Philips adds the magic of speech to Spain's healthcare
by
Cathy McKnight
on Thu 04 Jan 2007 11:53 AM EST
Royal Philips Electronics announced that Agencia Valenciana de la Salut, a member of the healthcare council in Spain's Valencia region, has chosen SpeechMagic to optimize its Radiology Information System (RIS) with speech recognition.
Integrating SpeechMagic with the region's Java-based RIS is another step towards harmonizing the healthcare sector's IT infrastructure, by easing information capturing and improving reporting efficiency. This is the fourth region-wide success for Philips' industrial grade speech recognition technology SpeechMagic within the last six months, following similar projects in France, Norway and Spain's Castilla La Mancha region.
The Valencia region is home to approximately 10 percent of Spain's total population (4.9 million people). The region's 47 hospitals and policlinics count more than 400,000 stays per year. The Valencia Healthcare Council is implementing, across the region, a universal Java-based RIS, thus sharing a common platform for management of radiology consultations. This RIS will now be enhanced with speech recognition, a project which will be realized through Philips Speech Recognition System's integration partner, New Doors.
Dr. Miguel Chavarría Díaz, director of the technical committee and the radiology IT director at Hospital La Fé in Valencia explained: "Around 100 radiologists in the region have so far been using speech recognition integrated with their own document creation solution or Picture Archiving and Communications System (PACS). We will now provide a common platform throughout the region, thus easing software administration and adding to working flexibility, as radiologists will find a familiar system throughout all hospitals in our region. After the development of a region-wide RIS, speech recognition was the next step in order to improve healthcare efficiency, and the speed and quality of care."
Approximately 50 percent of Spain's radiologists have adopted speech recognition technology as part of their front-end workflow. Now the radiologists in Valencia will join their colleagues throughout the country to benefit from faster, simplified report creation.
Philips SpeechMagic is implemented in more than 8,000 sites in 45 nations and has seen uninterrupted adoption - first on a departmental level, then in hospital-wide installations and in recent months throughout entire healthcare regions.
