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To: GC who wrote (355)	2/22/1999 11:49:00 PM
From: GC	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 767

found more interesting news....... Monday February 22, 9:36 pm Eastern Time Voice-recognition software may ease doctors' ills By Amy Collins NEW YORK, Feb 22 (Reuters) - A start-up Houston company will launch software Tuesday it hopes will change the way doctors keep track of patients by using voice recognition software to make note-taking faster and more accurate. E-DOCS on Tuesday plans to offer its Voice Commander 99, which will transcribe a doctors' dictation with at least 90 percent accuracy, the company's chairman and chief executive officer, Timothy Connolly, told Reuters. As the health care industry becomes increasingly competitive, e-DOCS aims to offer faster and more accurate service to doctors accustomed to dictating their notes over the phone to a transcriptionist. The company's system promises to transform an industry based on audio tapes and tedious typing to one where medical editors rely on voice recognition software, eliminating the need for excessive typing. ''There's such a dramatic shortage of translators,'' Connolly said, describing an industry where the average typist's age is 48 and repetitive stress injury to hands and arms is frequent. Connolly, a former Wall Street investment banker, said e-DOCS expects revenues of $16 million to $20 million in 1999. ''Next year we expect to double that, and then double that again,'' he said, referring to 2001. With e-DOCS, a doctor will speak into a hand-held device hooked up to a computer and the Internet. His words will be turned into text and sent to Houston or Manila where medical transcriptionists will edit the final product before sending the text back to the doctors. In the Manila office, 90 percent of the transcriptionists are Filipino nurses who make more money there than working for a hospital, Connolly said. With the e-DOCS software, the doctor's words appear as text, and any questionable word is highlighted in red. It is then up to the transcriptionist, who acts as more of an editor, to fix the document and send it back to the doctor. Hospitals and medical groups that use e-DOCS get the dedicated computer, training and support for free and get their current per-line transcription rate locked in for three years. The per-line rate averages 12 cents to 15 cents per line, the same as traditional transcription costs. E-DOCS has roughly 5,000 doctors now using its software and expects that number to rise to nearly 29,000 by year-end and nearly 148,000 in 2001 through both organic growth and aggressive acquisition of traditional medical transcription companies and their customer lists. The company guarantees a 24-hour turnaround time and offers 1-hour service for emergency situations. Its promise of accuracy is especially important since hospitals can now be fined for inaccurate translations, Connolly said. Since the software is written specifically for doctors, the vocabulary misunderstandings are more likely to happen on common words, Connolly said. ''The recognition is actually higher in the medical terminology then in (words like) patient and pill,'' he said. Although the software is difficult to adapt to non-native speakers, it can be programmed to recognize speech irregularities of specific doctors who use the equipment. Belgian speech technology company Lernout & Hauspie Speech Products (Nasdaq:LHSPF - news) has invested $5 million in e-DOCS, which planned Monday to acquire two more companies by the end of the day. E-DOCS plans to buy 15 smaller medical transcription companies this year, Connolly said. E-DOCS is moving away from older voice-recognition technology using International Business Machines Corp.'s (NYSE:IBM - news) ViaVoice software. Lernout & Hauspie also has a partnership with MedQuist Inc. (Nasdaq:MEDQ - news), the industry's largest medical transcription company, but they offer either full transcription or voice-transcription without the editing. What e-DOCS offers ''is a combination of both,'' said Chris Force, a spokesman for Lernout. Lernout also targets larger hospitals and different medical specialities than e-DOCS, Force said. E-DOCS.Net announced Monday it changed its name from Applied Voice Recognition Inc. (OTC BB:AVRI - news) and will change its bulletin board ticker symbol to ''EDOC.'' E-DOCs plans to seek a listing on the Nasdaq of American stock exchanges shortly. More Quotes and News: Applied Voice Recognition Inc (OTC BB:AVRI - news) International Business Machines Corp (NYSE:IBM - news) Lernout En Hauspie Speech Products (Nasdaq:LHSPF - news) MedQuist Inc (Nasdaq:MEDQ - news) Related News Categories: health, US Market News Help Copyright © 1999 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. See our Important Disclaimers and Legal Information. Questions or Comments?