SoftMed Systems Integrates Speech Recognition Into New Hosted Transcription Solution with Dragon NaturallySpeaking from Nuance

Business Wire, April 3, 2006

BURLINGTON, Mass. and SILVER SPRING, Md. -- Top-Ranked HIS Provider Incorporates Leading Speech Recognition Technology into ChartScript.com; Continues Long-Standing Relationship with Nuance

SoftMed Systems, Inc., a leading provider of document creation solutions, and Nuance Communications, Inc. (Nasdaq: NUAN), a leading supplier of speech and imaging solutions, today announced that SoftMed will deploy Nuance's Dragon(TM) NaturallySpeaking(R) SDK (software developers toolkit) to integrate speech recognition capabilities into its new hosted transcription solution, ChartScript.Com(TM). SoftMed will also continue to use Nuance's Dragon NaturallySpeaking SDK to integrate speech recognition into its document management solutions for both server and PC-based applications. Dragon NaturallySpeaking saves healthcare organizations thousands of dollars per doctor each year in reduced or eliminated manual transcription costs by converting speech into text at up to twice the speed of the spoken word, eliminating the high cost and long turnaround time associated with the manual transcription of patient notes.

Since 2004, SoftMed Systems has utilized Nuance's Dragon NaturallySpeaking technologies to add the power of speech recognition to its full suite of document creation and distribution solutions, including its VoiceScript(R) and ChartScript(R) products. Under the new agreement, SoftMed is leveraging the Dragon NaturallySpeaking SDK to integrate speech recognition into ChartScript.Com, a hosted solution for transcription, speech recognition and computer-aided medical transcription. ChartScript.Com enables healthcare facilities and transcription providers to take advantage of the latest in transcription technology without the resource expense and capital investment costs of maintaining a large transcription portal and speech recognition server.

"We are pleased to continue working with Nuance, and look forward to a long-lasting relationship," said Don Segal, CEO of SoftMed Systems. "Our combined technologies help healthcare facilities increase productivity, reduce document turnaround time and decrease transcription costs. This agreement ensures that our clients continue to receive the most robust healthcare management solutions."

SoftMed's integration of Dragon NaturallySpeaking with its document management solutions enables its customers to quickly and painlessly create clinical reports by using their voice - diminishing the need for manual transcription and significantly reducing the costs and turnaround time of creating reports. The integration of the Dragon NaturallySpeaking SDK provides physicians and healthcare providers with the most accurate documentation solution available - and enables them to spend less time on administrative tasks and focus on patient care.

Dragon NaturallySpeaking is the world's leading speech recognition solution, enabling the automatic conversion of speech into text at up to 160 words per minute, and allowing the voice-control of software applications simply by speaking. Nuance's Dragon NaturallySpeaking SDK provides healthcare technology suppliers and integrators with the ability to quickly and easily speech-enable commercial and in-house PC- and Web-based Healthcare Information Systems (HIS) and Electronic Medical Records (EMR) applications, and delivers unrivaled speed and accuracy. Dragon NaturallySpeaking technology can save healthcare organizations thousands of dollars per doctor each year in reduced or eliminated manual transcription costs.

"Speech recognition has become a popular and time-saving technology for healthcare providers, enabling them to dramatically reduce transcription costs and provide faster, more accurate documentation for patient records," said John Shagoury, president, Productivity Applications Division, Nuance. "We're pleased to continue our relationship with SoftMed to provide Dragon NaturallySpeaking as the core speech technology behind its document management solutions, helping healthcare professionals reduce costs and improve the quality of patient care."

Nuance's Dragon Dictation Solutions apply highly accurate speech recognition to intelligent workflow processing solutions in order to reduce the costs associated with manually converting medical dictation into text, estimated at $10 billion in North America and $15 billion worldwide each year. Nuance delivers these solutions through its growing number of channel partners, including healthcare information systems vendors, systems integrators, digital dictation systems vendors and MTSOs. Dragon Dictation Solutions are used worldwide by physicians, records management and medical transcription teams within hospitals, clinics and physician practice organizations, as well as MTSOs to enhance their current transcription services businesses.

About SoftMed Systems, Inc.

SoftMed Systems, Inc. is the focused expert in delivering top-ranked healthcare information solutions. With over 2000 customers, SoftMed enables healthcare providers to enhance their operations, shorten their revenue cycle, improve patient care and achieve an electronic health record solution. Recognized for superior integration with all major IT vendors, SoftMed supports its customers' goals of expediting chart completion, ensuring accurate and timely reimbursements, expediting document imaging, streamlining document creation, and maximizing payor compliance and organizational quality.