Paul Egerman, CEO of eScription, is dedicated to increasing medical transcription productivity and quality through advanced software solutions. He is also dedicated to upholding his company's core value of customer satisfaction by stressing to eScription employees that they're working in the "people business," not the software or computer business.

A manager in the health care industry for more than 30 years, Egerman said he doesn't know any other industry as dynamic as the combination of software technology with health care.

ADVANCE asked Egerman about his role in a company that prides itself in putting people first. Here are his insights.

ADVANCE: What is your background in the health care industry?

Egerman: I started in the health care industry as a computer programmer in 1971 at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. I was fortunate that, in my first job, I was able to do some pioneering work in computerized medical records, and I used that knowledge to start my first company, IDX Systems. That company was very successful, and we had a public offering in the mid-90s. After that, I tried to retire for a few years, but found I really enjoyed leading a company. As a result I teamed up with Ben Chigier in 1999 to start eScription.

ADVANCE: What was your goal in starting eScription?

Egerman: Initially, Ben and I spent 6 months just watching MTs work. We saw that transcription is an important part of the medical record, but we also saw MTs struggling with terrible technology. We realized that MTs do more than simply transcribe what a physician says-they actually determine what a physician meant. We see the medical transcription industry as an opportunity to utilize advanced technology to assist the very important efforts of MTs. We also saw many hospital executives describe problems with transcription costs and turnaround time.

Ultimately, as entrepreneurs, we realize that our customers' problems represent a business opportunity for us to provide solutions. With this understanding, we've built a national company that focuses on using background speech recognition and other technologies to reduce the cost of medical transcription while also improving turnaround time and quality.

ADVANCE: Someone proclaims every year "The Year of Speech Recognition," but it always seems to be another year or 2 away. Why is that?

Egerman: For nearly 20 years people have been predicting that speech recognition will soon become a reality. I don't think those people understand the technology and its limitations. It's really easy to give impressive demonstrations, but it's much harder to use speech recognition in actual applications. Rather than talk about the technology, it's more important to describe it in terms of the problem that needs to be solved. The real question is, "How can speech recognition technology be useful in health care applications?"

We've successfully used speech recognition technology as an aid to MTs?we don't see it as completely replacing the need for MTs. We think that the implementation of electronic medical records systems will not fully displace requirements for dictation. Dictation is a very convenient method to enter information.

ADVANCE: What endeavors and accomplishments are you most proud of?

Egerman: Of course, I'm proud of the team that we've developed here at eScription, and I'm proud of the company's success. I am particularly proud of eScription's top KLAS rating and feel our approach to sales is a major contributor to that. With speech recognition products it's easy to create a compelling demonstration and to oversell products. We work hard to provide realistic expectations during the sales process; we only sell our existing products, and we don't sell features or concepts that are currently in our development cycle. Personally, I am also proud of my philanthropic and community activities.

ADVANCE: What has been most rewarding and exciting to watch as your company has developed?

Egerman: I am really pleased when I read an industry blog and see an MT say that he/she likes eScription's solution. It's great to see that there are now a group of MTs who really like our company's products and find them to be effective parts of their job.

ADVANCE: What has influenced you the most professionally and in life?

Egerman: I grew up in a single-parent home, and I was influenced greatly by my grandfather. He was a butcher, and he taught me there are two values a butcher needs to be successful. First, a butcher should keep his weights honest, and second, a butcher should learn the names of his customers' children. I understood the first value to mean that I need to always be straightforward with my customers, including admitting my mistakes, and the second value to mean that I'm not in the computer business, I am in the people business.

ADVANCE: Do you have any general comments about the health care industry?

Egerman: Many people like to say that the health care system is broken. I think, however, that there are many opportunities for significant accomplishments in this industry. We work in a great industry with huge potential. There is no limit to what we can accomplish.

Ainsley Maloney is assistant editor at ADVANCE.