National Research Corporation, Novant Health forms partnership

Lincoln, Neb.– National Research Corporation (NRC) is pleased to announce that Novant Health has selected NRC as its partner to manage and oversee the organization’s healthcare experience measurement and to offer ideas for improvement. Novant is a not-for-profit healthcare system serving patients in North Carolina, Virginia, South Carolina and Georgia.

NRC Picker will provide three components of survey measurement for the health system, including patient, employee and physician measures. Novant chose NRC for two primary reasons:

  1. NRC provides innovative, patient-centered solutions.
  2. The NRC solutions align with Novant’s vision “to deliver the most remarkable patient experience in every dimension, every time.”

“We (Novant) had to go beyond HCAHPS scores and understand more than just the basics of patient-centered care so we can tell a story with our data,” said Sean Keyser, vice president for operational improvement at Novant. “We needed to look at the philosophical connection about which measures are important to us, and there was an instant connection with NRC. They have a mutual interest of understanding who we are surveying.”

Through NRC Picker’s rich history in understanding the patient experience and with our industry-leading software, Novant will have round-the-clock access to patient, employee and physician experience scores, as well as the latest best practices information for improving the patient experience from other nationally recognized healthcare systems.

“NRC has traditional measurements that capture all the necessary things, but they don’t stop there,” said Keyser. “Through push reports and many of their features and benefits, NRC’s analytic and reporting functions are aggressive; plus they (NRC) understand the voice of the caregivers and the patients.”

Susan L. Henricks, president and chief operating officer at NRC, looks forward to the partnership and believes the alignment in both organizations’ missions and values will be the determining factor of success.

“The biggest advantage of this partnership is our alignment with Novant’s vision to deliver the most remarkable patient experience and the ability to change the behaviors at the bedside, which will allow Novant to improve the overall level of care throughout the system,” Henricks said.

National Research Corporation (NASDAQ: NRCI) headquartered in Lincoln, Nebraska, is a leading provider of performance measurement, improvement services, and governance education to the healthcare industry in the United States and Canada. For additional information, visit www.nationalresearch.com or call 800.388.4264.

Novant Health is a not-for-profit integrated system of 13 hospitals and a medical group consisting of 1,117 physicians in 355 clinic locations, caring for patients and communities in North Carolina, Virginia, South Carolina and Georgia.  Hospitals include the following: Presbyterian Hospital, Presbyterian Orthopaedic Hospital, Presbyterian Hospital Matthews and Presbyterian Hospital Huntersville in the Charlotte, N.C. area; Forsyth Medical Center and Medical Park Hospital in Winston-Salem, N.C.; Kernersville Medical Center, Kernersville, N.C.; Thomasville Medical Center, Thomasville, N.C.; Brunswick Novant Medical Center, Supply, N.C.; Rowan Regional Medical Center, Salisbury, N.C.; Franklin Regional Medical Center, Louisburg, N.C.; Upstate Carolina Medical Center, Gaffney, S.C.; and Prince William Hospital, Manassas, Va.  Other Novant facilities and programs include outpatient surgery centers, medical plazas, rehabilitation programs, diagnostic imaging centers and community health outreach programs.  Novant Health is ranked 14th nationally among the 2011 Top 100 Integrated Healthcare Networks, according to an analysis by the SDI health informatics company. For more information, visit www.novanthealth.org.