Press Ganey, the healthcare company from South Bend, Indiana, that develops and distributes patient satisfaction surveys used in many US hospitals, announced on April 27 it had completed the acquisition of Forsta, the New York City-based provider of insight analytics to enterprise customers and market research professionals. Both companies are recognized throughout the healthcare ecosystem as authoritative providers of CX technology and services.

Financial details of the transaction, which closed April 26, were not immediately available, but the union of the two companies will enable optimized operations and expanded capabilities on both sides. The new organization will comprise a workforce of more than 3,000, serving thousands of customers that include Fortune 500 companies and top healthcare systems located across North America; the EMEA region of Europe, the Middle East, and Africa; and Asia-Pacific.

A Dynamic Combo

Press Ganey, which invented the healthcare performance improvement movement more than 35 years ago, manages approximately 476 million patient engagements every year. The company works with more than 41,000 healthcare facilities today, and its integrated suite of solutions addresses safety, clinical excellence, patient experience, and workforce engagement.

Forsta is an experience and research technology platform that gathers and analyzes data, and translates findings into actions to inform decision-making and drive growth. Forsta’s Human Experience (HX) platform serves in excess of 5,000 customers in more than 100 countries around the world.

With the acquisition, the investment from Press Ganey is expected to accelerate product innovation at Forsta, especially in the high-demand areas of artificial intelligence (AI), data visualization, and qualitative research. In turn, Forsta’s global presence and extensive network will provide Press Ganey access and expansion opportunities into new industry verticals, including retail, financial services, and consumer goods. Moreover, Press Ganey will be able to immediately avail of a new suite of purpose-built, self-service solutions for healthcare covering digital communities, virtual focus groups, and crowdsourcing. 

The unified organization will bring proprietary research and insightful analysis to the market as it tackles essential issues, such as barriers to human-centered data, employee burnout, and the advancement of health equity.

Both Press Ganey and Forsta have won industry acclaim and honors. Press Ganey was recently selected Best in KLAS for Patient Experience Improvement, and Forsta was named a Leader in the 2021 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Voice of the Customer.

The CEOs Speak

Patrick T. Ryan, chairman and CEO at Press Ganey, says the acquisition will enable the combined organization to expand into new geographies and industries bearing highly complementary market research, along with CX and employee experience (EX) technology that can coordinate seamlessly with existing healthcare solutions. “Together, Press Ganey and Forsta offer our clients the data connectivity, accelerated analytics, DEI [diversity, equity and inclusion] expertise, and deeply segmented insights that companies need to deliver frictionless experiences and truly drive transformation,” says Ryan.

Kyle Ferguson, CEO at Forsta, says the convergence of resources from the two companies presents “tremendous opportunity,” with no plans on either side to slow down. “Press Ganey is expediting Forsta’s mission to reinvent the global insights industry. With this investment, we will be able to greatly accelerate innovation so our customers can deliver better insights, faster, and at scale,” Ferguson says.

The joint company will continue to be led by Ryan as chairman and CEO, with Ferguson to remain at the helm of Forsta as CEO.