3M and Nuance Team to Deliver Computer-Assisted Physician Documentation

Healthcare IT Leaders Announce Breakthrough Technology for Clinical Documentation Improvement; CLU-Powered, ICD-10-Ready Solution to Set Industry Standard for Accuracy and Efficiency

SALT LAKE CITY & BURLINGTON, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--3M Health Information Systems and Nuance Communications, Inc., today announced a broad strategic partnership to deliver Computer-Assisted Physician Documentation, a next generation, ICD-10-ready clinical documentation improvement (CDI) solution. Powered by Nuance’s advanced speech recognition and Clinical Language Understanding (CLU) technologies, and integrating 3M’s extensive CDI content and expertise, Computer-Assisted Physician Documentation (CAPD) represents a major leap forward in technology to streamline clinical workflow, increase coding accuracy and efficiency, and meet complex ICD-10 documentation requirements.

“The combined capabilities of Nuance and 3M will uniquely enable clinical documentation improvement at the point-of-dictation. Our shared focus is on helping healthcare organizations create ICD-10-ready clinical documentation that will streamline coding, reimbursement and drive financial performance.”

Using CAPD, healthcare organizations can accelerate the transition to ICD-10, the new medical coding standard mandated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for implementation in October 2013. By combining Nuance’s intelligent CLU capabilities with 3M’s experience in developing and implementing ICD-10 coding products and services worldwide, the companies will deliver the industry’s first comprehensive solution for determining if documentation has enough specificity to meet ICD-10 guidelines. CAPD can significantly reduce the time and resources needed to prepare physicians for ICD-10.

“Healthcare reform, changes in reimbursement and quality reporting, and now ICD-10 are presenting huge challenges to physicians in how they document the patient episode,” said Jon T. Lindekugel, President, 3M Health Information Systems. “CAPD is a breakthrough technology that will help physicians capture complete and accurate clinical documentation while saving time and reducing costs. Achieving documentation best practices can have a profound impact on a healthcare organization’s efficiency, quality of care, reputation, and profitability.”

CAPD will support physicians through the entire clinical documentation process, providing instant access to information needed to capture the entire patient encounter. As part of the CAPD workflow, clinicians will be able to use speech-recognized dictation to document in their own words, preserving the unique patient story while also incorporating relevant structured data. During dictation, CDI prompts will alert physicians when more specific information is required, making it possible to add data and correct documentation immediately. CAPD will help generate sufficient detail for both ICD-9 and ICD-10 coding, and promote documentation accuracy to reduce audit risk and support regulatory compliance. The streamlined process is designed to reduce documentation inquiries from coders and CDI staff, bringing greater efficiencies to clinical workflow so physicians can focus on patient care.

Nuance customers using Dragon^® Medical, eScription^® or Dictaphone^® Enterprise Speech System, and clients using 3M^™ ChartScript^™ Software and 3M^™ ChartScriptMD^™ Software will have the option to purchase the new CAPD solution.

“High-quality clinical documentation is a driving force behind clinical, business and compliance decisions. By transforming healthcare organizations’ clinical data into actionable information, we are delivering a new level of medical intelligence that, in the case of Computer-Assisted Physician Documentation, will not only bring substantial improvements to physician workflow; it also will facilitate more precise and complete coding and more accurate claims,” said Janet Dillione, executive vice president and general manager, Nuance Healthcare. “The combined capabilities of Nuance and 3M will uniquely enable clinical documentation improvement at the point-of-dictation. Our shared focus is on helping healthcare organizations create ICD-10-ready clinical documentation that will streamline coding, reimbursement and drive financial performance.”

As part of the agreement, 3M will also license Nuance’s CLU technology to advance its computer-assisted coding products for inpatient and physician-based coding. The enhanced technology will streamline coding workflow, improve coder productivity under ICD-10, and support integration of 3M’s market-leading coding technology with its suite of mobile physician software applications.

3M and Nuance will be demonstrating CAPD at the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) annual conference and exhibition (Nuance booth #2744 and 3M booth #3547), scheduled for February 20-24 in Orlando, Fla. The companies expect the CAPD solution to be released in the fall of 2011.

3M Health Information Systems

3M Health Information Systems delivers comprehensive software and consulting services to help organizations worldwide improve clinical documentation, quality, and financial performance across the healthcare continuum. 3M offers integrated solutions for medical records coding, ICD-10, dictation and transcription, speech recognition, clinical documentation improvement, quality, and data standardization and vocabularies, effectively meeting the industry’s changing needs. With more than 25 years of healthcare experience and expertise, 3M works as a trusted and stable business partner to provide reliable implementation, training, and support services. www.3Mhis.com

Nuance Healthcare

In the era of Accountable Healthcare, where there is shared responsibility for the quality and cost of patient care, Nuance Healthcare’s portfolio of Medical Intelligence solutions empower healthcare provider organizations, payers and individual physicians worldwide to deliver higher quality care, improve financial performance and enhance compliance efforts. Nuance Healthcare employs a range of technologies and services as part of its full portfolio – speech recognition, clinical language understanding, decision support, test results management and data analysis. For additional information on Nuance’s healthcare IT solutions visit: http://www.nuance.com/for-healthcare/index.htm

3M is a trademark of 3M Company.

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