Dictation software for doctors
Notes spoken between appointments instead of typed up at the end of the day. The client types into whatever field has focus — your practice software, a browser form, a letter in Word — so there is nothing to integrate and nothing to paste.
Which dictation software should a doctor use?
Two things decide it, and accuracy is neither. If you need a vocabulary you train yourself — an in-house abbreviation, a local drug shorthand, a colleague’s name — or dictation that keeps working in a room with no network, buy Dragon Medical: it is built for both and VibeVoice is not. Otherwise the question is what has to change in the practice. VibeVoice types into whatever field has focus, the way a keyboard does, so a practice management system, a hospital portal or a letter in Word takes dictation with nothing to integrate. For ordinary clinical language — anatomy, drug names, dosages — general-purpose recognition usually handles ordinary clinical, legal and technical terminology without a domain pack. Speech is transcribed on our own servers in Germany, and the audio is deleted as soon as the transcript exists or the attempt fails. 30 minutes a month are free, €3 a month above that.
During, not after
Dictate findings and treatment plans while the examination is in front of you, rather than reconstructing six of them at seven in the evening.
Into your own software
Practice management systems, hospital portals, a Word letter, a PDF form. If a cursor can sit in the field, dictation can put text there — including desktop software from 2011. A terminal-server session is the one worth testing first.
Recorded rounds, uploaded
Dictated onto a recorder on the ward? Upload the file and get the transcript back — up to 10GB on Ultra, with speaker separation for a conversation.
What it does not do
- No vocabulary you train yourself. You cannot teach it a word it has not heard, and you cannot correct it into a personal profile. This is the single reason to buy Dragon Medical instead.
- No offline mode. Audio is transcribed on our servers, so a clinic room with no network is a room where this does not work.
- No HIPAA certification, and no medical device registration. We are a German company processing under GDPR; HIPAA is a US framework and we make no claim under it.
- No coding, no billing, no EMR integration. It types text where you put the cursor, and that is the whole of it.
Where the audio goes
Speech is transcribed on our own servers in Germany. The audio is deleted as soon as the transcript exists or the attempt fails, and it is never used to train anything.
Patient data is special-category data, and whether it may leave your practice at all is your decision and your data protection officer’s, not ours. If you need a data processing agreement before you dictate anything identifiable, write to us and we will send one.
For a practice in the United Kingdom: the servers are in Germany and nowhere else, never in the United States, so under UK GDPR this is a transfer out of the UK — one your practice records in its own documentation rather than one we can make for you. The data processing agreement covering it is published rather than negotiated, so your data protection officer can read it in full before anyone signs up. What we do not hold is an NHS Data Security and Protection Toolkit assessment: if your procurement asks for one, the answer is no.
Common questions
Does general dictation software work for medical notes?+
For the vocabulary itself: general-purpose recognition usually handles ordinary clinical, legal and technical terminology without a domain pack. What it will not do is learn a word that exists only inside your practice — an in-house abbreviation, a local drug shorthand, a colleague’s name. Dragon Medical is built for that and we are not.
Does it know medical terminology?+
Ordinary clinical language, yes — anatomy, common drug names, dosages, the shape of a findings note. What it cannot do is learn a term that exists only inside your building. We have benchmarked no competitor, so that is the shape of the difference rather than a measured result. We publish how we measure accuracy rather than asserting a number.
Can I dictate into my practice management software?+
If you can type into a field, you can dictate into it. The client sends keystrokes to whichever window has focus, the way a keyboard does, so it does not need to know what the program is. The exceptions are programs that deliberately reject synthetic input — some games, some remote-desktop and virtual-desktop sessions, and some hardened enterprise clients — worth testing on a terminal server before you rely on it.
Is it HIPAA compliant?+
We make no HIPAA claim. VibeVoice is operated by a German company and processes under the GDPR, on servers in Germany, with the audio deleted as soon as the transcript exists or the attempt fails. If your obligations are American, treat that as a different question and ask us before you dictate patient data.
Should I buy Dragon Medical instead?+
If you need a vocabulary you train yourself, or dictation that works with no network at all, yes — those are the two things it does that we do not. Dragon Professional 16 is a perpetual licence at about €880 in Germany, VAT included ($699 list), and the medical edition is a separate and more expensive product. If neither of those decides it, €3 a month is a smaller commitment to test against your own notes.
What about letters and referrals?+
The same hotkey, in whatever you write them in. Long formulaic text — medical necessity reports, referral letters, discharge summaries — is where speaking gains the most on typing, because the sentences are already in your head.
Last updated . Competitor figures checked August 2026: prices, platforms, and each vendor’s own description of when its text is finished, which is their account rather than our measurement. All of it changes, so check theirs before buying.