Enter Your Email Address to Receive a
Copy of MedicExhange Member Demograhpics

Changing the Rules of the Communications Game with the Power of Free Speech… and Recognition

Integrating essential functionality at no added cost, peerVue introduces sophisticated voice recognition (VR) and reporting to its QICS (Qualitative Intelligence & Communications System).  Rivaling the capabilities and precision of popular standalone voice applications, the new feature—the first ever free radiology VR application—is based on a custom-developed radiology language model for the Microsoft speech engine API.   It makes QICS a truly unique and robust platform, which complements PACS and RIS, to fully automate radiology workflow, communication and report creation—from critical results, resident over reads and emergency room discrepancy management to radiation dose tracking—while supporting continuous departmental improvements and maximizing revenue.

 “Because voice recognition is such an integral part of modern medical workflow—indeed, of business workflow overall—it was essential to make it an integral part our enhanced QICS platform.  VR has transitioned from a highly specialized, steeply priced offering to a widely available technology resident at no cost in an ever expanding list of devices and operating systems.  This has allowed us to shift our VR from a standalone technology to a far more valuable integrated workflow tool,” explains Kyle Lawton, CEO of peerVue.  “Unlike most vendors, peerVue is not trying to shoehorn essential workflow into an existing VR system.  Instead, we have enabled the leading HIT workflow and communications platform, QICS, to access an existing world-class speech engine and therefore have not added an additional price tag.  Similarly to other applications like PACS and RIS, we have simply created a technological bridge between VR and QICS that was previously lacking.  After this introduction, no one will ever think of voice recognition in the same way!” 

The QICS VR engine, based on the free and widely available Microsoft API engine, will be easy to use, maintain and upgrade.  In addition to its proprietary radiology language model, the new embedded VR system includes an automated method for ensuring ongoing recognition accuracy for individual users.  It features advanced profile management with instantaneous web availability to ensure that users enjoy highly accurate speech recognition from any location.  QICS VR also supports Philips SpeechMike III, customizable and outbound HL7, with other system compatibility to be introduced shortly.

 “In today’s busy medical workplace, physicians increasingly rely on voice recognition for a wide range of applications beyond traditional report dictation,” comments Lawton.  “Prior to this, voice recognition has been a costly add-on requiring complex individual integration into each application.  But with this major introduction, peerVue has changed the rules of the game.

” Designed to bridge the gaps inherent in the multiple healthcare information systems in use today, QICS transforms existing healthcare data into qualitative intelligence used to drive an unlimited range of hospital workflows.  It eliminates the need for workarounds in existing systems and an array of costly, standalone niche systems that fulfill unmet functionalities beyond the scope of HIS, RIS and PACS.  Now, with QICS, even VR will be made seamlessly and universally available for functions from wet reads to critical results findings and inter-and cross-department communications.  In short, the entire array of radiology department written communications will now become VR-enabled with no need to purchase, integrate, administer support or maintain a separate application.

 As part of its automated workflow and closed loop communications, QICS now brings the efficiency of dictation and voice recognition into a wide range of complex, multi-step radiology workflows such as the process of resident over reads and ED exam finalization.  The QICS rules engine, for example, can be configured to notify residents when a new ED-dictated report is added to the system.  While maintaining the report’s prelim status, a resident can use the integrated VR to recognize the dictation and make it available to both the ED and an attending for subsequent over read.  The attending can edit the report using the built-in VR system as needed, finalize it in a single click and send it to the appropriate IT application.  Any reporting discrepancies will be recorded in the QICS for communication to the ED and for Q/A tracking. 

peerVue debuted QICS at RSNA 2010 and ushered in a new category of healthcare workflow management and communications systems.  Already, the peerVue platform been embraced by more than 100 institutions worldwide, including luminary organizations like Parkland Memorial Hospital, Regional Medical Imaging, South Jersey Radiology Associates and Multicare.  It is also distributed globally by industry leading RIS and PACS providers.

Source: peerVue, Inc.