Advisory Board

Healthcare Research & Advisoryadvisory.com

Advisory Board is a healthcare research and advisory firm providing research memberships, custom research, expert support, and analytical tools to more than 4,500 member organizations across the healthcare ecosystem. It operates as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Optum, part of UnitedHealth Group.

Company typePrivate
Founded1984
HeadquartersWashington, United States
Headcount1,001–5,000
GTM typeB2B
OfferingServices

What Advisory Board does

Advisory Board is a healthcare research and advisory firm that delivers research memberships, custom research, expert support, and analytical tools to healthcare leaders across hospitals and health systems, health plans, digital health companies, pharmaceutical and medical device firms, physician groups, and post-acute care providers. The company serves more than 4,500 member organizations and reaches an additional 165,000+ healthcare executives daily through its Daily Briefing newsletter, with a Radio Advisory podcast that has accumulated over 2 million downloads.

The product platform centers on an annual Research Membership subscription that provides access to more than 300 new research deliverables annually from a team of 200+ full-time researchers, supplemented by Custom Research engagements, Expert Support services, an Advisory Board Fellowship for leadership development, events and roundtables, AskAdvisory (a direct-to-expert service), and Sponsorship offerings. The research offering is underpinned by a suite of proprietary analytical tools including Market Scenario Planner, Demographic Profiler, Clinician Supply Profiler, Medicare Market Explorer, Hospital Benchmark Generator, Cancer Incidence Estimator, and others that support forecasting, demand modeling, and benchmarking across healthcare verticals. The most recent technology addition is Advisory Board AI, a text-based knowledge retrieval layer that provides self-service answers from the research library and routes complex queries to AskAdvisory experts.

Advisory Board operates as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Optum, part of UnitedHealth Group, following an acquisition in approximately 2017 that took it private after years of trading on NASDAQ under the ticker ABCO. Revenue is generated through recurring annual subscriptions, custom research project fees, event and sponsorship revenue, and fellowship programs; pricing is quote-based and not publicly disclosed, with a freemium entry tier offering limited monthly resources and a full-access partnership tier as the primary commercial vehicle. The company is headquartered at 655 New York Ave NW in Washington, DC.

Advisory Board firmographics

Firmographics

Name: Advisory Board
Legal name: The Advisory Board Company
Website: https://advisory.com
Company type: Private
Founded year: 1984
Operating status: Operating
Headcount range: 1,001–5,000 employees
Short description: Advisory Board is a healthcare research and advisory firm providing research memberships, custom research, expert support, and analytical tools to more than 4,500 member organizations across the healthcare ecosystem. It operates as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Optum, part of UnitedHealth Group.
Ownership category
akta.pro rank

Advisory Board industry classification

Industry

Product category: Healthcare Research & Advisory
NAICS: Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services (5416), Management Consulting Services (54161), Marketing Research and Public Opinion Polling (541910)
SIC: Services-Management Consulting Services (8742), Services-Membership Organizations (8600)
akta.pro primary industry: Governance & Board Effectiveness Advisory (BPAHAFAC)

Keywords

Healthcare research services
Medical advisory consulting
Healthcare market intelligence
Clinical strategy research
Hospital performance benchmarking

Where Advisory Board is headquartered

Location

Headquarters

HQ city: Washington
HQ country: United States
HQ region: North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

Advisory Board business model

Business model

GTM type: B2B
Offering type: Services
Cost components: Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Others

Revenue model

Research Membership: Digital subscription providing access to insights, resources, and tools designed to address healthcare industry's most pressing challenges. Includes research & insights, data & analytical planning tools, webinars, and expert conversations. Access to over 300 new research deliverables each year from more than 200 Advisory Board experts.
Custom Research: Original research into specific topics conducted the Advisory Board way. Provides actionable insights contextualized to organization's challenges and priorities, informing strategy with top emerging market and industry trends.
Events & Roundtables: In-person and virtual experiences designed to deliver crucial healthcare information and foster meaningful connections with peers and industry experts. Includes Advisory Board Summits, Virtual Summits, and topic-specific roundtables.
Expert Support: Connections to healthcare experts that help break through challenges and identify pressing opportunities. Includes expert-led presentations, individualized support, and workshops led by experts.
Advisory Board Fellowship: An immersive leadership practice ground empowering leaders to make progress on organizational challenges through peer collaboration and executive coaching.
Webinars: Expert-led webinars on topics such as state of the industry, value-based care, health system strategy, and specialty care market trends.
Sponsorship: Thought leadership opportunities to elevate brand, showcase expertise, and engage with key decision-makers through Advisory Board's tools, tactics, and distribution channels.
AskAdvisory: Direct-to-expert service helping members navigate their membership, research, and most pressing challenges in healthcare.

Pricing tiers

Model	Billing	Price
Freemium	Monthly	Limited Access - Free tier offering 1 free members-only resource per month
Subscription	Annual	Full-Access Partnership - Unlimited access to research and resources

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels8 records

Advisory Board product offering

Product offering

Core offering

Advisory Board sells a healthcare-focused research membership and advisory platform to provider, payer, life sciences, and digital health organizations. Its core deliverable is a subscription research membership giving access to 200+ in-house experts, 300+ new research deliverables per year, proprietary forecasting and benchmarking tools, webinars, and expert conversations. The membership is complemented by paid custom research, expert support services, an executive fellowship, live events, sponsorships, and the AskAdvisory direct-to-expert service.

Product overview

Advisory Board is a healthcare research and advisory firm offering a platform of research membership services and analytical tools. The core offering is the Research Membership, which provides access to insights from over 200 experts, over 300 research deliverables annually, and forecasting tools. This is supplemented by Expert Support, Custom Research, and Advisory Board Fellowship for leadership development. The company also provides complementary products including AskAdvisory (direct-to-expert service), Daily Briefing newsletter, Radio Advisory podcast, and On-Demand Courses/Webinars. A suite of analytics and forecasting tools includes Market Scenario Planner, Demographic Profiler, Clinician Supply Profiler, and various benchmarking tools for hospitals, health plans, and post-acute care providers. Advisory Board AI provides AI-powered search capabilities across the research library. Events and Sponsorship round out the product portfolio for networking and thought leadership opportunities.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

Advisory Board AI: AI-powered research assistant for quick, self-service questions from Advisory Board's research library
AskAdvisory

Products and services

Research Membership Annual subscription giving healthcare organizations access to over 200 in-house researchers, 300+ new research deliverables each year, proprietary forecasting and benchmarking tools, webinars, and expert conversations on healthcare strategy, operations, workforce, policy, and value-based care.
Custom Research Project-based original research conducted by Advisory Board experts on a topic specified by the client organization, delivering actionable insights contextualized to that organization's strategic challenges and priorities.
Expert Support Engagement service connecting member organizations with Advisory Board experts for expert-led presentations, individualized strategic support, and workshops tailored to the member's most pressing healthcare challenges.
Advisory Board Fellowship Immersive executive leadership program equipping healthcare leaders to operate in complexity through strategic leadership shifts, peer collaboration, and one-on-one executive coaching.
Advisory Board Events In-person and virtual events including the annual Advisory Board Summit, Virtual Summits, and topic-specific roundtables (e.g., Oncology Roundtable, Value-Based Care events) designed to deliver industry insights and peer networking.
On-Demand Courses and Webinars Expert-led webinars and on-demand courses covering state of the healthcare industry, value-based care, health system strategy, specialty care market trends, workforce, and other healthcare leadership topics.
Sponsorship Thought leadership sponsorship opportunities that allow brands to showcase expertise, elevate brand awareness, and engage healthcare decision-makers through Advisory Board's tools, tactics, and distribution channels.
AskAdvisory Direct-to-expert member service that helps healthcare leaders navigate their Advisory Board membership, the research library, and their most pressing strategic challenges with a human expert. Pairs with Advisory Board AI for self-service questions and escalates to experts when deeper guidance is needed.
Advisory Board AI AI-powered search and question-answering product that delivers fast, self-service answers drawn from Advisory Board's trusted research library, with seamless escalation to AskAdvisory experts when more complex guidance is needed.

Quantifiable outcome

Reaches 165,000+ healthcare executives daily through Daily Briefing newsletter
+2 more outcomes

Companies that use Advisory Board

Customer profile

Named customers3 records

Segments14 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Advisory Board technology and API

Technology

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API: No
API docs
API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability2 records

Feature8 records

Advisory Board partnerships and signals

Strategic signal

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

OptumcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 December 2025Advisory Board and Optum experts collaborated on a three-part webinar series 'The State of the Healthcare Industry in 2026' previewing trends reshaping the U.S. healthcare industry including federal funding cuts, rising medical costs, and diffusion of care decision-making. The partnership combines Advisory Board's research expertise with Optum's industry operations perspective.
LocumTenens.comcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 May 2025Advisory Board partnered with LocumTenens.com to conduct a workforce survey of more than 730 physicians and advanced practice providers, revealing that 41% of clinicians may change jobs by 2027. The research provides insights into clinician satisfaction, job selection factors, and workforce trends affecting healthcare organizations.
VSP Vision CarecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 April 2025VSP Vision Care partnered with Advisory Board to conduct comprehensive research on vision care utilization, satisfaction, and preferences among Medicare and Medicare Advantage beneficiaries. The partnership produced the 2025 Medicare Vision Insights Report, surveying nearly 800 beneficiaries and five health plan executives, challenging common misconceptions about vision benefits in Medicare Advantage plans.
UnitedHealth GroupminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAdvisory Board is a subsidiary of Optum, which is part of UnitedHealth Group. The parent company's career site is referenced for job postings. Advisory Board operates as an independent research organization within the UnitedHealth Group ecosystem.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Advisory Board competitors and assessment

Company assessment

Direct peers

KLAS Research: Healthcare-specific research and benchmarking firm producing vendor evaluations and industry studies for provider and payer buyers — directly comparable to Advisory Board's research membership and benchmarking tools.
Sg2 (Vizient): Healthcare intelligence, forecasting, and consulting provider for hospitals and health systems; now part of Vizient. Directly comparable to Advisory Board's Market Scenario Planner and member forecasting offerings.
Definitive Healthcare: Healthcare commercial intelligence and analytics platform serving life sciences, providers, and investors — comparable to Advisory Board's data and analytical tools for healthcare market insight.
The Chartis Group: Healthcare-focused advisory firm providing strategy, performance excellence, and digital transformation consulting to providers and payers — comparable to Advisory Board's strategic advisory and expert support services.

Broad incumbents

HIMSS (Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society): Global membership organization serving the health information and technology ecosystem with research, education, and events — comparable to Advisory Board in membership/community model but broader in HIT focus.
Vizient: Large healthcare performance improvement and analytics company serving providers, with research and benchmarking offerings that overlap with Advisory Board's strategic advisory and analytics tools.
Gartner: Global research and advisory firm operating subscription-based research memberships across industries including healthcare — comparable business model to Advisory Board's Research Membership, though at much larger scale and broader scope.
McKinsey Healthcare Practice: Global management consulting practice serving healthcare leaders on strategy, operations, and transformation — competes with Advisory Board's Custom Research, Expert Support, and Fellowship at the high end of the advisory market.
Deloitte Healthcare: Large professional services practice serving health systems, plans, and life sciences companies with consulting and advisory services — comparable to Advisory Board's enterprise advisory engagements.

Emerging players

Trilliant Health: Healthcare analytics and market intelligence platform focused on demand forecasting and consumer behavior — comparable to Advisory Board's forecasting tools (e.g., Market Scenario Planner, Demographic Profiler) but with a more product-led orientation.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

Advisory Board financial estimates

Financial estimate

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Advisory Board leadership team

Management profile

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Advisory Board funding detail

Funding detail

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors1 record

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Advisory Board M&A and investment

M&A and investment

M&A7 records

Investments1 record

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Advisory Board

What does Advisory Board do?

Is Advisory Board a public or private company?

Advisory Board is a private company. It is classified as corporate owned and is currently operating.

When was Advisory Board founded?

Advisory Board was founded in 1984. It employs 1,001 to 5,000 people.

Where is Advisory Board based?

Advisory Board is headquartered in Washington, United States, in the North America region.

How does Advisory Board make money?

Eight revenue lines are on record. Research Membership is the primary driver. The others are custom Research, events & Roundtables, expert Support, advisory Board Fellowship, webinars, sponsorship and askAdvisory.

Who are Advisory Board's main competitors?

Direct peers on record are KLAS Research, Sg2 (Vizient), Definitive Healthcare and The Chartis Group. Broad incumbents are HIMSS (Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society), Vizient, Gartner, McKinsey Healthcare Practice and Deloitte Healthcare. Trilliant Health is listed as an emerging player.

Does Advisory Board have an API?

No public API is recorded for Advisory Board.

What industry is Advisory Board in?

Advisory Board's product category is Healthcare Research & Advisory. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPAHAFAC, Governance & Board Effectiveness Advisory. Its NAICS code is 5416 and its SIC code is 8742.