Nuance Communications to buy Transcend Services

Boston.com ran an article that announced how Nuance Communications Inc. has intentions to buy Transcend Services Inc. for $300 million.

Here is a quote from the official press release:

“The acquisition of Transcend will expand the delivery of our innovative voice and Clinical Language Understanding solutions especially to small- and mid-size hospitals,” said Janet Dillione, executive vice president and general manager of Nuance’s Healthcare business. “With Transcend, we will drive change and improvement to the way these hospitals capture and leverage clinical information. The acquisition is a natural extension of Nuance’s existing healthcare business, and will strengthen our solution and services portfolio, as well as enhance our profitability.”

Moreover, the article made mention of how Nuance’s speech recognition technology is incorporated into the latest version of the iPhone from Apple Inc., which calls its voice-recognition function Siri. There’s been much speculation that Siri will be a feature of a new edition of the iPad, Apple’s tablet computer. The new version of the iPad is expected to be unveiled today.

IVANS Study Shows EHR Adoption Growing

IVANS, Inc. a national health information exchange, announced in a press release earlier this week that Electronic Health Records (EHRs) and Electronic Medical Records (EMRs) usage is up. Specifically, the study announced that 42 percent of healthcare providers surveyed currently use either EHRs or EMRs systems, however, 39 percent have no plans yet to implement stage one of meaningful use. (Meaningful Use is defined as a provider using certified EHR technology in ways that can be measured significantly, according to The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.)

The press release continued: ‘Stage one of meaningful use sets the baseline for electronic data capture and information sharing. The IVANS study demonstrates it is not enough to simply have an EHR or EMR system in place, but providers must be able to share and use the data in a meaningful manner, or they risk a possible reduction in their Medicare fees or could lose out on financial incentives.’

Additionally, attendees of HIMSS12 at the Venetian Sands Expo Center in Las Vegas, NV, February 20-24, 2012, who visit IVANS Booth #7101 can request a copy of the executive summary.

Click here to read the official press release: IVANS Study Finds EHR Adoption Growing.

CDIA 2012 – Keynote Speaker Announced

Dr. Scott Finley will speak on the “Data Wars: The Role of Expressive Documentation Under Meaningful Use” at Clinical Documentation Industry Association’s (CDIA) 2012 Conference which will be held in Baltimore, MD April 18-21.

Scott Finley, MD, MPH has been designing highly efficient clinical software applications for 25 years. He pioneered a speech-driven graphical user interface in the 1980s, and has developed a variety of innovations in user-centered clinical systems. He currently works on the Veterans Health Administration’s Electronic Health Record (EHR), and directs several government-funded Health IT contracts for Westat, including a project identifying EHR needs specific to children and one related to Clinical Decision Support.

Click here for more information on CDIA’s 2012 Conference Schedule.

AHDI is Now Accepting 2012 Integrity Awards Nominations

In support of AHDI’s professional programs, standards, and best practices, the Association for Healthcare Documentation Integrity conducts an annual awards program to acknowledge the significant contributions of its members and other individuals and organizations that have made an impact on the healthcare documentation sector and medical transcription industry over the previous year.

The following award categories address the areas of contribution that best align with AHDI’s strategic plan, goals, and objectives as an organization.

Member of the Year
Employer of the Year
Educator of the Year
Rising Star Award (Student Essay)
Excellence in Credentialing
Membership Impact
Innovation through Technology
Advocate of the Year

Nominate an individual or company today! Nomination deadline is April 30, 2012. Visit the Integrity Awards web page for complete details and specific nomination forms.

PRN Funding’s 2012 Trade Show Schedule

Curious about PRN Funding’s healthcare factoring services?

Check out our 2012 Trade Show schedule. We’d love to see you if you’re planning on attending any of the shows below:

Trade Show Location Dates Booth #
NAHC Leadership Summit Las Vegas, NV Jan 23-25 303
ACE12 Indianapolis, IN Aug 8-11 108
NPDA Orlando, FL Sept 12-14 TBD
Decision Health Las Vegas, NV Nov 2-4 TBD

An Uncertain Future for Medical Transcription?

The medical transcription factoring specialists at PRN Funding came across a piece of research that we believe is important to share with our Medical Transcription Industry readers.

While the medical transcription invoice funding experts at PRN Funding don’t necessarily agree with all of the conclusions of the cover story, it is thought provoking and definitely an issue that all MTSOs are addressing in the present and in the near future.

Click here to read the article: An Uncertain Future.

As an aside, the results of the study referenced in the article are a “must read” for every MTSO.  AHDI provided a good synopsis of Speech Recognition Errors here: Speech Recognition  Error Rate 800% Greater Than Transcribed Dictation.

2011 AHDI Integrity Award Winners Recently Announced

The Association for Healthcare Documentation Integrity (AHDI) honors members who have supported the professional practice standards and goals that AHDI has developed for advancing the profession and positioning the healthcare documentation and medical transcription sectors for continued relevance in the future of healthcare delivery.

The organization announced the winners at the 33rd Annual Convention and Expo in Phoenix, AZ, and they are:

Educator of the Year – Patricia Stettler, CMT, AHDI-F

Advocate of the Year – Sheryl Williams, CMT, AHDI-F

Employer of the Year – Shumaker Transcription Service

Membership Impact Award – Capital Chapter of Austin, TX

Innovation Through Technology – Christine Tyrrell

Hall of Fame: Member of the Year Award – Kathy Muelker

Rising Star Award – Susan Rovito

Congratulations to all of the nominees and winners!

ACCIM Plans to Certify Medical Scribes

Medical scribe training and accreditation programs have been popping up much more frequently, as the demand for up-to-date EMRs continues to climb. The American College of Clinical Information Managers (ACCIM) has plans to begin a national accreditation program for medical scribes. The ACCIM’s medical scribe program will be carried out online with a certification exam at the conclusion. In addition, the non-for-profit organization will continue to provide resources to the public and scribe programs by following hospital trends and providing information with respect to statements by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services as well as The Joint Commission as they relate to the industry.

More importantly, scribe programs that don’t consistently apply and maintain the minimum standards set forth in the ACCIM’s accreditation program will not be considered certified.

Click here for more information on New Group Seeks to Certify Medical Scribes.

ACE11 Recap

All in all, the Association for Healthcare Documentation Integrity (AHDI) 2011 Conference was a memorable one. Phil Cohen and Taylor Materna represented PRN Funding in booth #406 at ACE11 last week in Phoenix. They had the opportunity to speak with a number of MTSOs about the benefits of medical transcription invoice factoring.

Arriving back in the office today, the two had some overall thoughts to share about their experiences…

  1. They both felt that the show was run incredibly well.
  2. They had a steady stream of traffic at the booth, thanks in part to the Treasure Hunt promotion.
  3. The attendees were ready and willing to engage and learn about transcription factoring.

However, the biggest realization the medical transcription invoice funding specialists walked away with was that CDIA and AHDI need to combine forces and put on one big medical transcription conference in 2013.

Question: What do you think about CDIA and AHDI putting on one medical transcription conference in 2013?

MTChat Moves Back to MTDesk

That’s right! MTChat is moving back to MTDesk.com. The owner of both sites, Lisa Algeo, wrote a guest post on ADVANCE Perspective’s HIM Blog explaining the new change.

Ms. Algeo acquired the site in 2009 from Elsevier when they could no longer commit to running both sites. Ms. Algeo was excited to move the open source online style guide wiki that she has been working on at MT Reference to MTDesk. Over the next two years, MTChat’s forums were not as popular.

At the same time that MTChat participants were dwindling, Ms. Algeo had made significant improvements to the wiki platform being used at MTDesk, and she used that to create active forums on MTDesk.

She said in the blog post: “After reviewing the site statistics for both sites, I felt bringing the discussion forums back to MT Desk would benefit both sites and make it easier for me to manage the forums while continuing to build the reference wiki at MT Desk.”

As for the future, the forums on MTChat will remain active for some time, however, they all will eventually be migrated to MTDesk, and then MTChat will close permanently.

Click here to read Ms. Algeo’s blog post in its entirety: MTChat is Moving Back to MTDesk.

Older Posts
Newer Posts