Patient experience company Press Ganey is set to acquire Forsta, a customer experience and market research technology platform, for an undisclosed sum, the companies announced this week.
Press Ganey described the deal, set to close during the first half of 2022 pending approvals and other customary conditions, as an upgrade to the technology and reach of its research services.
“This alliance propels Press Ganey into a new future,” Patrick Ryan, chairman and CEO of Press Ganey, said in a statement. “Our unparalleled excellence in healthcare consulting, and proprietary data and analytics, will soon be infused with even more innovation and speed by Forsta’s world-class experience and research technology platform.”
Incorporating Forsta's “comprehensive” tech platform will allow Press Ganey to offer its clients “an even more powerful suite of customer experience, employee experience and market research technology options,” the group wrote in its announcement.
Forsta also comes to the table with experience working in other verticals—retail, financial services, consumer goods, tech and others—as well as with big-name brands like Best Buy, eBay and Mars, Inc.
With over 5,000 customers spread across 100-plus countries, Forsta provides Press Ganey greater reach into international experience intelligence markets. The Boston-based healthcare experience firm currently works with more than 41,000 healthcare facilities and manages about 476 million patient engagements annually.
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“This move is the culmination of Press Ganey’s investments to not just be leaders in the healthcare industry, but to lead in experience technology, too. Forsta’s HX [Human Experience] platform will allow Press Ganey to make a quantum leap in our technology solutions for our clients,” Darren Dworkin, chief strategy officer at Press Ganey, said in a statement. “Together, the next generation of patient and customer experience will be better, deeper and truly human-centric.”
The acquisition opens Forsta’s platform up to increased investment resources and, subsequently, more rapid tech innovation, the companies wrote in the announcement.
“Press Ganey was the first company to truly recognize and respond to the importance of patient experience, and the company continues to lead innovation in the field,” Forsta CEO Kyle Ferguson said in a statement. “I’m excited to join forces with such a forward-thinking, highly respected company, and eager for the benefits this investment will bring to our customers.”
Press Ganey has been pushing its business forward over the past few years with a steady clip of acquisitions.
In May 2021, the company announced its purchase of health insurance-focused SPH Analytics to expanded its insights to “every touchpoint across the entire healthcare journey,” Ryan said in a statement at the time. That deal added data points from more than 40 million patients, 23 million members and 3 million caregivers to its collection.
Prior to that, Press Ganey announced in late 2020 that it had acquired medical practice marketing automation platform Doctor.com and purchased a majority stake in online reputation management platform Binary Fountain. Both deals paved the way for a greater push into the healthcare consumerism space, allowing Press Ganey to better support providers’ digital patient acquisition and retention efforts.