Case Study: Inland’s Improvement

Inland Imaging, headquartered in Spokane, Wash., is comprised of the most comprehensive outpatient diagnostic imaging facilities in the northwestern United States.

With 60 radiologists providing imaging services to 20 hospitals and clinics across eastern Washington and northern Idaho, Inland Imaging produces approximately 600,000 radiology reports each year.

Slow Turnaround Time

Using traditional dictation and transcription processes, Inland Imaging experienced an average report turnaround time of 54 hours – or more than two days. The turnaround lag was attributed mainly to transcription time, but also to such practices as parroting, or dictating previously collected patient- and exam- specific information on each report.

Before radiologists could delve into the findings and conclusions of a case, they were forced to dictate patient information, such as the patient’s history, the technique used to produce the image and even the amount of contrast used. This dictating of information on every case accounted for nearly 30 percent of the radiologist’s time spent on each report.

The organization realized the need to update its dictation and transcription ability with a voice recognition and speech reporting application.

They also knew that to accomplish this, they would need a technology solution that provided reliable voice recognition, standardized reports and the ability to integrate data from third-party sources.

A Development Partnership

Known for its practice of creating development partnerships for technology solutions, Inland Imaging sought out a partner company to develop a solution for its voice recognition needs.

Because Inland Imaging is owned in part by its radiologists, the physicians were very involved in the decision and workflow around information technology (IT).

The company’s IT task force, which was comprised of IT professionals and radiologists representing all of Inland Imaging’s subspecialty areas, looked at a number of systems and companies.

What made Mount Laurel, N.J.-based MedQuist so attractive to Inland Imaging was its welcoming approach to a development partnership. Before Inland Imaging contracted for SpeechQ for Radiology, MedQuist sent its product manager and top engineers to work with Inland Imaging’s IT task force.

During this time, they shared their thoughts on what a development relationship would entail, where MedQuist’s voice recognition product was going and how MedQuist and Inland Imaging could work together to further develop the application.

In November 2005, MedQuist and Inland Imaging officially became development partners for the purpose of installing MedQuist’s SpeechQ for Radiology as Inland Imaging’s primary voice recognition application.

The SpeechQ for Radiology Difference

Inland Imaging immediately recognized the difference between SpeechQ for Radiology and other voice recognition systems. Its superior technology stems from the Phillips SpeechMagic™ engine – an embedded workflow engine – which continuously adapts to speakers, and provides advanced recognition and the flexible SpeechQ for Radiology workflow tools.

SpeechQ for Radiology uses a radiology-specific context; it doesn’t merely learn the speaker’s voice. Instead, it takes the sound in the English language to form a word, then places it into the sentence structure and context of radiology.

This feature of SpeechQ for Radiology was exactly what Inland Imaging wanted. When a radiologist dictates, the system immediately determines which words most likely fit into the radiology lexicon.

SpeechQ for Radiology also easily integrated into Inland Imaging’s PACS and radiology information system workflow. A simple login is all that is required, eliminating the need to log into multiple systems.

And with SpeechQ for Radiology’s “Smart Field” feature, patient order information can pre-populate the radiology report. The radiologist no longer needs to dictate this information into each report.

A Mark of Excellence

Before SpeechQ for Radiology, Inland Imaging’s turnaround time was 54 hours.

Today, it is common for the authenticated radiology report to be electronically delivered to the ordering physician and hospital before the patient has left the radiology department.

Inland Imaging has made substantial progress towards their initial goals of a four-hour turnaround time for routine studies, and two hours for STAT studies. They are currently closing in on these benchmarks through a combination of workflow efficiency gains and the development of their own in-house workflow and routing application.

Inland Imaging’s concern over parroting of patient-specific information was practically solved overnight. SpeechQ for Radiology’s Smart Field feature makes it unnecessary for a radiologist to dictate this information, since it is automatically pre-populated into the report.

SpeechQ for Radiology employs innovative speech recognition technology, as well as advanced workflow flexibility to deliver fast and accurate radiology reporting for Inland Imaging. Combined with MedQuist’s support and development, SpeechQ for Radiology has helped Inland Imaging accelerate its productivity and dramatically improve its turnaround time.

— John Copeland is the chief information officer at Inland Imaging.