Vocera Addresses Population Health with Enhanced Care Coordination Solution

Vocera Communications, Inc., a provider of intelligent, real-time communication and collaboration solutions for mission-critical mobile environments, will provide a cloud-based secure text messaging solution as a benefit to all of its U.S. healthcare customers, at no additional cost, for use by any of their affiliated healthcare providers. Vocera Secure Texting will connect seamlessly with Vocera Communication Systems installed in over 800 U.S. hospitals, enabling physicians to securely text care teams and improve care coordination, operational efficiencies, and patient experience.

Vocera Secure Texting combines convenience with privacy by providing a secure, easy to use, HIPAA-compliant alternative to SMS. The solution will allow physicians to securely communicate with all members of their patient’s care team, while helping hospital CIOs improve security associated with protecting personal health information (PHI).

The lack of communication and coordination in health systems causes fragmented and inefficient care that can impact patient safety and patient experience. The Joint Commission states that roughly 70 percent of accidental deaths and serious injuries in hospitals are linked to communication failures. According to a study by the University of Maryland, $12 billion is wasted annually as a result of communications inefficiencies. Furthermore, the Spyglass Consulting Group report “Point of Care Communications for Physicians 2014,” stated that 92 percent of physicians use SMS, an unsecure communication method, for patient care; risking HIPAA violations, data breaches, and fines of up to $1.5 million per year.

“Enabling better communication and collaboration across the entire continuum of care is critically important in making the transition to value-based care,” said Bill Shickolovich, CIO of Tufts Medical Center. “We are working with Vocera to extend our communications platform to provide a secure means of keeping care teams in sync across sites and improve care coordination, safety, and ultimately, patient experience.”

“With the rise of Population Health, the importance of care coordination is greater than ever. The best way to improve how care teams communicate and collaborate is to provide solutions that are easy to use, secure, and integrated with other clinical systems,” said Brent Lang, president and CEO of Vocera. “Vocera Secure Texting is an important part of our care coordination solution that helps extended care teams reach the right person, at the right time, on the right device, with the right information, in the right place. Because protecting patient information is a priority for Vocera, we’re providing the solution to all of our U.S. hospital customers at no additional cost.”

Vocera Secure Texting will be available in Q2 of 2015, with demos available at the 2015 HIMSS Conference on April 12-16 in Chicago. Please visit us in Booth #2012.