Oncology Hematology Associates of Central Illinois achieves greater productivity with WinScribe

Oncology Hematology Associates of Central Illinois (OHACI) is a comprehensive practice treating patients with cancer and blood diseases. It is one of the largest private oncology practices in the nation and was founded in 1977. Since then, it has grown to include 12 physicians and 39 nurses at 15 different clinic locations and more than 160 employees.

The Challenge - faster report turnaround

With OHACI carrying out around 58,400 examinations a year, time is a scarce commodity. The team works under intense pressure on a daily basis, running to tight deadlines in stressful situations. The number of examinations to be reported, accuracy, speed of transcription and reporting structures are mission critical requirements.

With a backlog of jobs waiting for transcription, lost tapes and poor voice quality resulting in re-dictation, the clinic identified a need for change. The clinic also needed a solution which would allow physicians to dictate from anywhere, over the telephone and using PDA’s. It became clear that the answer would be to replace their traditional tape-based analog dictation system and portables, with a modern approach and a digital dictation system.

The Solution - WinScribe

Ease-of-use
A small team looked at several digital dictation solutions and after considerable research, WinScribe was selected as the preferred system. Tami Arnold, Transcription Co-ordinator, commented, “We looked at several solutions and decided on WinScribe because it was so simple and easy to use.”

The best price
Cost was also a very important factor in the decision process. The WinScribe system was able to offer a flexiblehardware advantage and supports a wide range of manufacturer independent devices, allowing customers to choose dictation and transcription equipment that best suits their environment. Several of the other systems require purchase of proprietary hardware. “The main factor in our decision was ultimately the cost and the fact that WinScribe is compatible with non-proprietary hardware. WinScribe was the best price and also integrates with PDA applications,” said Tami.

Smooth roll-out
The system was rolled out in stages. Initial installation took place in August, 2005 and was rolled out to one physician at a time for 3 or 4 weeks. Reviews took place every thirty days after installation was complete. “I was very surprised at how simple the installation process was. It was all so smooth, thanks to the great support from Nelson Systems. The biggest challenge was gaining the physician’s acceptance. They were concerned about the fact that they dictated into a wireless system and their dictation was gone. We had to give them piece of mind, which they gained after the system was up and running. They were amazed with the results.”

The Results

OHACI has 8 full time transcriptionists using WinScribe; 4 are office-based, 1 works evenings from home and another 3 are remote. There are 17 authors dictating via PDAs, with the ability to use the telephone as another input option.

Increased productivity and fast ROI
The productivity gains were immediate. OHACI now estimates that transcriptionists are transcribing 75% more dictations than previously. “Our turnaround time has decreased dramatically. We are calculating record levels. We have never turned out 279 jobs in a single day. Our turn around time is now between 6-18 hrs, before WinScribe it was about 36 hrs,” says Tami. “We estimate that our return on investment will be less than a year. We also now have no need to fill previously advertised positions for full time typists”.

Employee satisfaction
The transcriptionists also really like using the WinScribe system because of being able to share work. “They like having a work pool with the ability to transcribe multiple dictations from various doctors – being able to listen to different voices makes the day go quicker.”

Future integration
Another major reason for choosing WinScribe was the ability to upgrade with existing and future applications. Authors will shortly be using the latest version of WinScribe’s Medical Pocket Author interface and the system will also be integrated with their PACS system in a few months time.

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