Front-End Speech 2018
Insights from Organizations with the Highest Adoption

Many of the high-adoption organizations interviewed for this study share in the common industry belief that front-end speech recognition tools increase physician fulfillment. Nearly all of these organizations say that speech tools have had an impact on overall physician satisfaction, yet when pressed for details, most point to satisfaction with the speech tools themselves and not specifically to impact on physician job fulfillment or burnout. Respondents report that those who use the solutions nearly universally have a favorable experience and are quick to share that the tools have positively impacted other areas, such as costs and productivity, and respondents can readily cite specifics as to why this is. Provider satisfaction with these solutions is high, and nearly all organizations would choose to purchase these solutions again. Despite this, among the extensive data collected from providers in both the Arch Collaborative and this study, a significant increase in physician job fulfillment does not appear to be a primary benefit of speech recognition tools.

Dolbey

"We spent a lot of time working with the physicians in the beginning to make sure the tool met their needs. We did initial training, and then a representative . . . came to all of our physician offices several months later to do some follow-up training. Once the physicians used Fusion SpeechEMR for a while, they learned to use templates and macros, and . . . could do more of their own things.” —Medical Director

MModal

"To have success in our speech adoption, we first made sure the technology worked. Now we keep the speech recognition as updated as possible. . . . Also, the members on my team do all the local training, which is done at the elbow. If something isn't working with the product, we are there to make things happen. We are aggressive with support, and our users are typically not frustrated with the technology.” —CMIO

Nuance

"We offer a small group training, a one-on-one training, and a customized one-on-one training. For people who are already using any form of the Nuance system, we send a trainer to look at what they are doing and to help them understand the intricacies of Dragon Medical One. . . . [The] training helps them become more efficient. . . . Doing that really helps increase our utilization of Dragon Medical One.” —Physician

Dolbey has done well at establishing high-value relationships with their clients for some time and has led the other speech vendors in this area for several years running. While these relationships are valued among customers, providers feel that Dolbey must put forth further effort to develop and innovate their offerings in order to remain relevant. About a quarter of current customers are at risk of moving to other vendors who, while not as strong in relationships, offer more cutting-edge technology that is better able to meet evolving needs.

MModal’s cloud-based solution, Fluency Direct, is often erroneously viewed by providers as a tool that hasn’t scaled up to support large organizations, with many of these providers looking only to Nuance to meet their needs. KLAS has verified that multiple organizations as large as 3,000 beds are currently using MModal, and many of them are very satisfied with the results. Current users feel that, in addition to good support, the product itself is easy to use, integrates well with other systems, and gives organizations the functionality they desire out of a front-end speech tool. Additionally, providers feel that MModal is committed to delivering new updates to enhance the technology and ensure it continues to meet needs and expectations.

Nuance’s Dragon Medical One cloud-based solution is seen as a leap in improvement over the previous Network Edition. In all metrics that KLAS measures, Dragon Medical One has made significant gains over its predecessor. Technology factors including ease of use, functionality, and overall product quality are all highlighted by high adopters as advantages of the new platform. Dragon Medical One customers have noted better service and support from Nuance and improvements in the general relationship overall, while those organizations on the older Network Edition feel that their experience is deteriorating as Nuance shifts focus to the new product.