Nuance Launches Dictaphone Enterprise Speech System Version 8 at AHIMA

Nuance Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: NUAN), introduces version 8 of the Dictaphone Enterprise Speech System, the market leading on-site platform for speech-assisted medical transcription (MT) and real-time electronic clinical documentation. An enhanced version of the Enterprise Workstation (EWS) module is also now available. EWS presents physicians with the option to dictate, self-correct, and electronically sign medical reports in a single-step; the system also provides physicians the option to leverage MT editing support if preferred.

"By delivering both real-time speech capabilities and background-speech-assisted transcription as part of a single on-site platform, we are enabling healthcare provider organizations to address various physician documentation preferences and more importantly reduce the amount of money spent on clinical documentation,” said Peter Durlach, senior vice president of marketing and product strategy, Nuance Healthcare. "The Dictaphone Enterprise Speech System, combined with the Enterprise Workstation helps to streamline the way medical records are created, edited, and signed.”

With the traditional Dictaphone Enterprise Speech System workflow, physicians dictate into a telephone, dictation station, PC-based digital recorder or wireless PDA while background speech recognition technology translates their dictations into highly accurate, formatted draft documents for MTs to review and edit. Now, with version 8 of the Dictaphone Enterprise Speech System physicians have enhanced capability to complete medical reports in real-time by leveraging the upgraded EWS. Through use of EWS, healthcare organizations can significantly reduce costs by creating electronic medical reports at the point of care.

Version 8 of the Dictaphone Enterprise Speech System delivers a variety of significant enhancements, including:

• Enhanced Voice Recognition for Reduced Word Error Rate by up to 30 Percent – Enterprise Workstation is powered by an upgraded Dragon Medical speech engine and offers new language models to significantly reduce user word-error rate, speed report creation and streamline editing.
• Simplified Speech Configuration and Management – Improved administrative capabilities enable health information managers to easily assign clinicians’ dictation for background speech recognition and editing or for another workflow, based on the physician, documentation type and turnaround priority.
• Improved Quality Assurance Workflow – Updated, automated delivery of clinical documents ensure high quality reviews on all medical reports. With the introduction of multiple level review stages, draft documents are automatically sent for evaluation to meet pre-established quality criteria, which is based on individual customer site requirements.
• More Dictation Options – In addition to telephony, PC-based dictation, and wireless PDA, clinicians can now utilize the Olympus DS5000 for mobile, digital dictation capture with voice file uploads directly to the background speech recognition system for MT editing.

The latest version of EWS supports all physician dictation styles, offers multiple medical language models, multi-user voice editing, sophisticated shortcuts and templates, along with other enhanced features. Physicians can easily use EWS from their desktop or notebook computer and can edit using a keyboard, mouse, and standard word processing tools, or with voice editing capabilities can utilize voice commands and microphone controls to navigate the document. Physicians also have the option of hands-free dictation, via a USB headset and foot pedal. EWS also provides remote connectivity, allowing physicians to simply open a browser and connect to a web server to access their profile and speech files.

Version 8 Pricing and Availability

Dictaphone Enterprise Speech System version 8 is being deployed with all new customers and is currently available for upgrade to all existing customers, as is the EWS add-on. Given the current economic climate and capital budget restraints, Nuance Healthcare has also introduced a new set of licensing and payment options for customers upgrading to the Dictaphone Enterprise Speech System and EWS. These options include perpetual software licenses based on a customer’s total transcription volume (instead of the number of dictators) and term license options that provide a pay-as-you-go model that limits the up-front investment sometimes required with the acquisition of new healthcare IT solutions. More information is available from the Nuance Healthcare inside sales team at 1-888-350-4836.

In addition to the on-site Dictaphone Enterprise Speech System, Nuance also offers the market leading eScription on-demand, enterprise-wide computer aided medical transcription platform. Whether a healthcare organization has an in-house staff of MTs or employs a fully outsourced approach to transcription, both the Dictaphone Enterprise Speech System and the eScription platform are proven to deliver reduced document turnaround times, improved document consistency and quality, substantial cost savings and rapid ROI without requiring clinicians to change their dictation workflow. Customers and prospective customers can view both solutions, as well as other Nuance Healthcare Solutions at the Nuance Booth (#1622) at the 2009 AHIMA Convention and Exhibit, October 5-7 in Grapevine, Texas.

Nuance Healthcare

Nuance’s healthcare portfolio of proven, speech-enabled clinical documentation and communication solutions enable healthcare provider organizations to improve financial performance, enhance patient care, and increase patient safety. With more than 3,000 healthcare customers worldwide, Nuance has the experience and solutions that meet the individual needs of any size healthcare provider organization.

Nuance Communications, Inc.

Nuance is a leading provider of speech and imaging solutions for businesses and consumers around the world. Its technologies, applications and services make the user experience more compelling by transforming the way people interact with information and how they create, share and use documents. Every day, millions of users and thousands of businesses experience Nuance’s proven applications and professional services. For more information, please visit www.nuance.com.

Nuance, the Nuance logo, Dictaphone and eScription are trademarks or registered trademarks of Nuance Communications, Inc. or its affiliates in the United States and/or other countries. All other company names or product names may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

The statements in this press release, relating to future plans or future events or services, are forward-looking statements which are subject to specific risks and uncertainties. These could involve particular market trends, competition factors and other risks described in the documents submitted to the US Securities and Exchange Commission. The actual results, events and services may vary significantly from the forecasts. The reader is warned not to rely on these forward-looking statements without reservation, since these are simply reflections of the current situation.