Medical Transcription and Voice Recognition - A Force in the Industry

This past July (2008), Datamonitor, an independent market analyst, released a report discussing medical transcription and voice recognition. The basis of the report revolved around how the need for automated procedures in healthcare are aiding in the growth of voice recognition technology. It reveals that while the technology isn't widespread, medical transcription and voice recognition together enable easy automation which results in significant cost savings.

The Growing Trend of Combining Medical Transcription and Voice Recognition

What has prompted healthcare providers to combine medical transcription and voice recognition? The incorporation stems from tighter budgets and the critical need for the accurate documentation of patient records. Providers are now adopting EHRs (electronic health records) to reduce errors and ensure that data is recorded correctly. By leveraging medical transcription and voice recognition to dictate directly into EHRs, physicians can update information at a much faster rate with fewer errors. This simplified process is proving to be more efficient than illegible handwritten reports, allowing providers to easily identify and resolve errors in diagnosis.

Cutting administrative costs

For transcribers, medical transcription and voice recognition is a winning combination that eases pressure while allowing providers to cut staffing costs. As medical transcription is reported to be a multi-billion dollar industry, voice recognition vendors are taking note and advantage of the demand. This leads analysts at Datamonitor to believe that the market for medical transcription and voice recognition will double over the next five years. As of now, the healthcare industry accounts for 85% of the computer and server-based voice recognition market. Datamonitor estimates that medical transcription and voice recognition has made the combined industry worth nearly $170 million in 2008.

Other specialties utilizing voice recognition

Aside from medical transcription and voice recognition, this technology is also being increasingly used by radiologists that need to dictate reports. Working in controlled environments, radiologists dictate reports with specialized vocabularies that generally use repeated language, making this field a suitable target for voice recognition vendors.

Other industries are looking to develop relationships similar to that of medical transcription and voice recognition. Two of those fields involve assistance with learning different languages and professional legal transcription services. According to Datamonitor, healthcare will continue to be voice recognition's largest market through the year 2013.

Analyzing Datamonitor's report

While predictions are merely that, it's hard to disagree with Datamonitor's findings after witnessing the benefits of medical transcription and voice recognition. The need for cost savings and accuracy in the healthcare industry has opened up new channels for the voice recognition industry. The adoption of this technology is bound to increase as more healthcare providers find ways to seamlessly integrate it and enhance the production of their document process.

Aptly titled "Automating and Enhancing Processes through Voice in Desktop and Back Office Environments," Datamonitor's report outlines the rapid changes in the voice recognition market, explaining what is currently driving it along with the challenges it presents to consumers. It also provides an overview of the industries in which the technology is currently being used, placing emphasis on PC-based services and licenses. As several medical transcribers were once concerned that voice recognition would inevitably replace their jobs, it will definitely be interesting to learn how accurate Datamonitor was with these predictions.