ScanSoft Teams With Microsoft to Enable Paperless Medical Records

PEABODY, MA - ScanSoft, Inc. (NASDAQ: SSFT), a supplier of imaging, speech and language solutions, announced that ScanSoft and Microsoft have teamed to provide healthcare organizations with a way to implement paperless electronic medical records (EMR) based on the 2003 release of Microsoft Office and Microsoft Office SharePoint Portal Server 2003. ScanSoft's EMR Assistant is a new bundled solution that allows Microsoft Office Word 2003-based healthcare forms to be completed by speech using Dragon NaturallySpeaking and enables the scanning of paper into SharePoint Portal Server 2003, PaperPort desktops and existing EMR systems with ScanSoft PaperPort Pro Office. "The Microsoft Office System is a cost-effective platform for enabling collaboration, streamlining workflow and automating paper-based processes in the healthcare industry," said Ahmad Hashem, global healthcare productivity manager for Microsoft. "The combination of Microsoft Office applications and the ScanSoft imaging and speech solution provides healthcare organizations with a complete framework for implementing paperless medical records, including support for XML connectivity to commercial and in-house EMR systems." The ScanSoft EMR Assistant comprises: Dragon NaturallySpeaking 7 Professional Medical, PaperPort Pro 9 Office, 25 Speech-enabled Healthcare Form Templates and PaperPort Link Agents for Microsoft SharePoint. "Medical practices have historically been slow to adopt automation technologies due to the high cost involved in the purchase and maintenance of the solutions," said Robert Weideman, chief marketing officer at ScanSoft. "The EMR Assistant combines with the 2003 release of Microsoft Office to lower the cost of implementing paperless document processes, using standardized software and hardware that is affordable and easy to maintain." "With the EMR Assistant and the new Microsoft Office products, our practice is able to implement paperless medical records without the IT overhead usually associated with such systems," explains Dr. Eric Fishman of Gold Coast Healthcare in West Palm Beach, Fla.. "The accuracy of the speech recognition within Dragon NaturallySpeaking is impressive, as is its integration with Word 2003. This solution really is a very practical way for organizations to implement an electronic medical record." The ScanSoft EMR Assistant will be available in late October at $1,500 per seat, with quantity discounts available.