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Speech Recognition (Front-End EMR) Segment Highlight 2020
Who Has Shown They Can Deliver Promised Technology?
Author
Boyd Stewart
Author
Emily Paxman
Overall, customer satisfaction is high with the front-end speech recognition solutions from 3M (MModal), Dolbey, and Nuance. Since performance is high across the board, two key factors become important considerations as organizations decide which solution is right for them: (1) scalability— which vendors have proven able to scale to an organization of our size? and (2) delivery of new technology—which vendors have the ability to not just share plans for the future but actually roll out this technology in a successful way (i.e., install it properly, support it well, and ensure user adoption)? This report explores these key differentiators amid a number of notable market changes.
Market Context
In their efforts to ease the documentation burden and help reduce clinician burnout, provider organizations employ a variety of technologies and services, including everything from transcription services to virtual scribes and ambient speech. Still, front-end speech recognition solutions have remained a key component of organizations’ strategies and, when used thoughtfully and deliberately, are found to be worth the investment.
The vendor options in the front-end speech recognition market are strong performers, each earning praise from customers. While high performance has remained constant, the market has undergone significant change over the last several years:
3M (MModal):
Dolbey:
Nuance:
In early 2019, health information management (HIM) giant 3M acquired Best in KLAS speech recognition vendor MModal, rounding out 3M’s well-known portfolio of coding solutions.
To compete with cloud-based solutions from MModal and Nuance, Dolbey released Fusion Narrate, which currently has a steadily growing base of mostly small hospitals and ambulatory clinics. Scalability for larger organizations has yet to be proven.
The go-forward solution from market share leader Nuance is now Dragon Medical One, though some customers still use the older Dragon Medical NE. The newer product is considered an improvement by customers, and adoption has grown quickly.
Contact Information
Provider organizations and front-end speech recognition vendors wishing to engage with KLAS further on this topic should contact Boyd Stewart or Emily Paxman.
Market Overview
New Products and Improved Usability Contribute to Increased Satisfaction for Nuance and Dolbey Customers
Nuance customers continue to be satisfied with Dragon Medical One, which is rated roughly five points higher (on a 100-point scale) than Nuance’s older Dragon Medical NE. Higher satisfaction with the newer product is due largely to its strong usability, which drives faster speed-to-value. Customers indicate that their relationship with Nuance (which has historically been a weak point) is showing early signs of improvement—Nuance has become more of a partner, providing stronger project management and more direct communication to manage customer expectations. Dolbey Fusion SpeechEMR customers—who tend to be midsize organizations—also report satisfaction improvements driven by improved ease of use. In addition, the vendor has improved the customer experience by increasing customer access to Dolbey personnel, furthering an already positive support experience. Customers would like more communication about Dolbey’s road map and more help driving adoption after the go-live. Perceptions of Dolbey’s new cloud-based Fusion Narrate product are positive, and early adopters are excited about the move to the cloud.
3M Delivers Both Scalability and New Technology
Product delivery continues to be a key strength for 3M (MModal) thanks to a strong focus on training and adoption, account management, and keeping promises. 3M is perceived as a strong developer that keeps pace with customer needs. Additionally, 3M’s integration is rated high across users of all major EMR vendors; there are no significant satisfaction differences between Cerner and Epic customers. Nuance, however, is perceived as having a more innovative vision and as doing a good job of sharing with customers their vision for the future of speech recognition. Their ability to successfully deliver this type of innovation is where customers would like to see improvement. Newly live customers report delayed realization of value and promised technology due to weaker implementations and training. From an integration perspective, Nuance has strong EMR relationships that drive high customer satisfaction in this area.
What Do Customers Say about Vendor Delivery?
“3M (MModal) gives us a really good service. The system does its job, and that is why providers sign up for it more than any of our other services or products. I see MModal Fluency Direct as the future of our enterprise. It is the technology that is going to really help patients spend less time in the hospital and help providers get documentation done faster because it gets done in real time.” —Analyst
“Whenever I run into a problem with creating shortcuts or knowing what to do, Dolbey’s customer service team is excellent about arranging times to call me and either fix shortcuts or help me create shortcuts that I couldn’t figure out how to create on my own. I know exactly who I would reach out to at Dolbey if I had a problem.” —Quality Director
“We continue to be really excited to work with Nuance. Nuance is looking ahead to the future. They are looking in the direction of where healthcare is headed and trying to get there before everybody else. It is exciting to partner with them and do things with them. . . . When we started out with the product, we weren’t sure how to use it. If we had set it up correctly the first time, the whole process would have been easier.” —Director
Designer
Natalie Jamison
Project Manager
Robert Ellis
This material is copyrighted. Any organization gaining unauthorized access to this report will be liable to compensate KLAS for the full retail price. Please see the KLAS DATA USE POLICY for information regarding use of this report. © 2024 KLAS Research, LLC. All Rights Reserved. NOTE: Performance scores may change significantly when including newly interviewed provider organizations, especially when added to a smaller sample size like in emerging markets with a small number of live clients. The findings presented are not meant to be conclusive data for an entire client base.