National Research Corporation

Caring about healthcare┬áKeith Regan learns how National Research CorporationÔÇÖs services are evolving to address the unique needs of the industry in todayÔÇÖs complex healthcare world. Today, more than ever in their history, hospitals and other healthcare institutions are increasingly focused on finding competitive advantages, hoping to keep beds full and become the healthcare source of choice for consumers in their markets.  To many, that means not only seeking to improve the delivery of healthcare to patients but also keeping close tabs on the public perception of their brand image and ensuring proper governance at the highest levels of the hospital. National Research Corporation has sought to help healthcare institutions do all those things with its family of products and services. While the various products target different parts of the healthcare space, they all seek to help hospitals thrive in an increasingly competitive and cost-conscious marketplace. NRCÔÇÖs Healthcare Market Guide Ticker product has long been used by healthcare institutions to help them evaluate how their brands are being perceived in the marketplace. In response to customer requests for a more up-to-date view of that data, the product was changed in May of 2008, says Pat Beans, the chief financial officer and vice president of operations at NRC, which is based in Lincoln, Nebraska. ÔÇ£Clients and prospective clients told us they wanted more current information,ÔÇØ says Beans, noting that the Ticker product is often sold to a hospitalÔÇÖs marketing department. The updated product includes more ongoing data collection and the ability to add questions to surveys pertaining to a local market. Customers can also access online focus groups if they want to drill further into a specific topic or question. ÔÇ£The feedback has been tremendous,ÔÇØ Beans says. ÔÇ£WeÔÇÖre just coming around to renewals since the switchover to the new product, and people are renewing at high rates; thatÔÇÖs something that we take as a strong endorsement.ÔÇØNRC Picker is aimed at helping healthcare organizations gain insight into how well they are performing based on patient feedback, offering employee and physician assessments that are used to help improve care delivery, says Jason Rau, president of the NRC Picker division. ÔÇ£ItÔÇÖs all about a patient-centered approach. We believe that what you measure and how you measure it is one of the biggest challenges thatÔÇÖs occurring right now in the healthcare industry,ÔÇØ says Rau, adding that by some measures, there are well over 1,000 different quality indicators an organization can be digesting at any time. Parties responsible for tracking and improving care are ÔÇ£inundated with tracking, checklists, stuff that makes it a noisy situation. WeÔÇÖve developed a product that breaks through all that clutter and noise and gets people the right information, and it all starts with listening to patients and whatÔÇÖs important to them. ThatÔÇÖs the philosophy that grounds us the most, that improving should start with the way patients are being handled and treated.ÔÇØHospitals have been performing patient surveys for some time now, and the market is a mature one. ÔÇ£What we try to do to set us apart is help organizations not only identify where they need to improve but connect them with resources to aid that improvement by finding sources of best practices,ÔÇØ Rau adds. NRC purchased the Governance Institute in 2006 and offers it to clients as a resource for helping hospital board members understand and navigate the world of governance. Jona Raasch, the president of that division, says many hospital CEOs are eager to help board members learn not only about specific governance issues but also about the challenges facing the healthcare industry as a whole. ÔÇ£In the last 10 years or so there has been a much larger group of participants at the boardroom table,ÔÇØ Raasch notes. ÔÇ£YouÔÇÖve got physicians who are much more likely to be active on hospital boards, for instance, which brings up a host of challenges around conflicts of interest, and we help educate boards on those issues. Physicians and medical directors who serve on boards need education on governance but also on the business side of healthcare, and we can expose them to a variety of best practices and resources on those topics.ÔÇØThe Governance Institute is seeking to grow and expand its offerings and is constantly listening to hospitals on what else the industry needs. ÔÇ£WeÔÇÖve added a complete set of deliverables and programs around the role of the governance support person, who might be anyone from a senior executive to an administrative assistant. Often, those people are orphans within a hospital, and by adding that service, weÔÇÖve given them a quick way to network with their peers at other institutions.ÔÇØLooking ahead, NRC has not ruled out additional acquisitions that fit with its overall model, says Beans, and it is also constantly reaching out to survey vendors to find ways to get more focused and real-time data to its clients. ÔÇ£We really drill down with vendors to find the ones in each market who can provide the best data in the most timely manner,ÔÇØ he adds. While the different divisionsÔÇÖ products are marketed to different parts of an organization, the overall mission of NRC brings the various services together. ÔÇ£WeÔÇÖre really engaging multiple levels within a hospital or healthcare business, but what ties it all together is that we firmly believe that having access to quality and current information on patient and consumer perspectives and resources on how the best hospitals are being run is a way to improve the delivery of healthcare,ÔÇØ says Raasch. ÔÇ£That patient care is always the bottom line.ÔÇØ ÔÇô Editorial research by Paul Wile