3M and Nuance Team to Deliver Computer-Assisted Physician Documentation
3M Health Information Systems and Nuance Communications have entered a broad strategic partnership to deliver Computer-Assisted Physician Documentation, a next generation, ICD-10-ready clinical documentation improvement (CDI) solution. This solution is powered by Nuance’s advanced speech recognition and Clinical Language Understanding (CLU) technologies and integrates 3M’s extensive CDI content and expertise.
Using CAPD, healthcare organizations can accelerate the transition to ICD-10, the new medical coding standard mandated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for implementation in October 2013. By combining Nuance’s intelligent CLU capabilities with 3M’s experience in developing and implementing ICD-10 coding products and services worldwide, the companies will deliver the industry’s first comprehensive solution for determining if documentation has enough specificity to meet ICD-10 guidelines.
“Healthcare reform, changes in reimbursement and quality reporting, and now ICD-10 are presenting huge challenges to physicians in how they document the patient episode,” said Jon Lindekugel, president of 3M Health Information Systems. “CAPD is a breakthrough technology that will help physicians capture complete and accurate clinical documentation while saving time and reducing costs. Achieving documentation best practices can have a profound impact on a healthcare organization’s efficiency, quality of care, reputation, and profitability.”
CAPD will support physicians through the entire clinical documentation process, providing instant access to information needed to capture the entire patient encounter. As part of the CAPD workflow, clinicians will be able to use speech-recognized dictation to document in their own words, preserving the unique patient story while also incorporating relevant structured data. During dictation, CDI prompts will alert physicians when more specific information is required, making it possible to add data and correct documentation immediately. CAPD will help generate sufficient detail for both ICD-9 and ICD-10 coding, and promote documentation accuracy to reduce audit risk and support regulatory compliance. The streamlined process is designed to reduce documentation inquiries from coders and CDI staff, bringing greater efficiencies to clinical workflow so physicians can focus on patient care.
Nuance customers using Dragon Medical, eScription, or Dictaphone Enterprise Speech System, and clients using 3M ChartScript Software and 3M ChartScriptMD Software will have the option to purchase the new CAPD solution.
“High-quality clinical documentation is a driving force behind clinical, business and compliance decisions. By transforming healthcare organizations’ clinical data into actionable information, we are delivering a new level of medical intelligence that, in the case of Computer-Assisted Physician Documentation, will not only bring substantial improvements to physician workflow; it also will facilitate more precise and complete coding and more accurate claims,” said Janet Dillione, executive vice president and general manager of Nuance Healthcare. “The combined capabilities of Nuance and 3M will uniquely enable clinical documentation improvement at the point-of-dictation. Our shared focus is on helping healthcare organizations create ICD-10-ready clinical documentation that will streamline coding, reimbursement and drive financial performance.”
As part of the agreement, 3M will also license Nuance’s CLU technology to advance its computer-assisted coding products for inpatient and physician-based coding. The enhanced technology will streamline coding workflow, improve coder productivity under ICD-10, and support integration of 3M’s market-leading coding technology with its suite of mobile physician software applications.