Voice recognition technology has freed up more than just providers' time at Inspira Health; it's helped the Mullica, N.J.-based health system save $1 million on an annual basis, according to Tom Pacek.
As vice president of information systems and CIO, Mr. Pacek heads up IT network and information systems efforts at Inspira Health. He joined the health system's leadership team in 2008, and he also serves as president of NJSHINE, a public health information exchange in New Jersey.
Here, Mr. Pacek discusses the return on investment Inspira Health has achieved from implementing a voice recognition solution and how the technology has benefitted providers.
Editor's note: Responses have been lightly edited for clarity and length.
Question: What tech initiative has generated the largest ROI at Inspira Health?
Tom Pacek: By far it has been voice recognition. The technology has allowed our providers to dictate history and physical documentation, progress notes, discharge summaries and operative reports. We reduced our transcription costs by 90 percent, equating to $1 million saved on an annual basis, which has far exceeded the cost to implement and maintain the solution. As the technology has continued to improve over time, so has the quality of the reports delivered.
Q: What initiatives have you taken to improve EMR usability?
TP: Today, enterprise EMRs are generally model coded with limited options to tailor user experience. However, there are some things that can be done to create workflow enhancements for users. We have invested a great deal of time to meet one on one with our medical staff, nurses and additional EMR users to personalize their experience as much as possible.
Inspira has also focused on developing short high-impact videos which are embedded into the workflow and can explain how to do a vital task. These videos ultimately save time for the end user, reduce calls for support and reduce errors, but EMR optimization never really ends. Fortunately, with the introduction of more open system architectures and the use of SMART on Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources, there are increased opportunities to improve interactions with EMRs in the future.
Q: If you could eliminate one of the healthcare industry's biggest technology struggles overnight, which would it be?
TP: Interoperability. While it would be ideal to have everyone in the industry using the same EMR, that is rarely the case. Additionally, patients often do not have all their wellness and medical needs serviced by one provider, one health system or even one payer throughout their lives. That makes putting together the patient's health journey a challenge as the care team must navigate the EMR and other systems to locate all the pertinent information; it is inefficient and frustrating. Interoperability allows end users to stay within their main application — in this case the EMR — and view information from other systems within their existing workflows.
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