MedQuist Receives Distinguished Service Award at AHDI 2010 Convention

MT. LAUREL, N.J., Aug. 12 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- MedQuist Inc., (Nasdaq: MEDQ), a leading provider of medical transcription services and technology-enabled clinical documentation workflow solutions, was honored with the Distinguished Service Award by the Association for Healthcare Documentation Integrity (AHDI) at the 32nd Annual AHDI Convention and Expo held last week in Austin, Texas.  

According to AHDI, the Distinguished Service Award recognizes an organization and/or individual that has demonstrated consistent support of the Association, its goals and objectives, and the clinical documentation profession through services rendered to the industry, sponsorship of AHDI events and projects, and/or contribution of content expertise and leadership in key AHDI initiatives.

MedQuist's long history of thought leadership, support, and commitment of time and resources to AHDI and other professional associations has included:

• Service on industry boards, such as the current chairing of the board of directors of the Clinical Documentation Industry Association (CDIA), formerly Medical Transcription Industry Association (MTIA), by MedQuist Corporate Vice President of Corporate Customer Advocacy Eileen Dwyer, and board membership of MedQuist Co-Chief Operating Officer Michael Clark in the late 1990s;
• Development with other MTIA and American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) board members of the Recommended Standard Unit of Measure (Visual Black Character or VBC) endorsed by AHIMA;
• Sponsorship of the Dictation Best Practices Toolkit with AHDI;
• Implementation of the largest deployment of AHDI research tools within the BenchMark KB^® HIM knowledge base, both domestically and in India (benefiting customers with higher quality, and Medical Transcriptionists with increased productivity, accuracy and professional development through membership within AHDI);
• Numerous presentations on industry best practices and educational sessions about critical industry issues at AHDI and CDIA events;
• Original benefactor and contributor to the Health Story Project, a coalition of transcription, Electronic Health Record system, and health information technology vendors that has developed standard document formats for electronic health data exchange;
• Participation in and contribution to the creation of the Speech Recognition Adoption Guide (2010), and the Ethical Best Practices (2010) guides;
• Charter membership in the Medical Transcription Service Consortium and creation of the Verizon Medical Data Exchange, an NHIN (Nationwide Health Information Network) compliant exchange platform enabling the transport of digital records among hospitals, clinics, and doctors' offices;
• And most recently, contribution to the development of industry-wide clinical documentation Quality Standards that were also announced at the 2010 AHDI convention.

Michael Clark, Co-Chief Operating Officer, who has been instrumental in leading these industry collaborative efforts on behalf of MedQuist, states, "It is a privilege to have worked alongside the many MedQuist employees and committed leaders in an industry that has experienced so much change.  It is rewarding to see that our combined efforts have made a difference — advancing quality and documentation standards for our customers and employees.  Now, we will work even harder to position clinical documentation in the forefront of the adoption of the Electronic Health Record and as a necessary part of demonstrating Meaningful Use."  

Comments MedQuist CEO Peter Masanotti, "We appreciate the leadership of both CDIA and AHDI for the focus and results they have delivered for their constituency and, of course, we're proud of the time, effort and results all MedQuist employees have dedicated to the industry. As the industry leader, we feel compelled to give back, and doing so through AHDI and CDIA is especially important. We are honored to receive this recognition from AHDI."

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.