Nuance Introduces Dictaphone PowerScribe 4.8

Nuance Communications has released PowerScribe Workstation 4.8, the latest version of its Dictaphone PowerScribe medical transcription solution, with new features based on recent partnerships it signed with Vocada Veriphy and Amirsys STATdx.

In this new version of PowerScribe, Vocada's Veriphy creates a simplified user interface and communications for critical test result management that allows physicians to send critical messages to ordering clinicians instantly via pager, cell phone or email. Amirsys STATdx Clinical Decision Support, a diagnostic decision support system for radiologists, is now also incorporated in PowerScribe 4.8. This system allows radiologists to access evidence-based, point-of-care reference material with the click of a button or voice command while creating reports.

Additional technology updates now available in PowerScribe 4.8 include:
• Support for Internet Explorer Version 7;
• Support for Windows XP 64-bit operating system; and
• An updated, voice-enabled report coding interface that allows users to enter codes into reports for such functions as peer review, image quality and risk management.

Dictaphone PowerScribe also includes StructuRad’s library of more than 900 radiology macros, enabling users to create and voice-edit reports using a rich set of templates.

According to Nuance, the PowerScribe solution is gaining momentum among radiology departments across the country. The total number of Dictaphone PowerScribe customers is more than 960, and 55 new customers, including MultiCare, Inova Healthcare, Novant Health, and Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center, have signed on in the first four months of 2007 alone.

Nuance attributes the growing success of PowerScribe to the solution’s ability to answer the radiology industry’s demand for faster report turnaround time, reduced transcription costs, higher levels of satisfaction from referring physicians, and enhanced patient care.

"Finding a solution to improve radiologist productivity, enhance report consistency and deliver timely results were part of the escalating transcription and reporting pressures on our radiology department," said Joe Thornton, director of imaging services at Medical West, an affiliate of the UAB Health System. "We embraced speech recognition technology to streamline report creation and distribution workflow; and we choose PowerScribe because of the application’s seamless integration into our existing IT environment, while delivering market-leading accuracy and cost savings."

PowerScribe saves healthcare organizations thousands of dollars per radiologist each year, automates the clinical documentation process and reduces the long turnaround time associated with the manual transcription of radiology interpretations, part of a $10 billion transcription industry in North America alone.

PowerScribe Workstation 4.8 is available to all PowerScribe customers with active maintenance contracts and will begin shipping this summer.