Dragon Medical Case Study

1. DRA GO N MEDIC A L P RA C TICE EDITION
MICHIGAN CORNEA CONSULTANTS
SIGNIFICANTLY REDUCES COSTS
AND IMPROVES RESPONSIVENESS
“ really didn’t know how this would work out
I
for us. But Dragon Medical has exceeded
Michigan Cornea
our expectations. It’s a pleasure to use.”.”
Consultants
— Dr. Steven P. Dunn, M.D.
CHALLENGE MICHIGAN CORNEA CONSULTANTS USES
DRAGON MEDICAL PRACTICE EDITION
Replace an inefficient process and eliminate
TO REDUCE COSTS AND SIGNIFICANTLY
$35,000 in annual transcription expenses
IMPROVE RESPONSIVENESS TO REFERRING
PHYSICIANS
Michigan Cornea Consultants is a sub-specialist
SOLUTION practice focused on treating corneal and external
Use Dragon Medical Practice Edition diseases involving the external eye, cornea,
speech recognition to quickly create complete, iris and lens. Most patients are referred by an
real-time patient notes and consult letters ophthalmologist or optometrist, though on
occasion patients may be seen at the request
of internists, dermatologists or rheumatologists.
RESULTS Three full-time physicians serve patients at
offices in Southfield, Warren, and Dearborn,
Dragon Medical Practice Edition is now used
Michigan.
by all three physicians within the practice to
create high quality documentation unique to
The practice has deployed real-time speech
each patient encounter. Significant annual cost
recognition to improve clinical workflow. Cost
savings include $35,000 in transcription costs.
savings and dramatically higher levels of service
Macros and templates reduce the time it takes
to patients and responsiveness to referring
to enter patient information, which means
physicians are among the benefits Michigan
physicians don’t have to take work home with
Cornea Consultants have seen. Recently, all
them in the evening and referring physicians
three physicians in the practice upgraded to
are extremely pleased with the quality and
Dragon® Medical Practice Edition.
timeliness of the notes they receive from
Michigan Cornea Consultants immediately
following a patient visit.
H E A LT H C A R E

2. DRA GO N MEDIC A L P RA C TICE EDITION
HIGH TRANSCRIPTION COSTS, insurance companies and procedural notes.
SLOW TURNAROUND He also created speech macros to simplify the
Prior to implementing Dragon Medical, Michigan entry of data into these templates. For example,
Cornea Consultants used hand-held recorders when completing a consult letter designed to
and a transcription service to complete letters to communicate to the referring physician, the
referring physicians. This method of producing doctors can state the referring physician’s name
letters cost the practice more than $35,000 each and custom programming automatically supplies
year in labor expense. The turnaround time was the correct address from Microsoft Outlook®.
also unacceptably slow. Physicians had to wait
one to two days to receive their notes back from “Paul coordinated our entire set up,” said
the transcription service before they could review Dr. Dunn, “he oversaw the entire implementation
and sign off on them. Steven P. Dunn, M.D. in our office and made it very smooth for us.”
recalled, “We needed quicker turnaround time.”
GETTING UP TO SPEED
THE SOLUTION: SPEECH RECOGNITION Additionally, Rochlen trained the physicians in
TECHNOLOGY the use of Dragon Medical and continues to
One of the three physician partners, Dr. Christopher provide ongoing support. As Dr. Dunn recalls,
Chow, began using Dragon Medical in 2003 “Paul had us read scripts to train Dragon Medical
to eliminate transcription costs and speed to recognize our voices. This process also taught
turnaround of his referral notes. Dr. Chow was so us to enunciate for better recognition. Because
pleased with the solution that the other partners of this training, we were very skillful with the
soon adopted Dragon Medical as well. product after just a few weeks.”
The practice has been using this solution ever
since, recently upgrading to the latest version, The practice was initially uncertain about how
Dragon Medical Practice Edition. well speech recognition would work for them,
but use of the system has turned out to be a very
THE IMPLEMENTATION positive experience. “When we started looking
at speech recognition systems, we got a mixture
Paul Rochlen of Empowerment Systems, an
of positive and negative reports,” Dr. Dunn says.
authorized value-added Dragon Medical reseller,
“I really didn’t know how this would work out
assisted the practice with the implementation
for us. But Dragon Medical has exceeded our
and use of their Dragon Medical software right
expectations. It’s a pleasure to use.”
from the start. Rochlen set up the hardware (e.g.
microphones and computers) and installed the
REDUCING COSTS
Dragon Medical software giving the physicians
the capability of dictating directly into Microsoft® Since all three partners have been using
Word and the option of using a digital recorder Dragon Medical, the practice has eliminated
and then later transcribing their dictation. the ongoing labor and technology costs of a
transcription service. This approach has saved
Rochlen created Microsoft Word® templates the practice roughly $35,000 per year, an
for various types of exams and procedures ongoing financial benefit.
that the physicians regularly perform. These
included consultations and progress reports
to referring physicians as well as letters to
H E A LT H C A R E

3. DRA GO N MEDIC A L P RA C TICE EDITION
SPEEDING DATA ENTRY Referring physicians are very impressed. As
Another tremendous benefit has been the consultants, we’re in a service industry. And
physician time savings Dragon Medical Practice providing information that will either answer
Edition has delivered as it helps them complete the referring physician’s question or help with a
their notes. Dr. Dunn uses 15 templates along patient’s continued care has a beneficial effect
with associated macros to speed the process of in terms of physicians’ willingness to send
entering information. For example, one template additional patients in the future.”
contains a large amount of standard text and
patient-specific numbers. Dr. Dunn simply says BETTER PATIENT SERVICE
“next” to get to the point where he can enter the Patients also need consult letters from time
next set of numbers without the need to dictate to time for claims and benefits purposes, and
the intervening text. He only needs to dictate the Dragon Medical Practice Edition helps with that
25 percent of free form text that represents his as well. As Dr. Dunn explains, “We don’t always
assessment. “This process really speeds things know if patients need letters in advance. With
along,” Dr. Dunn says. Dragon Medical Practice Edition, we can dictate
the letter on the spot and give it to the patient
Overall, the use of templates and macros with right then and there. It’s allowed us to improve
Dragon Medical Practice Edition has cut the time patient satisfaction.”
it takes to dictate letters to referring physicians
in half. “On average, I used to complete four to ENHANCING ACCESS TO PATIENT
five letters per hour. Now it takes about five to INFORMATION
seven minutes for me to create each consultation Another benefit of using Dragon Medical Practice
report,” says Dr. Dunn. Edition to create letters is that the physician
can use the stored documents as a de facto
IMPROVING WORK-LIFE BALANCE electronic medical record. “Although we don’t
Because completing the initial consultation and have an EMR, because I store all the letters I
follow-up reports is so much faster, the partners write using Dragon Medical Practice Edition on
have improved their work-life balance. As Dr. my hard drive, if someone calls, I can easily go
Dunn explained, “because I can get more done to my computer and pull up the letter,” says Dr.
at the office, I don’t have to drag charts home.” Dunn. “I can get my hands on information about
any major issues with a patient while the front
FAST TURNAROUND IMPRESSES office is looking for the chart. It’s like having an
REFERRING PHYSICIANS extensive medical record at my fingertips.”
Turnaround time is also quicker. Instead of having
to wait one to two days for the transcription A HIGH DEGREE OF SATISFACTION
service to return the letters and reports, Dragon Michigan Cornea Consultants has been very
Medical Practice Edition allows physicians satisfied with Dragon Medical Practice Edition.
to create the letters and reports instantly for “It’s a great, highly flexible product and I enjoy
immediate review. using it,” said Dr. Dunn. “We’re very dependent
on it in a positive way to get our dictation done. It
“Because of the instant turnaround time,” does a nice job.”
says Dr. Dunn, “I can send a letter back to the
referring physician as soon as I finish the exam.
H E A LT H C A R E

4. DRA GO N MEDIC A L P RA C TICE EDITION
L-3528 7/12 DTM
The practice has already recommended the
product to other practices. “We’ve talked to other
practices and encouraged them to look at it
seriously,” said Dunn.
HIGHLIGHTS
• ll three physicians in the practice currently use
A
Dragon Medical Practice Edition
• 35,000 in ongoing, annual transcription
$
expenses have been eliminated
• emplates and macros within Dragon Medical
T
Practice Edition allow the physicians to cut the
time it takes to send out letters and reports to
other physicians in half
• aster creation of letters and reports improves
F
work-life balance
• eferring physicians are extremely pleased that
R
they receive notes immediately from Michigan
Cornea Consultants
• eady retrieval of referral letters stored on the
R
physician’s desktop computer improves access
to patient information
• hysician satisfaction at Michigan Cornea
P
Consultants has improved through the use of
Dragon Medical
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H E A LT H C A R E