VoiceOver PRO is the Key to Better Pathology Reporting in Epic

When Stamford Health transitioned its anatomic pathology operations from Meditech to Epic Beaker, leadership braced for the usual challenges accompanying any enterprise-wide system change. Epic is a powerful enterprise EHR, but it isn’t designed with the unique, structured reporting needs of pathology front and center.

As Dr. Robert Babkowski, Chair of the Department of Pathology at Stamford Health, recalls: "We were very anxious about the Epic transition. Nearby hospitals who’ve transitioned to Beaker have had challenging experiences."

For Stamford Health, VoiceOver PRO made all the difference in the pathology department's transition to Epic Beaker. PRO complemented Epic's enterprise strengths with pathology-specific workflows—delivering efficiency, accuracy, and consistency that Epic alone could not..

Where Epic Needs Support in Pathology

Epic Beaker continues to evolve and improve, yet like many enterprise systems, anatomic pathology workflows still require additional optimization. 

• CAP eCP checklists in Epic are not voice-enabled.
• Manual entry in Epic requires typing into long, detailed fields.
• Report formats in Epic lack the same level of standardization and customization pathologists rely on.

VoiceOver PRO fills those gaps, ensuring pathology teams aren’t slowed down by manual workarounds. Dr. Babkowski explains their experience this way: "Epic Beaker has some significant and serious limitations, especially on the anatomic pathology side. VoiceOver PRO standardizes your reporting process in a way that Epic alone cannot."

Faster, Smarter CAP Checklist Completion

With VoiceOver PRO, Stamford Health pathologists complete CAP eCP checklists 60% faster than with Epic’s native entry tools—while reducing the likelihood of errors.

Dr. Babkowski explains why:

"Epic's cancer checklists aren't voice-enabled, which doesn't make sense to me. Is it more efficient to go through a CAP checklist using voice saying ‘next item, two millimeters,’ or manually typing those words? Where am I more likely to make errors—with manual entry or voice dictation? I am less likely to make mistakes with voice entry. And it goes without saying that I get through a CAP checklist faster using VoiceOver PRO's voice-enabled checklists—it’s absolutely common sense."

A Seamless Transition with Voicebrook Support

Epic transitions can be associated with steep learning curves and workflow disruption. Stamford Health avoided those concerns thanks to VoiceOver PRO. "We didn’t struggle as much with the Epic transition because we had Voicebrook," says Dr. Elgida Volpicelli, a pathologist at Voicebrook. "With VoiceOver PRO, our templates stayed the same, the commands stayed the same. It made our transition very easy, very fast to learn, and overall, a great experience."

If not for VoiceOver PRO, Dr. Volpicelli says she would have needed to redo her templates and commands, resulting in a much more challenging training process.

Dr. Robert Babkowski, using VoiceOver PRO to create patient reports in his Stamford Health office.

The pathology team also noted the impact that Voicebrook's team made on their transition to Epic. "We had Voicebrook support on site for the first three days that we were on Epic, and that was very, very helpful," says Dr. Volpicelli. "It was actually more helpful than some of the tech support we had through Epic."

Dr. Babkowski concurs: "If it wasn't for Voicebrook, our Epic transition would have been a fiasco. The support we got from Voicebrook was terrific."

Building Better Workflows Inside Epic

The Stamford Pathology team says that VoiceOver PRO didn’t just smooth the transition—it made Epic better. How? 

• Existing templates, voice commands, and workflows carried over seamlessly.
• Reports are built faster and more consistently with PRO’s report builder.
• Pathologists gain flexibility to work on their schedule, untethered from manual processes.

“A lot of times I’ll dictate the top line diagnosis, and then I’ll say, 'go to micro, insert actinic keratosis' and a canned description of the micro shows up in my report," says Dr. Volpicelli. "PRO makes me much faster—not to have to look at the screen, not to have to type it myself.”

Considering Epic Without VoiceOver PRO? 

Dr. Babkowski puts it bluntly: for his lab, VoiceOver PRO is not optional**—it’s essential.** “The only way to get through the Beaker piece of anatomic pathology is with VoiceOver PRO," he says. “The Epic and VoiceOver combination is magnificent. It's lightning fast.”

At Stamford Health, the enterprise reliability of Epic and the specialty-driven precision of VoiceOver PRO work hand in hand to deliver faster, more accurate, and more sustainable pathology reporting. The combination eliminates inefficiencies, ensures compliance, and makes Epic reporting work for pathology teams.

Interested in learning more about the ways VoiceOver PRO optimizes Epic for the specialized needs of anatomic pathology labs. Check out our Stamford Case Study.