where voice technology fits in today's metric-driven healthcare industry
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http://www.voicefirstsolutions.com/ Is it time for healthcare to "cut the cord" on keyboards? Smart, hands-free, mobile, voice solutions have arrived in the healthcare industry and progressive CIOs are taking the power of voice to the front lines of patient care. Surveys show that greater than 97% of patient-facing clinicians, nurses and doctors want to step away from the keyboard and leverage intelligent voice solutions to capture patient data in real time, at the point of care. Is your IT team ready to respond to the call for voice? Here are 5 healthcare metrics that may help you decide.TRANSCRIPT
www.VoiceFirstSolutions.com©2013 VoiceFirst by Honeywell. All Rights Reserved. 412-206-1225
Forecasts for technology in healthcare
continue to focus on EHR adoption, Clinical
Decision Support and Security – all trends that
garner top billing on CIOs “IT To‑Do” lists. But
beyond these mega‑IT projects, progressive
CIOs are also focusing on a technology trend
that supports the most critical resource a
healthcare system has – frontline clinicians.
Investments in mobile, interactive voice technology for frontline clinical staff are on the rise.Beyond health system
changes and requirements to deploy
EHR systems, CIOs and CNIOs at the most
progressive hospitals in the United States are
investing in technology at the bedside. These
information and informatics leaders recognize
that accurate patient information, available at
the point of care, improves patient‑centered
care, outcomes and safety. Further, when
investments in EHR deployment can be
magnified and leveraged to deliver real-time
patient data to all EHR‑connected teams,
metrics from improved HCAHPS to declining
error rates are impacted.
Is It Time for Healthcare to “Cut the Cord” on Keyboards?
In the same way the healthcare industry has
witnessed the adoption of network‑enabled
mobile devices like smartphones and tablets,
voice technology, now ubiquitous in the
automotive, telecom and consumer electronics
markets, has arrived in healthcare. Industry
analysts believe that voice technology is
still under‑utilized in healthcare, but will see
increased adoption in 2014 and could be
used pervasively by 2016. They estimate that
significant ROI will come from the integration
of speech with EMR – an area where adopters
can point to increased efficiencies, savings
and faster turnaround times1,2. This proven
technology is impacting the front lines of
patient care in top hospitals around the
country.
CLINICIAN-DESIGNED VOICE SOLUTIONS FOR PATIENT-FACING CARE REPLACE TETHERED DATA INPUT TOOLS AND BRING A CONVERSATION ABOUT CARE BACK TO THE BEDSIDE.
1: http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/product‑spot‑light‑speech‑recognition?page=12: http://www.informationweek.com/healthcare/electron‑ic‑medical‑records/speech‑recognition‑booms‑as‑ehr‑adop‑tion/240149586
5 Key Healthcare Metrics CIOs Are Using to Size Up the Impact of Voice Solutions for Patient-Facing Care Smart, hands-free, mobile, voice solutions have arrived in the healthcare industry and progressive CIOs are taking the power of voice to the front lines of patient care. Surveys show that greater than 97% of patient-facing clinicians, nurses and doctors want to step away from the keyboard and leverage intelligent voice solutions to capture patient data in real time, at the point of care. Is your IT team ready to respond to the call for voice? Here are 5 healthcare metrics that may help you decide.
HEALTHCARE CIOS ARE RAISING THE
BAR ON 5 KEY HEALTHCARE METRICS
BY LEVERAGING MOBILE, VOICE-
DRIVEN TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS AT THE PATIENT’S BEDSIDE.
WHERE VOICE TECHNOLOGY FITS IN TODAY’S METRIC-DRIVEN HEALTHCARE INDUSTRY
Healthcare Industry Whitepaper | 2
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Voice solutions have moved beyond one-way dictation devices
that doctors have used in their offices to improve note taking
and transcribe patient data. Smart voice solutions are becoming
interactive, natural language solutions that overlay EMR systems
and allow clinicians, nurses and doctors to have two‑way
conversations with record management systems and the patient.
5 Ways Mobile, Hands-Free Voice Solutions Impact the Front Lines of Patient Care
Improved HCAHPS Scores (CAHPS® Hospital Survey, Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems)
By 2015, healthcare providers participating in accountable
care organizations will have to provide evidence that the care
they’ve delivered produced value for the patient – as reported
by the patient. Improving and maintaining patient satisfaction
with physician and clinician services is paramount. Healthcare
facilities’ HCAHPS scores directly impact their reimbursements
and are already being used by consumers to evaluate and rank
healthcare providers and facilities.
RESEARCH INDICATES THAT THE AMOUNT OF FACE-TO-FACE TIME A CLINICIAN SPENDS WITH A PATIENT MAY BE ONE OF THE MOST SIGNIFICANT FACTORS IN DETERMINING PATIENT SATISFACTION WITH SERVICES PROVIDED.
Increased clinician time with patients, particularly time spent
having direct eye contact, has been shown to increase a patient’s
overall satisfaction with care and the outcome of care. Moreover,
research from the New England Medical Center and the University
of California at Davis confirm that patient satisfaction increases
with the amount of face‑to‑face time with clinicians. These
studies indicate that patient satisfaction increases directly impact
patient outcome (another key metric we’ll discuss) as well as a
patient’s participation in the decision‑making process for their
care.
CIOs deploying mobile, hands‑free EMR voice overlay technology
are helping patient‑facing clinicians “cut the cord” to computer
screens, keyboards and workstations on wheels that distract from
hands‑on patient care.
Intelligent voice‑enabled EMR interaction increases hands‑on
nursing time. Patients report greater satisfaction with their
overall care and are more involved with their care. Advances
in EMR voice‑overlay technology allow clinicians to have an
actual conversation with the EMR without looking away from
the patient to consult charts and without interrupting care to
type on keyboards. Custom care protocols and workflows guide
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clinicians through procedures using natural language interaction,
and patient data is updated in the EMR in real time – all through
voice‑driven interactions.
Leveraging hands‑free, voice‑powered patient record
management, clinicians shift their focus from the tablet,
computer screen and keyboard to the patient and have a direct,
measureable impact on patient satisfaction and care outcomes.
Reduced Post-Shift Charting Overages and Errors
Clinicians talk with their patients to make the most accurate
assessments at the point of care. Whether the assessment is
in the emergency room, at the patient’s bedside or during a
physical therapy evaluation, frontline clinicians depend on verbal
communication to “get it right.” Now clinicians can harness the
power of natural conversation to directly interact with their EMR
systems. No more post‑visit or end‑of‑shift record management
– the patient’s record is accurate at the point of care and the
clinician, nurse and doctor are freed from dictation devices,
keyboards and transcription.
Using wireless mobile device technology, clinicians can now
access their EMR systems, update records and retrieve patient
information with the power of their voice. The EMR system can
also respond via voice, creating a seamless, patient‑centered
conversation where and when it is most valuable, at the point of
care.
Voice-enabled real-time charting reduces errors and delays
in patient record management and reduces the overall cost
of patient care. Post‑shift charting overages contribute to
increased care costs, but they also negatively impact clinician
job satisfaction. The adoption of voice solutions at the patient’s
bedside reduces clinician fatigue and increases overall clinician
satisfaction in the workplace.
With an intelligent EMR voice overlay solution, clinicians
can have a conversation with their EMR system ensuring
a higher quality of patient care, reduced patient record
errors and clinical documentation improvement (CDI).
These measurable efficiencies have immediate impacts on
patient outcome, quality of care delivery and a hospital’s
bottom line.
Improved Patient Outcomes and Improved Clinical Documentation
Healthcare teams know that increased hands‑on time with
patients is critical to impacting patient outcomes and quality care
delivery. What better way to improve patient care than by having
patient‑facing clinicians spend more time with the patient and
less time charting and manually updating EMR data?
Increased time with patients translates to improved patient outcomes and patient satisfaction.
A recent Johns Hopkins study indicated that clinicians are
spending less time interacting with patients and more time
on indirect patient care – interacting with electronic records
management tools and conducting patient research.
Indirect Patient Care
Direct Patient Care
Miscellaneous Activities (walking)
Educational Actvities (Medical Rounds)
All information and data courtesy of Johns Hopkins. Presentation by PhysBizTech.
Thought leaders in healthcare indicate that patient care
outcomes and overall patient satisfaction can be improved by
increasing time spent on direct patient care.3,4 As noted earlier,
eye contact with patients is shown to improve care satisfaction
and confidence in care provided. Leveraging hands-free, voice-
powered patient record management, clinicians can shift their
focus from the tablet, computer screen and keyboard to the
patient.
VOICE-POWERED EMR WORKFLOWS SPEED PATIENT DATA ENTRY, A KEY COMPONENT OF PERFORMANCE REPORTING.
Patient‑reported outcome measures (PROMs) are a critical
component of assessing whether clinicians are improving the
health of patients. Patient‑reported measures are expected to
play a more prominent role in assessing hospital and clinician
3: http://www.avaya.com/uk/resource/assets/casestudies/sonora%20uc4585.pdf4: http://www.medicalpracticeinsider.com/news/business/docs‑be‑spending‑less‑time‑bedside‑patients?goback=%252Egde_93115_member_244753540
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performance and determining the comparative effectiveness of
different treatments, in part because of a growing emphasis on
patient‑centered care and value‑based payment approaches.
Voice can play a critical role in a patient’s perceived level and
value of care as clinicians are able to focus more attention on
real‑time patient response to treatment and comparatively
less time on manual patient care documentation – which often
occurs following patient evaluations.
Increased Collaboration and Coordination of Care
Healthcare system reform has placed a premium on
coordinating evidence‑based care both inside and outside
the hospital. Coordinated patient care now extends beyond
the bedside. CIOs leveraging mobile technology solutions are
leading the charge to deliver real‑time patient data across the
continuum of care. Truly mobile, voice‑enabled solutions allow
the EMR system to move at the pace of the clinician and provide
real‑time patient data to a broader community of care‑givers
across a variety of settings. Patient outcomes improve and
re‑admittance rates fall when clinicians can provide up‑to‑the‑
minute patient data to collaborating, EHR‑connected teams.
Handheld smart devices and BYOD are ushering in a more connected and interactive healthcare industry.
The healthcare industry has seen a significant rise in use of
handheld devices. BYOD has become another project that IT
teams are being asked to prioritize. While networked smart
devices allow clinicians and doctors to communicate in a more
connected fashion, networked EMRs that contain dynamically
updated patient information promote secure interdisciplinary
collaboration that directly impacts patient care.
Healthcare leaders are adding intelligent voice overlay
technology to their EMR systems and are bringing true
communication back to the bedside. Voice technology is allowing
the EMR system to evolve from a vault of patient information to
a value-added partner on the front lines of patient care. Better
still, this evolved communication is speeding access to real‑time
patient data, influencing decision support and changing the face
of healthcare collaboration with the power of smart, effective,
two‑way voice interaction where it has the most impact, on the
front lines of patient care.
EMR Investments Are Leveraged Beyond the Back Office
For most hospital systems, the transition to electronic medical
records has been the single most significant technology change
impacting nearly every hospital department, employee and
patient. The emerging role of bedside and patient‑facing
technology is taking many hospital systems by storm. Balancing
the capital cost of new technology with the potential gains in care
administration efficiency puts healthcare leaders squarely in the
middle of the technology investment “see‑saw.”
Once EMR investments are made, what keeps hospitals from
reaping the full potential that is possible? Study after study
confirms what CIOs already know – a successful EMR deployment
depends on frontline nursing and clinical staff adoption. Beyond
EMR adoption, innovative IT teams are leveraging EMR voice
overlay technology to seamlessly embed the EMR in patient care
protocols and workflows, right at the point of care. These leaders
understand that nurses and clinicians do not want to be tethered
to EMR input devices that slow or delay hands‑on patient care.
Through voice‑driven overlay technology, IT teams are moving
the EMR from the sidelines to the front lines of patient care.
SEAMLESS, HANDS-FREE VOICE TECHNOLOGY HAS THE POWER TO MOBILIZE THE CLINICIAN AND THE EMR SYSTEM. THE EMR WILL NOW MOVE AT THE PACE OF THE CLINICAL STAFF.
Interactive voice technology lets patient‑facing clinicians
mobilize the EMR system to make rounds, follow patient activity
and have meaningful, data‑driven conversations by sending and
retrieving patient data, in real time, directly at the point of care,
all with the power of voice.
Empowering clinicians to use conversational speech to navigate,
research and update patient records frees them from keyboard‑
based data entry and improves efficiency of care and accuracy of
documentation. Speed and accuracy of patient data management
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are of paramount importance and impact
both patient outcome and patient overall
satisfaction with their care delivery.
Surveyed clinicians who used voice‑driven
tools in frontline patient care overwhelmingly
agreed (79%) that they are comfortable using
voice technology during patient interaction,
with the majority agreeing that voice‑driven
tools save time, reduced error rates and
improve patient outcomes.
Voice Impacts on Clinical Documentation Improvement (CDI)Voice-driven EMR overlay technology is
at the forefront of clinical documentation
improvement (CDI) providing a real‑time, direct
link from the patient‑facing reporting clinician
to the EMR system. According to healthcare
researchers, “The key to effective coding and
reimbursement starts with complete and
relevant documentation, and that relies on
high‑quality, accessible EMRs.”5
Voice overlay for EMRs puts full voice
communication with the EMR at the point of
clinical care, on the frontlines – no delays in
patient records updates, no risk of transcription
error. Clinician-specific and procedure-specific
workflows ensure that the data required
to administer and report on patient care is
available at the point of care.
Voice overlay solutions seamlessly integrate
with the EMR system and leverage proven
mobile device and Bluetooth® technology to
significantly scale current EMR efficiency gains.
5: “Transition to ICD‑10 codes will be disruptive, but CIOs can help,” by Don Fluckinger, features writer; published 11 July 2011, HealthIT
A Word On Privacy and SecurityHealthcare teams need to balance
technology, patient care and emerging
privacy, compliance and security protocols.
Voice overlay technology is completely
secure with password‑required sign‑on,
ensuring patient data is always private.
Technology is driving the healthcare
industry at a new pace, and mobile, voice‑
driven, patient‑centered solutions will
continue to deliver a greater share of value in
2014. Intelligent EMR voice overlay solutions
allow clinicians to “cut the cord” on tethered
EMR data entry so that the patient becomes
the center of attention, not the technology.
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About the AuthorMaureen Ladouceur is the vice president of
Clinical Solutions for VoiceFirst. Maureen
is responsible for the delivery of clinical
consultative services, account management,
marketing and sales initiatives for Vocollect
Healthcare Systems. As part of her role, she
brings clinical consultative experience in
healthcare, national account strategies and
strategic product management expertise. As
an RN, she blends clinical knowledge with
technological initiatives to help customers
achieve their goals in areas of both quality
and productivity through automation.
Maureen holds an MBA in healthcare finance
and administration from Pennsylvania
State University, a BSN from the University
of Pittsburgh and a certificate in business
strategy from Cornell University.