Transcription is one of the largest expenses that reside within an HIM department. Transcriptionist are becoming more difficult to find, or at least efficient ones are difficult to find. Speech recognition has finally reached the plateau of high quality and reliability. I implemented speech recognition in 2001, initially in the radiology department where I reaped the benefit of an unbelievable reduction of fourteen hours in report turnaround time. I eventually rolled the technology out hospital wide and further reduced report waiting time. Having speech recogniton technology results in reduced transcription costs, significantly improved productivity, physician satisfaction, and improves the service to the most critical asset of the hospital, the patient . DTE can help with you with your transcription and coding initiatives.