Vocera Communications, Inc. (NYSE:VCRA), a recognized leader in clinical communication and workflow solutions, today announced that its research collaborative, the Experience Innovation Network, has released findings from its 2017 Leading Experience Transformation Report. More than 200 healthcare experience leaders in the United States and Canada participated in this third annual research study, titled “Experience Beyond Boundaries: The Next-Generation CXO.”

According to the report, experience improvement continues to be a top strategic priority, with half of the participants reporting directly to their organization’s chief executive officer (CEO) or health system president. Based on previous research findings, this reporting structure is important because experience leaders have continuously indicated that engagement with the CEO is critical to their success. This year’s report shows an increased need for additional key relationships with executive physicians, nursing leaders, and other C-suite members. In the 2016 report, only 25 percent of survey respondents viewed their relationships with non-clinical C-suite leaders as essential. This year, 34 percent said these relationships were critical.

“CXOs and other leaders are recognizing the importance of aligning experience strategies with not only quality and safety, but also with IT, human resources, marketing and finance to drive transformations in healthcare,” said Liz Boehm, research director at Vocera and the Experience Innovation Network. “At their best, experience leaders are a unifying force that will shape the future of caring and elevate patient, family and staff well-being.”

The 2017 report puts forth a new definition for the optimal human experience in healthcare: Respectful, empathetic interactions that connect people to purpose, build trust, and ease suffering for all involved in healthcare—patients, families and care team members.

To achieve this end, respondents said their top three improvement priorities for the year include strengthening experience culture, increasing patient satisfaction scores, and improving physician and staff well-being. As in years past, experience leaders cited accountability as their number one challenge to making improvements. Related categories “sustaining changes” and “driving cultural change” also received top billing as challenges for change.

“Healthcare leaders making sustainable improvements are the ones addressing both staff and patient well-being as the key to driving organizational improvements. They are breaking down barriers between care settings, technologies, and organizational silos to support exceptional patient care and ensure that a commitment to human experience remains a top strategic priority,” said Bridget Duffy, MD, chief medical officer of Vocera, and co-founder of the Experience Innovation Network.

The complete 2017 report will be released at the 12th semi-annual CXO Roundtable, May 3-4, 2017, hosted by the Experience Innovation Network, part of Vocera. This international group of industry thought leaders focuses on putting the science behind the experience of care and discovering innovative processes and technologies that meet the Quadruple Aim of improving population health, elevating patient-centered care, and reducing costs while restoring joy to the practice of medicine. To dive deeper into the research findings, download the report via this link.

About Vocera

The mission of Vocera Communications, Inc. is to simplify and improve the lives of healthcare professionals and patients, while enabling hospitals to enhance quality of care and operational efficiency. In 2000, when the company was founded, we began to forever change the way care teams communicate. Today, Vocera continues to offer the leading platform for clinical communication and workflow. More than 1,400 hospitals and health systems around the world have selected our solutions for care teams to text securely using smartphones or make calls with our hands-free, wearable Vocera Badge. Interoperability between our platform and more than 120 clinical systems helps reduce alarm fatigue, speed up staff response times, and improve patient care, safety and experience. In addition to healthcare, Vocera is at home in luxury hotels, nuclear facilities, libraries, retail stores and more. Vocera makes a difference in any industry where workers are on the move and need to connect instantly with team members and access resources or information quickly. Learn more at www.vocera.com, and follow @VoceraComm on Twitter.

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