Health Research and Educational Trust

What Health Research and Educational Trust does

Health Research and Educational Trust (HRET) is the not-for-profit research and education affiliate of the American Hospital Association (AHA), established in 1944 and renamed from its original 'Hospital Research and Educational Trust' designation in 1999. It was created because AHA's IRS classification disqualified the parent association from receiving most research and educational grants, so a separate tax-eligible entity was needed to underwrite AHA's applied research mission. HRET conducts applied research aimed at producing new knowledge, tools, and assistance that help hospitals, health systems, and practitioners improve health care delivery within the communities they serve. Its scope was formally broadened from inpatient-hospital to broader health and community health research when the name was changed to 'Health Research and Educational Trust' in 1999.

HRET operates as a single unified research and education organization rather than a multi-product platform, and its underlying technology stack is not disclosed. Outputs consist of research reports, educational resources, and applied-research deliverables distributed through AHA's channels — including the AHA Annual Membership Meeting, AHA Leadership Summit, AHA Rural Health Care Leadership Conference, AHA Today newsletter, AHA Stat Blog, and the Advancing Health Podcast — and through AHA's affiliated bodies such as the AHA Center for Health Innovation. The organization is governed by a Board of Trustees drawn from the senior leadership of US health systems (including the CEO of Ochsner Health and a representative of Endeavor Health), and its President, Chris DeRienzo, M.D., concurrently serves as AHA's Executive Vice President and Chief Physician Executive, signaling tight structural integration with the parent.

HRET has no commercial revenue model: it is a grant-funded 501(c)(3)-style not-for-profit, with no disclosed pricing, products for sale, or paying customers. Its operating geographies are the United States, and its beneficiary base is the full population of AHA-member hospitals, health systems, and state, regional, and metropolitan hospital associations. There is no app, no public API, no disclosed headcount, and no disclosed financial figures in the available source material.

Name

Health Research and Educational Trust

Legal name

Health Research and Educational Trust

Website

https://hret.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1944

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Founded in 1944, the Health Research and Educational Trust (HRET) is the not-for-profit research and education affiliate of the American Hospital Association, conducting applied research that produces knowledge, tools, and assistance to improve health care delivery for US hospitals and health systems.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Chicago

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D

Core offering

HRET is the not-for-profit research and education affiliate of the American Hospital Association (AHA), conducting applied research to create new knowledge, tools, and assistance aimed at improving health care delivery by providers and practitioners within the communities they serve. Established in 1944, HRET operates as AHA's research and education arm, supporting U.S. hospitals and health systems through research findings and educational resources.

Product overview

HRET operates as a single unified organization (not a platform with modules) — it is the research and education arm of the American Hospital Association. Its core function is applied research to create knowledge, tools, and assistance for improving health care delivery by providers and practitioners within communities they serve. The organization produces annual reports and historical documents documenting its impact work from 2010-2017.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Health Research & Educational Trust (HRET) Applied health care research, educational resources, knowledge products, and tools designed to transform health care delivery by providers and practitioners within the communities they serve. Made available to U.S. hospitals, health systems, state/regional/metro hospital associations, and the AHA membership network.

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• American Hospital Association (AHA)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerHRET is the not-for-profit research and education affiliate of the American Hospital Association. The relationship involves deep integration where HRET conducts applied research and education as part of AHA's ecosystem, supporting the nation's hospitals and health systems. HRET's President also serves as Executive Vice President and Chief Physician Executive of AHA.

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights2 records

Direct peers

• AcademyHealth: AcademyHealth is a leading nonprofit organization that produces applied health services research and convenes the field, comparable to HRET's mission of advancing health care delivery through research and education.
• Commonwealth Fund: The Commonwealth Fund is a foundational health policy research organization with overlapping interests in care delivery transformation, and historically an HRET partner funder—making it both a peer and an ecosystem participant.
• Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI): PCORI funds comparative clinical effectiveness and health care delivery research aimed at giving patients and providers evidence-based information, directly comparable to HRET's applied research on improving care delivery.
• Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF): KFF is an independent nonprofit focused on national health policy research and journalism, making it a direct peer to HRET's health policy and delivery research function.
• National Academy of Medicine: NAM produces authoritative research, consensus reports, and guidance on health and health care delivery, comparable to HRET's research and educational mission aimed at provider and system improvement.
• America's Essential Hospitals: America's Essential Hospitals is a hospital association that conducts research and policy work on quality and equity for member safety-net hospitals, comparable to HRET's positioning as the research arm of a major hospital association.

Broad incumbents

• Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ): AHRQ is the U.S. federal agency that funds and conducts research to improve the quality, safety, and effectiveness of health care, providing a public-sector parallel to HRET's delivery-focused research mission.
• RAND Corporation: RAND Health conducts rigorous applied research on health care delivery, quality, and policy worldwide, overlapping with HRET's applied research scope but at much broader scale and with proprietary methodology assets.
• Robert Wood Johnson Foundation: RWJF funds large-scale applied research and programs to improve health and health care in the U.S., operating in a broader philanthropic capacity than HRET but on overlapping research themes such as quality, equity, and delivery reform.

Emerging players

• Premier Inc. Premier operates a healthcare performance improvement and applied analytics platform used by U.S. hospitals and health systems, overlapping with HRET's applied research into care delivery, quality, and performance improvement.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/hrettweets
• YouTubeyoutube.com/user/AHAhospitals
• Facebookfacebook.com/ahahospitals
• Instagraminstagram.com/ahahospitals

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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

M&A

Investments

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

Frequently asked questions about Health Research and Educational Trust