible for an incremental
Obama on February 17, 2009, the push to digitizeincrease of 10%, and those who deliver care
patient medical records has been at the forefrontentirely in a hospital environment (e.g.
of Health Information Management. The act callsanesthesiologists) are ineligible.
for the digitization of all medical records by thePhysicians who do not demonstrate meaningful
end of 2014, which means that all medicaluse of an EMR by the end of 2014 will see their
practices in the United States will be required to2015 fee schedules decrease by 1%. Additional
transition to Electronic Medical Records (EMR). Still,decreases will be implemented in 2016 and 2017
in today's world, the most common types ofdown to a total of 97% of the regular fee
health information exchanges are typically paperschedule for non-participating physicians. This can
copies of paper medical records. To date, therebe reduced even further (down to 95%) if the
has been very little automated data exchangetotal adoption is below 75% in 2018.
between hospitals and physicians.What exactly constitutes the definition of
So, you might ask, how will the government"meaningful use" of an Electronic Medical Record is
effect the digitization of American health records,still under debate. We do know that most
and influence the way physicians and hospitalsphysicians agree that "meaningful use" of an EMR
store and transmit health information? To answershould mean highly accessible and detailed health
this question, we must look to the stipulations ofrecords. According to a study by Nuance
the HITECH Act.Communications, Inc. - a leading supplier of speech
The health component of the ARRA bill is thesolutions aimed at making the transition to EMRs
HITECH Act, which appropriates $19.5 billion dollarseasier for clinicians - physicians cited faster
to encourage the adoption and effective utilizationaccess, more complete patient reports, and
of Electronic Medical Records (alternately referredbetter caregiver-to-caregiver communication as
to as Electronic Health Records, or EHR). The twoimportant to defining meaningful use of an EMR.
primary goals of the HITECH Act are to mobilizeIn addition to gaining insight that physicians value
physicians who have been slow to adoptreadily available, highly detailed Electronic Medical
Electronic Medical Records to a computerizedRecords, the Nuance study also shed light on
system, and to ensure that patient data isphysicians' concerns about existing obstacles that
actively and securely exchanged betweenimpede EMR adoption. Ninety percent of
healthcare professionals. To do so, thephysicians said that they were concerned about
government has allocated funds to catalyze theusability as the leading obstacle impeding EMR
desired changes.adoption. Armed with this knowledge, Nuance has
The HITECH Act stipulates $2 billion will bedeveloped a speech recognition software solution
immediately provided to the Department ofthat greatly increases usability and function within
Health & Human Services (HHS) and itsan EMR system.
sub-agency, the Office of the National CoordinatorNuance Communications' voice recognition
of Health IT. $320 million of this $2 billion will besoftware - Dragon Medical 10 - is the
used to establish more Health Informationindustry-leading speech recognition software. The
Exchange (HIE) initiatives, help existing HIEs tosoftware eliminates physicians' need to rely on
progress in connecting providers, and to ensuretyping, clicking and scrolling, something that 67
standards are consistent across products andpercent of doctors surveyed cited as a usability
care settings.concern. This gives physicians more time to
The biggest winners under the HITECH Act areallocate toward patient care instead of reporting.
the clinicians. $36 billion will be paid over aAnd, because most doctors speak three times
five-year period to healthcare providers thatfaster than they type, Dragon Medical speech
demonstrate meaningful use of Electronic Medicalrecognition software can improve productivity by
Records. These payments are designed toup to 25%.
reward hospitals and physicians for effectivelyDragon Medical software empowers physicians
using robust, connected EMR systems.with the technology they need to digitize their
Conversely, practices that do not implementpractice. Dragon allows physicians to dictate
effective EMR systems by 2015 will be penalized,records into Microsoft Word and other common
and will be required to forfeit Medicare fees. Thedesktop applications, effectively increasing usability.
net cost to the Federal government is anticipatedPhysicians can develop templates for repeat use,
to be $19.5 billion after savings are achievedhelping them easily dictate patient notes by voice.
through efficiencies, tax revenue and MedicareDragon Medical makes it easy for physicians to
fee reductions for non-adopters.take that first step toward adopting EMR
All said, there is quite a bit of government moneysystems.
to be distributed to qualifying physicians andDragon Medical was developed by Nuance to
hospitals. Physicians who adopt effective EMRaccelerate physician adoption of EMR software by
systems will eligible to receive as much asallowing clinicians to navigate an EMR system by
$64,000 over five years according to the HITECHvoice. Dragon allows doctors to dictate medical
Act. In order to qualify for incentive payments,decision-making - history of present illness, review
both physicians and hospitals have toof systems, assessment, and plan - directly into
demonstrate three things:EMR systems - eliminating transcription and
1. Use of a certified EMR with ePrescribingensuring more complete clinical documentation.
capability that meets current HHS standards.Dragon Medical fully supports HIPAA patient
2. Connectivity to other providers to improveinformation confidentiality requirements.
speed and quality of access to patient medicalDragon Medical 10 speech recognition software is
information.a must for every physician, as it greatly increases
3. Ability to report on their use of the technologyproductivity by making EMR systems easier to
to the HHS.adopt and use. Dragon is the first step for
Physicians may qualify for one of two incentivephysicians looking to digitize their practice and
programs (not both). There is a Medicaid programsave money on transcription costs, and is a
and a Medicare program.valuable solution for physicians who want to take
Under the Medicaid program, physicians who seeadvantage of available government incentives for
more than 30% of patients paying with MedicaidEMR adoption.
(20% for pediatricians) are eligible for paymentsGet rid of the paper files, and do away with the
of up to $64,000 over five years. Under thekeyboard and mouse! Dragon Medical speech
Medicare program, physicians who acceptrecognition technology is the future of Electronic
Medicare payments (but do not have a largeMedical Record technology.
volume of Medicaid patients) are eligible to receive