MedQuist Signs Agreement Extending Use Of Real-Time Speech Recognition Engine To Wide Range Of Medical Specialties

Company to introduce SpeechQ for General Medicine product line

Mt. Laurel, N.J/PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- MedQuist Inc. (Nasdaq: MEDQ ), a leading provider of technology-enabled clinical documentation services, today announced that it has signed an agreement with Nuance Communications, Inc. (Nuance) under which MedQuist will now license Nuance's SpeechMagic speech recognition engine and processing software for use in SpeechQ of General Medicine™, MedQuist's front-end speech recognition application for all medical disciplines. SpeechMagic currently powers MedQuist's SpeechQ for Radiology™ application, used by thousands of radiologists to streamline the documentation process. SpeechQ eliminates, in most cases, the vast majority of transcription costs while reducing report turnaround time and time spent documenting so that the physician can focus on patient care.

Based on its strong success in radiology and increasing customer demand for real-time interactive speech recognition in many other hospital departments, MedQuist is launching a SpeechQ for General Medicine solution. This software application enables physicians in high-volume dictation specialties such as orthopedics, cardiology, surgery, and many others to realize the benefits of this technology. In addition, within an acute care setting, many report types such as Progress Notes, History & Physicals, Procedure Notes, and Consultations lend themselves to interactive real-time speech recognition workflow. In real-time speech recognition, physicians dictate and self-complete reports in one sequence, bypassing the transcription process. The results include dramatic reductions in cost and turnaround time, while preserving physician preference for detailed narrative documentation.

"Our current and prospective customers have been pressing us for real-time speech solutions outside of radiology, and we are pleased to be positioned now to satisfy that demand," said Peter Masanotti, CEO of MedQuist. "This step is essential to our strategy of offering a full spectrum of cost-saving options for healthcare organizations and putting MedQuist at the forefront of providing easy-to-use solutions assisting physician adoption of their EHRs. That ultimately contributes to improved patient care."

About MedQuist
MedQuist is a leading provider of medical transcription services, and a leader in technology-enabled clinical documentation workflow. MedQuist's enterprise solutions -- including mobile voice capture devices, speech recognition, Web-based workflow platforms, and global network of medical editors -- help healthcare facilities improve patient care, increase physician satisfaction, and lower operational costs. For more information, please visit www.medquist.com .

"Safe Harbor" Statement under the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Statements in this press release regarding MedQuist's business that are not historical facts are "forward-looking statements" that involve risks and uncertainties. Actual outcomes and results may differ materially from what is expressed or forecasted in forward-looking statements. As a result, forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they were made, and the Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

SOURCE MedQuist Inc.