MedQuist signs agreement with Nuance Communications

MedQuist Inc. (Nasdaq: MEDQ), a leading provider of technology-enabled clinical documentation services, today announced that it has signed an agreement with Nuance Communications, Inc. (Nuance) under which MedQuist will now license Nuance's SpeechMagic speech recognition engine and processing software for use in SpeechQ of General Medicine(TM), MedQuist's front-end speech recognition application for all medical disciplines. SpeechMagic currently powers MedQuist's SpeechQ for Radiology(TM) application, used by thousands of radiologists to streamline the documentation process. SpeechQ eliminates, in most cases, the vast majority of transcription costs while reducing report turnaround time and time spent documenting so that the physician can focus on patient care.

Based on its strong success in radiology and increasing customer demand for real-time interactive speech recognition in many other hospital departments, MedQuist is launching a SpeechQ for General Medicine solution. This software application enables physicians in high-volume dictation specialties such as orthopedics, cardiology, surgery, and many others to realize the benefits of this technology. In addition, within an acute care setting, many report types such as Progress Notes, History & Physicals, Procedure Notes, and Consultations lend themselves to interactive real-time speech recognition workflow. In real-time speech recognition, physicians dictate and self-complete reports in one sequence, bypassing the transcription process. The results include dramatic reductions in cost and turnaround time, while preserving physician preference for detailed narrative documentation.

"Our current and prospective customers have been pressing us for real-time speech solutions outside of radiology, and we are pleased to be positioned now to satisfy that demand," said Peter Masanotti, CEO of MedQuist. "This step is essential to our strategy of offering a full spectrum of cost-saving options for healthcare organizations and putting MedQuist at the forefront of providing easy-to-use solutions assisting physician adoption of their EHRs. That ultimately contributes to improved patient care."

SOURCE MedQuist Inc.