3 best practices for delivering speech-to-text

The power of voice output in home care lies not only in the logistics of care services. It lies in the way care is changing the lives of patients and the work experience of doctors noticeably.

“My love for home services is based on the joy I see on the faces of our patients who can continue to live with their families,” said Jamie Brown, vice president of home services for Eden Health in Vancouver, Washington. “[And] My passion is to act as the front line advocate for our doctors. “

The company operates 17 home health, hospice, and home care agencies in six states, enabling a large number of clinical notes and patient care plans. To improve the care documentation process for its doctors – and ultimately for its patients – Eden Health introduced nVoq speech recognition software in PointCare EHR from Homecare Homebase.

“Before our doctors used speech-to-text to document care, they would type hours of documentation for our patients,” says Brown. “On average, our clinicians document the recording 30 minutes faster [than before]. Multiply that by the number of exposures a clinician records in a day and that saves a significant amount of time. “

With nVoq, Eden Health doctors can document care while they are at home with the patient, with the patient, meaning they no longer document care after their scheduled shift.

“That’s good for the bottom line at Eden Health: it means we’re not paying overtime,” says Brown. “I want our clinicians to be able to focus on patient care instead of worrying about spending hours every night documenting in the EHR. With Eden Health we have to do this in 16 different offices in five states. “

You can achieve this with nVoq. Here are three best practices that Brown and the Eden Health team recommend for other agencies using speech-to-text technology.

Choose language software that supports HIPAA compliance

The transition from manual note-taking to voice recognition is more than just asking doctors to use the technology on their phones.

“Siri can help you find the nearest gas station, but it doesn’t support HIPAA compliance,” says Brown.

To help its clinicians, Eden Health had to turn off the voice option on their tablets and smartphones and bring them HIPAA-compliant nVoq technology. Another important benefit of using a voice-to-text tool for home care: the built-in vocabulary for home care and the hospice. That saves time.

Choose a contact person for doctors on site

Eden Health gives them the name, phone number, and email address of someone who can answer their questions to assist on-site doctors as they learn to document using speech to text. This person is also responsible for getting clinicians excited about the software and figuring out how it can benefit them.

Confirm that the patient understands their care plan

Since the doctor documents in real time by voice, the patient can hear at home what he says about the visit and his care plan as well as the plan for the next visit. This is a win, says Brown.

“Documenting care plans by voice also helps us from a regulatory and audit-related perspective,” she adds.

And while HIPAA-compliant speech-to-text tools benefit patients, they also benefit clinicians.

“Eden Health was awarded the Great Place to Work® Certificate for the second year in a row for the period 2020-2021,” said Brown. “However, we have received constant feedback for years that the documentation of the care in the EHR was complicated and takes a lot of time. Investing in speech-to-text helps our clinicians focus on patient care and they are happier as a result. “

This article is sponsored by nVoq. To learn more about how voice-to-text technology can help your agency, visit sayit.nvoq.com.