Our initial target market will be the orthopedist in the medical industry, (see definition of orthopedist below.) This market has been chosen due to:
There are approximately 15,000 practicing orthopedist in the United States. This represents a potential £212 million market in Electronic medical records.
We will concentrate our speech recognition solutions to subspecialty orthopedist. These orthopedist are required to dictate extensive referral letters. These physicians have reported transcription costs ranging from £5,000 to £20,000 per year. The savings in these transcription costs, as well as our current visibility in this market, make this an integral part of our overall strategy.
Definition - The orthopedic industry is served by two specialties.
We are aware of Health Insurance Portability & Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) activity in regulating patient privacy rules. The need for an industry standard for patient confidentiality has not been developed. We intend to be active with industry efforts to establish a standard, and to keep abreast of regulatory activities within U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) and HIPAA.
At the American Academy of Orthopedics annual meeting in New Orleans, November 2001, we asked visitors to our exhibit to respond to a survey about electronic medical records. We found that 91% of the market currently does not use electronic medical records. We found that 86% of the market would favor electronic medical records software, where the physician input was via speech vs. traditional keyboard or touch screen. When asked their purchase plans the following was revealed: 38% plan to purchase within the next 18 months; 35% plan to purchase within the next 36 months; and 16% plan to purchase within the next 5 years.