Giving Providers What They Want – Save $ and Improve Satisfaction with SayIt Transcription Assist

Matt TillmanHealthcare Leave a Comment

With the advent of the EMR, providers are doing more and more with regard to patient data input.  From a provider perspective, additional time spent in front of a computer means less time working with patients.

Real-time (or “front-end”) speech recognition at the point of care has made some providers more efficient, but it’s not a universal solution. Whether it’s the time required to learn the system, specialized workflow needs or their unique speech patterns, many providers are just not a good fit for front-end speech recognition. When they don’t have another option, frustration ensues.

What many physicians really want is what they had before the introduction of the EMR: a simple service that allows them to speak their patient encounters into a phone rather than type them into the EMR.

SayIt Transcription Assist was built with that concept in mind. At nVoq, we’re currently working with a number of medical transcription service organizations (MTSOs) to incorporate SayIt Transcription Assist into their existing customer workflows, allowing flexibility for those providers who are most comfortable with this method of dictation. Transcription Assist is also available through many of our certified SayIt resellers who offer EMR and speech recognition services.

Here are some basic data points about the Transcription Assist service.    

What is it? 
Transcription Assist is a portable, HIPAA-compliant transcription capability for practitioners on the go.  At the heart of Transcription Assist is an audio recording application that turns a smartphone (iOS or Android) into a digital recorder. This enables providers to dictate encounters without being in front of the EMR.

How does it work?
Once the patient encounter is recorded, audio is encrypted and sent to a cloud-based dictation server that transcribes the audio into medical narrative, which is uploaded to a transcription editing platform.  A medical transcriptionist (MT) then listens to the audio, corrects any errors in the draft and readies it for insertion into the EMR. Once the encounter posts to the EMR later that day, the provider can login and approve it. Direct posting to the EMR is also possible by the MT.

What is the cost differential between Transcription Assist and traditional MT services?
Because the provider’s dictations are automatically converted to draft text, the MT only needs to edit the Transcription Assist draft.  This creates processing efficiencies that can be passed on by the MTSO to their customers in the form of tangible savings.

What do providers need to run the service?
Transcription Assist works as a stand-alone smartphone application and is capable of being used alongside any EMR. The only technical requirements are an iOS or Android phone with WIFI and/or data plan access. Since the EMR is updated via a human scribe, the provider does not need to be in front of the EMR when they dictate.  This workflow flexibility allows providers to record encounters while moving between offices or to their next patient visit.

How quickly can Transcription Assist process dictations?
Transcription Assist supports STAT jobs, which will appear in the EMR in less than four hours. For more immediate needs, such as time-sensitive discharge summaries, Transcription Assist bundles in a wireless microphone feature that supports front-end dictation. This allows the provider to dictate directly into the EMR at the point of care. Having the flexibility to support both modes of dictation is well-received by the provider community.

How can I get it?

For providers, Transcription Assist is available as a subscription service through SayIt certified reseller partners.  There is a small fixed fee for access to the platform plus a usage component based on lines dictated during the month.  Setup is very straightforward, and usually requires no more than an hour.

For MTSOs interested in offering the Transcription Assist service, please contact us at sales@nvoq.com to get started!

About the Author

Matt Tillman

VP Business Development

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