Diagnosis Related Groups (DRGs) call for efficient document management processes

The introduction of German DRGs (Fallpauschalengesetz, DRG law) has meant that the time it takes for patients to be treated is having a direct effect on a clinic's cost-effectiveness. Efficient document management workflows in the medical sector can help to reduce waiting and idle time to an absolute minimum.01/11/2004

© Philips

by Armin Scheuer

Integration versus isolated application
Transcribing dictations manually is both time-consuming and inefficient. It can take days to create medical reports, while patient treatment can be delayed unnecessarily. The Rendsburg·and·Eckenförde hospitals have implemented a fully integrated solution in order to accelerate report turnaround time.

In addition to administrative and accounting applications (patient data management, finance and bookkeeping), ward-based and individual workstations, medical documentation processes, DRG Grouper software and medical reporting procedures can be found in all areas of nursing and medicine. Subsystems such as laboratory systems or maternity room documentation systems with integrated interfaces complete the range of software in use. Each patient is entered into a central database. Every software application is fully integrated. Only medical reporting was, until recently, still carried out using analogue cassettes, despite the heavy workload of 50,000 dictations per year.

In order to accelerate report turnaround time, the MBS-easy digital dictation solution from Kuhlmann-Informations-Systeme·and ·SpeechMagic, the speech recognition technology from Philips, were implemented. Both systems were seamlessly integrated with the existing infrastructure, allowing an administration-intensive isolated solution to be avoided. SpeechMagic's network-based client/server architecture allowed three report dictation and transcription workflows to be configured:

1) Digital dictation: the doctor dictates directly onto his PC. The audio file is sent to the typing pool for transcription.
2) Digital dictation corrected by the typist: the audio file is automatically converted to text by the central speech recognition server directly after recording. The typist then checks the recognised text for recognition errors and makes any corrections.
3) Digital dictation with self-correction: during dictation by the doctor, the text appears on screen in real time. The doctor corrects recognition errors straight away and creates the report without the help of a typist.
Each doctor is able to choose the workflow which best suits his or her needs according to the staffing situation in the typing pool, the content of the dictation and personal preference.

Impact of waiting times on profitability
SpeechMagic is to be installed on over 200 workstations throughout the seven hospitals of Austria's Barmherzige·Brüder (Brothers of Charity) by the end of 2005. A pilot project resulted in a 50% reduction in report turnaround time. Director Adolf·Inzinger, head of IT and controlling for the Barmherzige·Brüder, explains: "The implementation of speech recognition has resulted in a considerable increase in efficiency. Because the time between diagnosis and report creation has been reduced to virtually zero, our patients can be given their reports much more quickly. The widespread use of SpeechMagic will thus allow financial resources to be used much more efficiently in the healthcare sector."

"Powered by SpeechMagic"
Medica·2004 will see some 20 providers of medical IT systems exhibiting solutions based on SpeechMagic, the speech recognition solution from Philips. Worldwide, over 200 companies are using Philips speech recognition technology, thus establishing SpeechMagic as the leading solution for medical report creation. To underline the success of Philips' solution, the "powered·by·SpeechMagic" logo will be introduced at Medica. "Both a designation and a mark of excellence," says Sven·Biewald, head of sales for Philips speech recognition, Germany. "Wherever you see "powered by SpeechMagic" you can be sure of advanced speech recognition technology; customers of our integration partners can rest assured of that," says Biewald.

Visit Philips at Medica: Hall 10 / Stand A22.