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Mobile Healthcare Blog | Carolina Neurosurgery & Spine Implements IQMAX Wireless Technology

July 19th, 2004 | | Posted in Clients, General News |

IQMax announced recently that they have implemented wireless (802.11b) synchronization of dictation voice files and patient/user data through an ASP at Carolina Neurosurgery & Spine Associates (CNSA), located in Charlotte, NC. CNSA is one of the oldest and largest neurosurgical practices in the country. With 16 board-certified or board-eligible neurosurgeons, CNSA provides advanced treatment for the entire spectrum of brain, spine and peripheral nerve disorders, including brain tumors, spine injuries, stroke, epilepsy, birth defects, neck and lower back pain, and pituitary tumors.

The workflow patterns of CNSA practitioners by necessity are mobile. Accordingly, technology solutions that fit the practice's mobility requirements provide a higher level of efficiency. CSNA implemented IQSpeak™, IQMax's PDA-based dictation solution, which provides an efficient means of documenting patient encounters at the point of care. Physicians synchronize IQSpeak™ through wireless technology installed in CNSA facilities. During synchronization, patient schedules and associated demographic data are passed to the physician's PDA and displayed as a schedule in IQSpeak™.

Dictation is concurrently synched for transport through the IQMax IQAnywhere ASP to a remote transcription service provider. To meet HIPAA security guidelines, dictation and patient data are encrypted prior to transport over the Internet to the ASP server and to the transcription provider.

According to CNSA their primary problem, prior to the implementation of IQSpeak™, was turnaround time for transcribed documents. CNSA had rapidly expanded its in-house transcription staff, but was still unable to cost-effectively meet or exceed its 24-hour turnaround requirement. They previously, used a combination of proprietary digital portables and phone-in recordings. Delays in turnaround were impacted by delays in recording the results by physicians as well as the occasional lost dictation.

“The introduction of IQSpeak™ facilitated the use of an outside transcription service that could guarantee 24 hour turnaround,” Mr. Adkison stated. “Additionally, CNSA has not lost any dictations since using IQSpeak™.” Thirty-seven physicians, physician assistants and other clinicians now use the IQMax solution on their PDAs in addition to other third-party applications they have loaded to assist in their patient care.

“Having a single device that provides highly reliable dictation and that can be used for other reference tools has had a significant positive impact on physician workflow,” Mr. Adkison commented. “Merging the patient demographic data from the scheduling system with the dictation files on the PDA has reduced deficiencies while improving the quality of transcribed documents. In addition, the ability to synchronize wirelessly has further enhanced the adoption and efficiency of the dictation process,” he added.

CNSA has recently begun the implementation of IQMax's IQCharge™ mobile charge capture application with a focus on recovering lost fees. IQCharge™ will provide an automated and more detailed PDA based solution for physicians to document procedures, E&M codes and diagnosis codes incurred during hospital rounds and within the clinic.