In a move that will broaden its reach in the hospital communications market – and, ideally, save lives – Vocera, which develops point of care communications solutions, has acquired two companies, Clinical Health Communications and Integrated Voice Solutions.
Communication disruptions are a serious affliction for hospitals. They were the root cause of more than 65 percent of the 3,811 sentinel events listed in the Joint Commission’s database. Of those, 75 percent resulted in the patient’s death.
"It's simply just not right," says Vocera chairman and CEO Bob Zollars.
With a majority of those fatal communication breakdowns associated with patient hand-offs, Zollars says the acquisition of Knoxville, Tenn.-based Clinical Health Communications – makers of the OptiVox system – and Chattanooga-based Integrated Voice Solutions – whose flagship product line is called VoiceCare – will "ensure patient safety and reduce sentinel events."
Vocera's communications systems, badges and smartphones are used in approximately 600 hospitals nationwide by nearly 500,000 nurses and clinicians. Between them, CHC and IVS are in about 140 facilities.
"Here you had two companies with very nice product lines, but they didn't have an easy way to get to market," says Zollars. "Where we really see a great fit is three-fold. One, utilizing our sales force and distribution system to help bring these products to market. Two, there's a great integration opportunity for their product lines and the Vocera badge and our other voice solutions. Third, they've got great pipelines: they've got products that are already on the market and they're pretty far along on future development as well. We're really excited about that."
One such technology, developed by both firms in similar iterations under similar names, is "a HIPAA-secured way for a family member or loved- one to get 24/7 care status of a patient," says Zollars. "They dial in, in a PIN-protected voicemail system, and they're able to hear the nurse or another clinician leave a recap on how the patient is doing."
Not only does that put family and patient in constant contact, "it alleviates a lot of phone calls into the nursing station asking how grandpa's doing – so there's a productivity gain."
In aggregate, Vocera's new and growing product line offers an array of benefits to hospitals, says Zollars. From helping prevent sentinel events and near-misses by providing quicker response times to improving staff safety ("help is one button-push away"). From vastly reducing overhead paging, making for quieter and more serene healing environments, to increasing nurse responsiveness and enabling them to spend more time at the bedside.
("Nurses walk two miles less per day when they wear a Vocera badge," Zollars notes.)
But improving hand-off communication and increasing patient safety is paramount.
Last year, Jim Parker, senior editor of the Joint Commission Perspectives on Patient Safety newsletter, wrote "the handoff’s objective is to provide accurate information about care, treatment or services that a patient has received as well as the patient’s current condition and any recent or anticipated changes in the patient’s condition…. remember that the purpose of communication is mutual understanding."
Indeed, communication "really just comes down to connecting the right people at the right time," says Zollars. "For Vocera, that's where it all starts. We're trying to help our customers prevent sentinel events and improve communication amongst caregivers, patients and family members.
Once the merger is finalized, Guille Cruze, CEO of Clinical Health Communications, will join Vocera’s executive team as vice president and general manager of hand-off communications. Prem and Janet Chopra, founders of Integrated Voice Solutions, will serve as strategic advisors to Vocera.
“We see tremendous synergies between the OptiVox and VoiceCare hand-off applications and the Vocera communications solutions,” says Cruze. “We are very excited to join a company that shares our vision for excellence and commitment to the highest levels of patient care.”
