SAN JOSE, Calif., Sept. 19, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Vocera Communications, Inc. (NYSE: VCRA) today announced that its subsidiary, ExperiaHealth, a national leader in partnering with hospitals and health systems to humanize the healthcare experience, will convene its fifth semi-annual National Patient Experience Collaborative meeting on October 16-17, 2013, at The InterContinental Mark Hopkins hotel in San Francisco, Calif. This two day invitation only event, titled, "CXO Roundtable: Innovations in Human Experience," will assemble progressive medical providers and visionaries from over 30 U.S. healthcare organizations who are disrupting the status quo to improve the human experience of healthcare.

Patient experience is widely considered a key indicator of clinical outcomes and organizational growth. The Affordable Care Act affirmed this connection by withholding Medicare payments to hospitals with low patient satisfaction scores, high readmissions and other benchmarks. Improving the human experience of healthcare has become a top strategic priority for the majority of healthcare executives. To accelerate these improvements, ExperiaHealth founded the National Patient Experience Collaborative in partnership with Stanford University's Clinical Excellence Research Center. Its member healthcare organizations design care models that improve patient, family and staff experience and loyalty, accelerate strategies for market differentiation, and deepen the body of scientific evidence that links the human experience of care to improved outcomes.

Key speakers at the October CXO Roundtable include:

• Robert J. Henkel, FACHE, president and CEO, Ascension Health, and executive vice president, Ascension Health Alliance;
• David S. Chernow, president, Select Medical Corporation;
• M. Bridget Duffy, MD, co-founder, ExperiaHealth, and chief medical officer, Vocera Communications; and
• Arnold Milstein, MD, MPH, professor of medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, and director, Stanford's Clinical Excellence Research Center.

"We believe that patient experience improvements have an important impact on the cost and quality of healthcare. A growing number of organizations who have joined this network have connected patient experience with quality, safety, and financial performance. Our research partnerships help to scientifically measure this impact," said M. Bridget Duffy, MD, co-founder, ExperiaHealth, and chief medical officer, Vocera Communications.

"Our aim is to put the science behind a growing body of innovative, affordable models of care that improve outcomes and patient experience," said Arnie Milstein, MD, MPH, professor of medicine at Stanford University and head of the Stanford's Clinical Excellence Research Center. 

ExperiaHealth National Patient Experience Collaborative members, which include: Ascension Health; Lucile Packard Children's Hospital; Mission Health System; NorthShore University Health System; The University of Chicago Medical Center; UCSF Medical Center; University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics; and Summa Health System, among others; have made significant improvements in care delivery.

About Stanford's Clinical Excellence Research Center
The Clinical Excellence Research Center is dedicated to accelerating the discovery of clinical service innovations that improve the societal value of health care in the United States and globally. The Clinical Excellence Research Center organizes research teams from multiple Stanford Schools to design and test new methods of health care delivery that substantially reduce population-wide disability and annual per capita health spending in the near term. Research is led by teams of post-doctoral research fellows and mentored by faculty from multiple Stanford Schools with initial emphasis on Business, Engineering and Medicine. The center has been launched amid intense debate over how to rein in health-care spending responsibly. It focuses on the discovery and refinement of new clinical service designs that improve health and patients' experience of their care, while lowering annual per capita health-care spending. The mission of Stanford's Clinical Excellence Research Center is to create innovative health care delivery models through research, service and teaching.

About ExperiaHealth, part of Vocera
Co-founded by Dr. Bridget Duffy, the nation's first Chief Experience Officer, ExperiaHealth accelerates the discovery and adoption of innovations that restore the human connection in healthcare. The Company was acquired by Vocera Communications and offers solutions to improve staff and patient satisfaction and drive physician loyalty, enabling healthcare organizations to prosper and create market differentiation in an uncertain healthcare environment. Vocera empowers integrated, intelligent communication for mission-critical environments in healthcare, hospitality, energy, retail and other mobile work environments. For more information, visit www.vocera.com/experiahealth.

Media Contacts:

Pam Goncalves
Vocera
408.882.5763
pgoncalves@vocera.com

Claire Baki
Schwartz MSL
415.512.0770
Vocera@schwartzmsl.com

SOURCE Vocera Communications, Inc.