Medical transcription is a long-held tradition among many physicians but this trend is just now spreading to many sections of behavioral healthcare thanks to smart speech to text technology. Behave Health is leading the way with HIPAA compliant, hands-free clinical documentation built specifically for addiction treatment providers. 

Today, we will talk about exactly how speech to text works, and how you can use it in your practice. We’ll quantify the amount of time the average mental health professional will save speaking rather than typing clinical documentation. We’ll also share some useful tips and tricks for leveraging this technology at your behavioral health organization.  

What is Speech to Text and Why is it Useful for Creating Clinical Notes in a Mental Health EHR or EMR Program?

Speech to text is also known as voice to text, speech recognition, voice recognition, medical dictation, speech dictation, voice typing, and many other phrases. Each of these terms describes essentially the same function: when you speak into a microphone of some kind, your EHR interprets the sounds into words and records those words into the EMR text field of your choice. 

Behave Health, an EMR designed specifically for the behavioral health community, is pleased to add speech to text as a part of a groundbreaking suite of “smart” enhancements for our all-in-one software solution for mental health, behavioral health and addiction treatment. 

Because We Talk Faster Than We Type, Speech to Text Saves Valuable Clinician Time

Speech to text saves mental health providers time because studies have shown that, no matter how well we type, we all speak faster than we can enter words into a computer manually. When it comes to smartphone typing - which is a great option for busy clinicians on-the-go - the time savings is even more significant. In fact, one study found that speech to text is three times faster than hunting and pecking words into your phone. 

A computer user will also see their typing lag behind what they are able to achieve with speech to text in a behavioral health setting. The average person types somewhere between 35 and 40 words per minute on their computer keyboard while the average speaker utters between 100 and 130 words per minute. 

Speech to Text’s Time Savings Potential is Directly Proportional to the Length of Time it Takes to Type a Note 

The time savings of speech to text for the average behavioral health provider depends on the total amount of time clinicians spend compiling SOAP notes, group notes, individual notes and other ongoing incidental documentation.  

One study of mental health clinicians found that the average progress note takes approximately 8 minutes to complete. Still, that is an average and does not reflect the total time many clinicians actually spend writing clinical notes. The aforementioned study also found that over 22% of mental health clinicians are actually spending more than 10 minutes per note, with some averaging 30 minutes to an hour of work time spent on a single clinical note. 

No wonder so many clinicians involved in mental health and behavioral health experience “resentment and dread” in the face of completing their clinical notes. 

Tips and Tricks for Using Speech to Text for Clinical EMR Notes in Mental Health, Behavioral Health and Addiction Treatment 

While speech to text is a highly intuitive and easy-to-use feature, there is an adjustment period or “learning curve” to making the switch from typing clinical documentation to dictating the majority of your clients’ SOAP notes.

Remember that you can use most devices for speech to text. With Behave Health, you can take full advantage of our speech to text compatible EMR on most devices. Our all-in-one EHR is designed to be used from your computer, laptop, tablet or cellphone. Compatible devices 

Avoid noisy rooms. The quality of your recording device - whether that’s a microphone on your computer or phone, or a stand-alone device - has a big impact on the quality of your speech to text output. Regardless of what microphone you use, speech to text will pick up on the sounds in the room you are in so it’s important to ensure that your work environment is free of extraneous sounds. You can’t listen to music while doing speech to text, nor can you have the tv on. Avoiding rooms with conversation and other distractions is likely not an issue, as confidentiality and privacy laws already require mental health providers to abstain from exposing personal health information (or PHI) to public or semi-public settings. 

Get up. One big advantage to using speech to text for clinical documentation is that clinicians are not tied to their desks while working. Prolonged sitting is proven to be bad for mental and physical health. With speech to text clinical notes, clinicians can choose to sit, stand, walk or even stretch as they complete their work.

Does Your Addiction Treatment Center Want to Get Ahead of the Technology Transformation Curve? Behave Health is Here to Help.

Behave Health is committed to making it easier - and more profitable - to operate evidence-based, results-focused addiction treatment centers. Pioneering the integration of Ai, speech to text and ChatGPT integration is one of the many ways we are working to achieve that mission. 

Our all-in-one EHR puts clinical operations, administration, staff, admissions, alumni, residents, treatment plans, billing, and insurance authorizations at your fingertips in one easy-to-use application.

Get your free trial started today and see why more addiction treatment centers prefer Behave Health.

PS. Just getting started with behavioral health? Need help with certification, too? Behave Health can also help direct you to the right resources for help with Licensing or Accreditation by either The Joint Commission or CARF. Mention to your product specialist that you’re interested in this service after you start your free trial!