Nuance and Dictate.it partner for medical speech recognition

Speech-driven patient record management for NHS trust to optimise information flow while saving time and money

2 November 2009, London UK - Nuance Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: NUAN), a leading supplier of speech solutions, today announced an integration and distribution partnership with Dictate.it, one of the UK’s leading medical dictation and transcription software providers. Within the partnership, Dictate.it will incorporate Nuance’s SpeechMagic speech recognition platform into its comprehensive patient record management package for NHS Trusts.

SpeechMagic by Nuance is an information capturing platform which enables healthcare IT system providers to deliver seamlessly integrated digital dictation and speech recognition capabilities to hospitals, clinics, transcription companies and group practices. It is used by health services across the world, enabling increased productivity and better management of patient information.

Working exclusively for the medical sector, Dictate.it has recently been chosen as supplier under a Framework Agreement awarded by Yorkshire and Humberside Collaborative Procurement Hub to provide the complete workflow management system, including digital dictation, speech recognition and outsourced transcription to 200 NHS Trusts across the country. Today, many Trusts still use tape-based dictation methods, which are costly and inefficient. Therefore, Dictate.it looks set to win a significant share of the estimated £20m agreement over the next four years.

“SpeechMagic from Nuance integrates seamlessly into Dictate.it’s workflow management platform. This means that we can offer Trusts exactly what they need – a comprehensive package ensuring that the whole process from dictation of consultation notes to transcription and storing of patient records is conducted and managed quickly and efficiently and brings them one step closer to Electronic Patient Records. The new package enables Trusts to offer a better quality of care, while at the same time saving money”, says Mark Miller, Managing Director, Dictate.it.

“Documentation costs are a significant driver for speech recognition. According to a study done for Nuance by Tribal Consulting, they are estimated at over £1 billion in the UK alone – money which is much better invested in patient care and safety. This is where we see our main contribution to bettering healthcare across the UK by facilitating the large-scale deployment of speech recognition”, says Marcel Wassink, Vice President for Nuance Healthcare in EMEA. “The push towards electronic patient record systems is enabling the adoption of speech recognition. One of the biggest problems implementing electronic patient record systems is that doctors are put in a strait jacket – they have to fill in patient record forms using a keyboard – it is a very laborious way of working and speech recognition can change that”, he added.

About Dictate IT

Dictate.it is a one-stop source of medical transcription, digital dictation and speech recognition services for NHS Trusts, GP practices and private medical groups. The company currently services 70 hospitals in 27 Trusts, covering over 25,100 beds. The company has won 17 of the last 47 contracts for dictation and transcription services put out to tender by the NHS. Devised by practising doctors, Dictate's technologies and services have been specifically developed for the medical sector and its stringent requirements for confidentiality, security, accuracy and reliability. Dictate.it's complete online package features a range of dictation options, including highly encrypted voice files transmitted to and from a server for in-house or out-sourced processing. Direct transmission ensures maximum security. The company has extensive experience in delivering innovative and robust Trust-wide digital dictation and speech recognition solutions. These are underpinned by Dictate's partnership programmes with global providers such as Philips and Nuance Healthcare.

About Nuance Healthcare

Nuance’s Healthcare solutions – used by more than 3000 hospitals and 250 000 physicians worldwide - provide a comprehensive family of speech-driven clinical documentation and communication solutions that enable healthcare provider organisations to reduce operating costs, increase reimbursement, and enhance patient care and safety. For more information about all of Nuance’s Healthcare solutions in the United Kingdom and Ireland, please visit: www.nuance.co.uk/healthcare

About Nuance Communications Inc.

Nuance Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: NUAN) is a leading provider of speech and imaging solutions for businesses and consumers around the world. Its technologies, applications and services make the user experience more compelling by transforming the way people interact with information and how they create, share and use documents. Every day, millions of users and thousands of businesses experience Nuance’s proven applications. For more information, please visit www.nuance.com.

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