For millions of people throughout the United States, this is the time of year that visits to the doctor can be common and cumbersome. Many individuals can find they’re spending countless minutes – even hours – trying to get in to see a doctor, check on lab results or ask for the renewal of a prescription.

 

While healthcare facilities strive to deliver a quality experience for their clients, sheer numbers are clogging the system.

Even though live conversations were often the first form of contact for any healthcare provider, not all interactions must be handled by a live operator in order to meet the patients’ needs. When a healthcare facility implements speech technologies, not only can they serve patients more efficiently, they can also cut costs associated with handling patient care.

The use of speech technologies can make an even deeper impact for those healthcare facilities that have already made the move toward electronic heath records or “EHRs.” IVANS, a healthcare information technology services company, conducted a survey of more than 500 healthcare providers and found that nearly 70 percent believe the move to EHRs will have a positive impact on their day-to-day business and 56 percent plan to implement EHRs within the next year.

The growth of automation was also identified by Datamonitor in a recent report that found healthcare automation is driving growth in speech technology. According to this report, the adoption of PC-based speech recognition is not widespread; however, the technology has found its niche in the healthcare market, where automation and cost savings are key drivers.

Many of these changes in the healthcare industry are also being driven by budget issues and the pressure of patient accuracy. EHRs can help to reduce the error rate in diagnosis and ensure patient information is recorded efficiently. When speech recognition is used with digital dictation, healthcare professionals can speed the time to record and edit information.

Speech recognition is also being used in medical transcription, reducing the cost associated with staffing. Medical transcription is estimated to be a multi-billion dollar market and is expected to double in the next five years. Healthcare overall represents 85 percent of the PC- and server-based speech recognition market.

Turin, Italy-based Loquendo (News - Alert), is one provider who specializes in speech recognition technologies and is ready to embrace opportunities in the healthcare field. The company has already implemented micro-automation for Health Dialog to drive quality and efficiency.

Loquendo’s partnerships with innovative systems integrators provides the positioning the company needs to meet the challenging and changing needs of speech technologies throughout the healthcare industry.

Whether a patient needs to check on test results, make an appointment or follow-up with a provider, speech technologies can streamline the process to deliver a better overall experience.