Philips SpeechMagic Speech Recognition System Being Used in German Hospitals

VIENNA, AUSTRIA - The university hospital of the German state of Saarland and the district hospitals of Rendsburg and Eckernförde in Northern Germany are introducing speech recognition on a hospital-wide scale. Germany is following in the footsteps of Denmark. Vejle Hospital and Kolding Hospital in the Danish county of Vejle have decided to upgrade their digital dictation system to speech recognition, for the creation of medical reports, in all their departments. All hospitals are using the Philips SpeechMagic speech recognition system. Speech Magic has been installed in more than 6,000 sites worldwide. But this is the first time any hospital in Germany has decided to install speech recognition throughout all their departments. "Receiving orders from three hospitals in parallel shows how far speech recognition has advanced in the medical sector," said Marcel Wassink, managing director, Philips Speech Processing. "Hospitals have recognized the cost-saving potential of speech recognition technology. Due to the current restructuring and privatisations taking place in the German public health care system this is an increasingly important aspect." he continued. On the innovative forefront of Europe are two public hospitals in Vejle County, Denmark. The pilot project in the Radiology Department of Vejle Hospital showed a 50 percent decrease in transcription time. This was more than enough to convince these hospitals to take part in a development project to introduce SpeechMagic on a hospital-wide scale and integrate it with their current digital dictation system. In total 400 physicians will be working with SpeechMagic in these two hospitals. "Hospitals expect speech recognition to reduce administrative costs and the time needed to create medical reports," said Björn Aune, regional sales director, Philips Speech Processing. "This will improve the quality of service in all departments, which together with increased cost-efficiency is an important basis for better and faster healthcare for patients, as well as a more efficient public health care system."