Vocera Communications, Inc., the leading provider of point-of-care communication solutions, today announced two acquisitions: Clinical Health Communications, makers of OptiVox®, and Integrated Voice Solutions, makers of VoiceCare®.
“We added 31 employees in the third quarter, mostly in positions directly supporting our growing customer base. We see this trend carrying through the fourth quarter and into 2011.”
The OptiVox and VoiceCare applications are deployed at more than 140 hospitals and help hospital workers better manage millions of patient hand-offs annually. These hand-offs occur hospital-wide during shift changes and when patients are transferred between departments. The companies also offer a secure family communication solution that allows 24/7 access to patient status.
According to The Joint Commission's database of 3,811 sentinel events, communication breakdowns were the root cause of more than 65 percent of these events. Of those breakdowns, 75 percent resulted in the patient's death and more than half were associated with patient hand-offs. Solutions that deliver secure, repeatable and documented delivery of hand-offs are critical to improving these outcomes.
"Patient hand-off management is an area hospitals are working hard to improve to ensure patient safety and reduce sentinel events," says Bob Zollars, chairman and CEO of Vocera Communications. "OptiVox and VoiceCare are solutions that significantly improve hand-off accuracy and efficiency among care teams, patients and loved ones, resulting in safer patient care and an improved patient experience. These acquisitions strengthen and build upon our leadership position in solving communication problems in the 650 hospitals we serve."
Vocera is uniquely positioned to expand these businesses by leveraging its direct sales force and strong relationships with hospitals. These acquisitions are a key milestone as the company expands its leadership in the clinical communications space.
"We see tremendous synergies between the OptiVox and VoiceCare hand-off applications and the Vocera communications solutions," says Guille Cruze, CEO of Clinical Health Communications, the makers of OptiVox solutions. "We are very excited to join a company that shares our vision for excellence and commitment to the highest levels of patient care."
Mr. Cruze 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, developers of the VoiceCare product, will serve as strategic advisors to Vocera.
In the third quarter, Vocera continued its strong organic revenue growth with a 39 percent year-over-year increase. Vocera strengthened its backlog position with orders from 22 new healthcare customers and expansion by existing customers.
"In spite of the malaise in the general economy, Vocera continues to grow at a tremendous rate," said Zollars. "We added 31 employees in the third quarter, mostly in positions directly supporting our growing customer base. We see this trend carrying through the fourth quarter and into 2011."
Visit Vocera, OptiVox and VoiceCare at the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) National Magnet Conference in Phoenix, Ariz., October 13-15, 2010, at booth #631.
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