Interfaces with Epic EHR, Reaps Dramatic Cost Savings

FORT LAUDERDALE, FL – October 29, 2014 – Singing River Health System (SRHS) has selected AbbaDox dictation-transcription services for seamless processing and delivery of physician reports into the hospital’s Epic electronic health record (EHR) system. The multi-site hospital system in the Ocean Springs/Pascagoula, MS area sought a cost-effective enterprise-wide dictation-transcription technology platform and services that would mimic existing physician workflow and eliminate the cost and upkeep of their aging technology. IDS provided turnkey, maintenance-free cloud-based technologies that supported these goals throughout the hospital’s two main facilities as well as numerous outpatient locations.

“As a result of IDS implementation, we expect to pare down our transcription costs from about $200,000 to $20,000 during the first year by eliminating system maintenance and minimizing transcriptionist costs,” says Kory Hudson, MBA, director of IT and HIM for the hospital system. “We have already realized significant savings during the first several weeks of operation.”

“IDS is extremely pleased to help Singing River leverage our leading edge technology platform to bring new efficiency and cost-effectiveness to its physician dictation and EHR communications process,” says Yaniv Dagan, CEO of IDS. “This installation illustrates the growing role of cloud-based applications in replacing on-premise technologies to yield new logistical and operational efficiencies.”

Hudson explains that the AbbaDox transcription service replaces a prior cumbersome high-volume analog transcription platform. That platform was no longer necessary once the Epic system enabled direct physician input of information into its database. However a significant number of hospital physicians continued to prefer to dictate data. Addressing this through the existing dictation-transcription set up was extremely costly. According to Hudson, IDS was the only vendor willing to rise to the challenge of implementing a new service that would closely match existing workflows to make the project a success.

Today, IDS AbbaDox cloud servers and digital communications replace onsite servers and analog phone cards and lines, boosting efficiency and paring down costs. To dictate patient histories, physical exam results, progress notes and more, physicians utilize their familiar call-in numbers and the same telephone prompts as before. SRHS voice files are then routed to AbbaDox cloud dictation servers for transcription by live, offsite IDS transcriptionists. When completed, the final reports are seamlessly uploaded to the onsite Epic EHR to auto-populate the appropriate fields. Doctors sign off on information through the EHR.

The AbbaDox service also offers flexible pricing structure. This has enabled SRHS to pare down its outsourced transcriptionist contracts and in-house staff. “Additional services such as front-end voice recognition can be added in the future as needed,” notes Hudson. “The IDS service can grow with us, and I absolutely can see us expanding as our needs grow.”

“The new transcription service has not received a single negative comment—and that speaks volumes,” he concludes. “Everything has been transparent to users, while behind the scenes we take advantage of streamlined processes, less maintenance, more flexibility and lower costs—all due to IDS.”