Big win for Nuance Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:NUAN) after the University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC) deployed its mPower Clinical Analytics and PowerScribe Follow-Up Manager systems to 6 of its hospitals to help with its Backstop tracking program.
URMC initiated the Backstop program to help patients with incidental radiology finding get timely follow-up care. The program is even better with Nuance’s mPower Clinical Analytics and PowerScribe Follow-up Manager Platforms which have made it possible for patients to receive early cancer diagnosis.
About the NLP systems
Nuance’s Natural Language Processing (NLP) systems provides for a sophisticated digital way of managing clinical workflows thus providing nurses and medical practitioners with more time to care for patients.
To deliver desired outcome, the two NPL systems works collaboratively where mPower Clinical Analytics through futuristic data-mining algorithms easily accesses meaningful patient info (basically recommendations from patient’s reports), the extracted recommendations are tracked by PowerScribe Follow-up Manager which then communicates to program navigators to help prevent cases of missed or delayed follow-up exam and diagnoses.
The digital systems have helped the university of Rochester Medical Center achieve improved patient outcomes and reimbursements.
Dr. Ben Wandtke, Chief of Diagnostic Imaging for the University of Rochester Medical Center acknowledging the risks portrayed by communication blackouts noted that, “The mPower NLP solution automatically reads through our radiology reports to extract radiology recommendations using clinical analytics, adding them to Follow-up Manager so our care teams can complete the necessary follow-up. When we can confidently and consistently ‘close the loop,’ we’re able to make a real difference in our patients’ path to wellness.”
Karen Holzberger, vice president and general manager of Nuance Healthcare’s Diagnostic Division on her part reiterated the importance of timely follow-up and follow-throughs not only in the medical profession but also in any other profession out there.
Holzberger applauded the University of Rochester Medical Center for taking the step to curb incidences of missed follow-ups stating that in so doing they are bringing about real difference in the healthcare fraternity.
The URMC is a great platform for exposure and of course revenue for Nuance Communications’ NPL systems. It marks the beginning of a potentially great sales journey for Nuance.
Nuance Stock performance
Nuance needs the exposure to boost its sales thus generating more revenue and by extension attracting positive attention to its stock.
As of the just concluded trading session, the company’s stock gained 3.95% to close at $14.49 which is a few dollars shy of its 52-week high of $18.75. The closing price is however about $2 dollars above its 52-week low of $12.18. As of Monday, the company had a market valuation of about $4.17 billion.
Source: stockcharts.com
Analysts covering the stock have given it an average price target of $20.5. The stock has a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the 12 brokers covering it. Zachs in particular downgraded the stock’s rating from a “Hold” to a “sell” while ValuEngine upgraded it to a BUY from a HOLD recommendation.
In other news, Nuance Communication executed the spinout of its Automotive business into a publicly traded standalone (Nuance Auto). The spinout is expected to be a next generation automotive software company upon the completion of the transaction.