Publications

Reprinted from May 2000 issue of "Quotes" published by Quorum Health Group, Inc.

Electronic medical charting is improving efficiencies and reducing costs at Carolinas Hospital System -
Lake City, Lake City, S.C.  

The 48-bed rural facility uses Electronic Medical Records (EMR) which are stored in a computer database.  EMRs allow the user to quickly input information using voice recognition software as well as digital photographs and other multimedia. According to Jeffrey C. Gersbach, M.D., an emergency department physician, the cutting edge technology eliminates costly and time-consuming paperwork while helping physicians create more accurate records and faster access to patient information. This system ultimately improves patient care, noted Dr. Gersbach. 

"Our facility receives many positive compliments about its emergency department records including insurance companies and specialists who request copies of digital photographs for claims or diagnostic purposes," said Pete Bowman, hospital CEO.

Voice Recognition Software Versus a Traditional Transcription Service for Physician
Charting in the ED by Robert G. Zick, MD and Jon Olsen, MD

This study was conducted to compare real-time voice recognition software to a traditional transcription service. Two emergency department (ED) physicians dictated 47 charts using a voice dictation software program and a traditional transcription service. Accuracy, word per minute dictation time and turnaround time were calculated from the data.
The transcription service used in our study was more accurate than the voice recognition program with an accuracy of 99.7 percent versus 98.5 percent for the voice recognition program. The average number of corrections per chart was 2.5 for the voice recognition program and 1.2 for the traditional transcription service. Turnaround time was much better using the computer voice recognition program with an average turnaround time of 3.65 minutes versus a turnaround time of 39.6 minutes for the traditionally transcribed charts. The charts dictated using the voice
recognition program were considerably less costly than the manually transcribed charts. In summary, computer voice recognition is nearly as accurate as traditional transcription, it has a much shorter turnaround time and is less expensive than traditional transcription. We recommend its use as a tool for physician charting in the ED. (Am J Emerg Med 2001; 19:295-298. Copyright © 2001 by W.B. Saunders Company) Read more

Radio Interview

South Carolina Business Review with Dr. Gersbach, CEO of Medamation, Inc. 

Radio Interview first aired on National Public Radio 9/14/00(running time 3 1/2 minutes).