MOUNT LAUREL, N.J., March 22 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Memorial Hospital, Belleville, IL, recently purchased MedQuist’s (Pink Sheets: MEDQ.PK) SpeechQ for Radiology(TM) speech recognition system. Memorial Hospital, a 313-bed, full-service medical center located about 20 miles east of St. Louis, MO, purchased the system as another way to improve services for its patients. “SpeechQ for Radiology will enable the hospital to produce radiology reports in a fraction of the time that it takes today,” says Maureen Kelly, marketing manager for MedQuist. “At the same time, the system will significantly reduce costs.”
SpeechQ for Radiology has many innovative features, including Intelligent Speech Interpretation(TM), a feature that detects the habitual insertion of “ums” and “ahs” and other non-speech sounds, and removes them from the report automatically. It also formats text and inserts most punctuation. SpeechQ for Radiology also continuously learns from edits made by the radiologist or an editor. If it recognizes a word incorrectly, for example, the user or an editor corrects the text, which automatically instructs the system to adapt to how that physician says the word. The next time, the system will recognize it. This learning sequence allows the system to customize the speech recognition profiles for each user, without interrupting the physician’s workflow to train the engine.
“SpeechQ for Radiology will allow our radiologists and transcriptionists to complete the medical documentation process much faster,” says Jennifer Meinkoth, Memorial Hospital’s director of health information management. “Our referring physicians and patients will have access to their test results in minutes. The integration between our PACS (Picture Archiving and Communication System) and SpeechQ for Radiology provides a streamlined and seamless workflow for our radiologists.”
Mark Turner, Memorial’s executive vice president and chief operating officer adds, “We are faced with a growing demand for radiology services, more sophisticated procedures and increasingly complex compliance requirements. SpeechQ for Radiology will help us to continue to meet the demands and expectations of our patients, employees and medical staff.”
MedQuist Inc., a member of the Philips Group of Companies, is a leading provider of electronic medical transcription, health information and document management products and services. MedQuist provides document workflow management, digital dictation, speech recognition, mobile dictation devices, Web-based transcription, electronic signature, medical coding products and outsourcing services.
“Safe Harbor” Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Statements in this press release regarding MedQuist’s business which are not historical facts are “forward-looking statements” that involve risks and uncertainties. For a discussion of such risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward- looking statements, see “Risk Factors” in the Company’s Annual Report or Form 10-K for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2002.
MedQuist Inc.
CONTACT: Leeann Essai, Director, Marketing Communications, MedQuist,+1-800-233-3030, lessai@medquist.com
Web site: http://www.medquist.com/