DOCBUDDY HELPS SURGEONS SAVE TIME WITH QUICK, SIMPLE ACCESS TO VOICE-DRIVEN DOCUMENTATION ON THE GO.
SUMMARY
Hand Surgery Associates (HSA) has been a leading regional hand and arm specialty provider in the Denver, CO, area for more than 46 years. Its six practice locations are designed for a wide variety of hand and upper extremity surgical procedures and immediate care services. Collectively, they welcome approximately 25,000 patient visits per year.
With a team of 10 providers responding to patient needs across area hospitals at any given time, the Hand Surgery Associates providers rely on the flexibility of working on the go with the simplicity of a turnkey workflow solution to address their documenting and data accessibility needs.
CHALLENGE
SOLUTION
RESULTS
- Surgeons are always on call and may need to report to different hospitals at any time
- Surgeons need to access and coordinate information on the go, including scheduling, patient data, and medical history
- Surgeons seek reliable quality control with the flexibility of a mobile app to document remotely
CHALLENGE
- Surgeons are always on call and may need to report to different hospitals at any time
- Surgeons need to access and coordinate information on the go, including scheduling, patient data, and medical history
- Surgeons seek reliable quality control with the flexibility of a mobile app to document remotely
SOLUTION
RESULTS
Dr. Carlton Clinkscales
Hand Surgery Physician
“I have never used a more accurate voice platform. It can be profiled to adapt to different accents and manage variances between microphones. After dictating, I don’t even have to go back and edit my notes. It’s all there in real time.”
Building on a firm foundation in speech technology.
Hand Surgery Associates conducted an initial pilot program to introduce the convenience of dictating clinical and surgical visits on mobile devices and capturing the text in real time. The organization’s 10 hand and arm specialists were already well-versed in the advantages of using Nuance® Dragon Medical for dictation.
They were accustomed to having the ability to speak naturally and at their own pace—using their voice to dictate and navigate through the documentation workflow. Adding the flexibility of remote access was a natural next step to dramatically improving physician satisfaction and productivity.
“It was quite common for our surgeons to be in the office until seven or eight in the evening working on charts,” said Dr. Kavi Sachar, a member of the HSA board. “Easing the documentation process is paramount to physician satisfaction. We didn’t go into the medical profession to sit in front of a computer.
Any time saved is time better spent with patients—and our own families.” HSA sought to further enhance the overall clinical documentation and workflow process, and help their surgeons focus their attention back on patients, by providing a more efficient way to capture their stories at the point of care—all while improving quality and reducing costs.
Seeking renewed freedom and flexibility.
Like many physicians, the providers at HSA were struggling to keep pace with the documentation requirements while being tethered to their computers. However, as surgeons, their challenges were compounded by the fact that they often need access to data from multiple EHRs. While some EHRs have mobile functionality, often it is only available within their customer base, so interoperability is a particularly difficult issue. They needed an agnostic, centralized workflow solution that would allow them to quickly access patient data and documentation—regardless of its location.
“In any given day, I may have surgeries at two different hospitals while still seeing patients in my office. It’s a constant struggle to connect the dots and toggle between systems,” said Dr. Eric Britton, hand surgery physician. “It’s not just keeping up with documentation. To be effective, I need quick and easy access to information such as medical history or scheduling details to determine the next steps of a patient’s care.” These surgeons are accustomed to exacting results with speed and precision. They needed a better way to contend with their circumstances and manage their documentation more effectively, without relying on an army of IT resources to do so.
DocBuddy offers mobility with a simple, secure and intuitive design.
After carefully evaluating their priorities, HSA turned to DocBuddy for mobile cloud-based access to overcome their documentation and workflow challenges. DocBuddy is a cross-platform mobile app, with one intuitive checklist, allowing users to condense all the clicking and typing into one screen.
HSA surgeons can use DocBuddy anywhere they need to—in exam rooms, in offices, or on the go. It offers a single app compatible with both iOS® and Android® devices that integrates seamlessly with their EHR and handles all their EHR workflow needs.
“DocBuddy is a provider’s workflow tool kit that doesn’t look like healthcare technology—the clean user interface is simple and easy to use without a need for training or exhausting IT resources to manage it,” said Andy D’Agostino, CEO of DocBuddy.
“This turnkey workflow solution empowers doctors to spend less time documenting and performing administrative tasks, while giving them simplified access to their data on a mobile device.” The mobile functionality means HSA surgeons are now able to check clinical and surgical schedules, toggle between organizations, and access patient files from a single screen.
DocBuddy delivers secure, intelligent voice-driven experiences.
The DocBuddy solution harnesses Dragon Medical, the most powerful cloud-based speech recognition technology available today. With 99% accuracy out of the gate and automatic accent detection, Dragon Medical embedded in DocBuddy provides secure and accurate real-time medical speech-to-text, text-to-speech, built-in visualization and feedback, voice navigation, and management of voice commands (macros) right inside the app, with anytime, anywhere access through a HITRUST CSF certified platform.
Embedded within the DocBuddy mobile application, Dragon Medical offers secure end-to-end transmission using TLS protocols. It allows users to document more than just subjective dictation; using voice commands, they can also enhance communications between providers through a document sharing and messaging platform. Customizable commands and specialty terminology allow providers to create, add, or edit anything they need—using just their voice. “I have never used a more accurate voice platform,” said Dr. Carlton Clinkscales, hand surgery physician. “It can be profiled to adapt to different accents and manage variances between microphones. After dictating, I don’t even have to go back and edit my notes. It’s all there in real time.”
Offering more control and greater satisfaction.
DocBuddy offers the surgeons at Hand Surgery Associates a powerful combination of mobile documentation and data accessibility. In just a few months, the initial pilot program was adopted as the practice’s standard workflow—giving their surgeons the freedom and flexibility to work more efficiently and effectively within the necessary systems.
The surgeons at HSA were able to assume greater control of patient care—both inside and outside their clinic and operating room. With faster access to critical data and a seamless documentation process that aligns more naturally to the way they work, they save up to 90 minutes per day. No longer having to live their days serving technology means more time to better serve their patients and doing the things they love.
Dr. Sean Griggs
Hand Surgery Physician