Professional Research Consultants, Inc. (PRC)

What Professional Research Consultants, Inc. (PRC) does

Professional Research Consultants, Inc. (PRC) is a privately held healthcare research and advisory company founded in 1980 and headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska. PRC specializes in healthcare-focused survey research, analytics, consulting, and call center services, serving hospitals, health systems, public health departments, outpatient surgery centers, dialysis facilities, and community health organizations across the United States. The company holds CAHPS-approved vendor status from CMS for HCAHPS, ICH CAHPS, and CAHPS for MIPS, and reports that its clients achieve a 34% HCAHPS response rate versus the 22% national average.

PRC's product portfolio is anchored by the EasyView analytics platform (web portal and mobile app), which delivers reporting and benchmarking across all of its survey programs. Core offerings include Community Health Needs Assessments (CHNAs), Market Perception solutions featuring the proprietary Brand Power Index, Patient Experience and Government Surveys (HCAHPS, CAHPS, Voices, PIX Surveys, PRC Connect, End-to-End Patient Experience), Employee and Physician Experience solutions, AHRQ Surveys on Patient Safety Culture, Public Health solutions for emergency response and contact tracing, and HIPAA-compliant Call Center Services. The technology stack combines mobile-optimized Smart Surveys with a HITRUST-certified and SOC 2 Type II-assessed security infrastructure covering 19 security domains.

PRC generates revenue primarily through recurring annual survey administration contracts with healthcare organizations, supplemented by advisory and coaching engagements and access to the EasyView platform. The go-to-market is enterprise field sales targeting C-suite, quality officers, and patient experience leaders, complemented by inside sales, partner referral channels, and a thought-leadership marketing engine that includes an annual Healthcare Experience Summit, webinars, and the Healthcare Leadership Awards program.

Name

Professional Research Consultants, Inc. (PRC)

Legal name

Professional Research Consultants, Inc.

Website

https://prcexcellence.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1980

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

251–500 employees

Short description

Professional Research Consultants, Inc. (PRC) is a privately held, Omaha-based healthcare research and advisory firm founded in 1980 that provides CAHPS-approved survey administration, the EasyView analytics platform, and consulting services to hospitals, health systems, public health departments, and outpatient facilities across the United States.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Healthcare Survey Research & Advisory

NAICS

Marketing Research and Public Opinion Polling (541910)

SIC

Services-Health Services (8000)

akta.pro primary industry

Patient Feedback, Surveys, Reputation & Experience Measurement (VoC) (HLACAEAH)

akta.pro secondary industry

Monitoring, Evaluation, Performance Management & Quality Improvement (HLAJAMAJ)

Keywords

• Healthcare survey research
• Patient experience surveys
• HCAHPS survey administration
• Community health assessment
• Healthcare market research

Headquarters

HQ city

Omaha

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Healthcare Survey Services: PRC generates revenue through ongoing survey administration contracts with healthcare organizations, providing patient experience surveys (HCAHPS, CAHPS), employee and physician experience surveys, market perception research, and community health needs assessments on a recurring annual contract basis.
2. Advisory and Consulting Services: Revenue from consulting engagements including healthcare excellence coaching, CAHPS coaching team services, and strategic advisory related to survey improvement and patient experience optimization.
3. Software Platform Access: PRC EasyView platform access and reporting tools provided as part of client partnerships, enabling organizations to access survey data, analytics, and benchmarking capabilities.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

PRC delivers healthcare-focused survey research and advisory solutions for hospitals, health systems, and related organizations. Its offering centers on administering CAHPS-approved patient experience surveys (HCAHPS, ICH CAHPS, CAHPS for MIPS), employee and physician experience surveys, community health needs assessments, and brand perception research, supported by the EasyView analytics platform and HIPAA-compliant call center operations.

Product overview

Professional Research Consultants, Inc. (PRC) is a national healthcare research company established since 1980, offering a comprehensive suite of survey and advisory solutions for healthcare organizations. The core offering is anchored by the EasyView reporting platform (web portal and mobile app), which delivers data analysis and insights across multiple solution areas. The portfolio includes: Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) with over 30 years of experience; Market Perception solutions featuring Brand Intelligence Surveys, the proprietary Brand Power Index (BPI), Outmigration Research, Emerging Market Inquiry, and Online Ad Testing; Patient Experience & Government Surveys encompassing HCAHPS, CAHPS Government Surveys, Voices, PRC Connect, PIX Surveys, Star Ratings, and End-to-End Patient Experience solutions; Employee & Physician Experience including Employee Experience, Physician Experience, Pulse Studies, and AHRQ Studies; Public Health Solutions for emergency response and contact tracing; and Call Center Services. The EasyView platform serves as the central hub for accessing and analyzing data across all these survey solutions, providing a unified user experience for healthcare quality measurement and improvement.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• EasyView: Online reporting and analysis platform for PRC survey data and insights
• PRC Connect
• PRC Excellence Accelerator
• Brand Power Index (BPI)
• Voices
• PRC EasyView
• PRC Smart Surveys

Products and services

• EasyView User-friendly reporting and analytics platform (web portal and mobile app) that enables healthcare organizations to access survey data, insights, and benchmarking for performance improvement.
• Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) Community health needs assessment solution that helps hospitals, health systems, and public health organizations meet IRS tax exemption requirements and identify community health priorities.
• Brand Intelligence Survey Survey that provides a view of how hospitals are perceived within their market, combining unaided and aided questions to measure brand awareness and comparison against competitors.
• Outmigration Research Analysis of consumer behavior that reveals what services patients are leaving for, where they are going, and why, helping hospitals retain more patients.
• Emerging Market Inquiry Market-specific insights into consumer perceptions, expectations, and preferences to help healthcare organizations assess potential demand for facility expansion or acquisition.
• Online Ad Testing Service allowing testing of brand elements including names, logos, images, slogans, and messaging with target audiences before going live.
• HCAHPS Surveys Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems surveys administered on behalf of hospitals to measure patient experience and meet CMS requirements.
• CAHPS Government Surveys Suite of CAHPS surveys for various healthcare settings required by CMS for government reporting, administered as an approved vendor.
• Voices Patient experience survey solution under the Patient Experience & Government Surveys offering.
• PRC Connect Patient experience solution connecting various survey and feedback mechanisms with end-to-end calculations and service recovery tools.
• PIX Surveys (Psychiatric Inpatient Experience) Behavioral health survey measuring patient experience in psychiatric inpatient settings.
• Star Ratings Provider star ratings solution helping organizations understand and improve their CMS star ratings.
• ICH CAHPS (In-Center Hemodialysis CAHPS) Survey measuring patient experience for in-center hemodialysis patients, administered by PRC as an approved ICH CAHPS vendor.
• Employee Experience Experience management solution for measuring and improving employee engagement in healthcare organizations.
• Physician Experience Solution for measuring and improving physician satisfaction and experience.
• Pulse Studies Quick-turn employee pulse surveys for rapid feedback collection.
• AHRQ Studies (Surveys on Patient Safety Culture) Surveys measuring patient safety culture in healthcare organizations based on AHRQ methodologies.
• Public Health Solutions Support for various public health initiatives including emergency response, contact tracing, and vaccine monitoring.
• Call Center Services Inbound and outbound call center services handling sensitive patient information in a HIPAA-compliant manner for healthcare clients.
• PRC National Health Survey National health survey seeking to understand health experiences of Americans, including rural populations and specific health topics like GLP-1 medication use.
• Patient Safety Solutions Solutions focused on patient safety measurement and improvement.
• End-to-End Patient Experience Comprehensive patient experience solution covering the entire care journey including HCAHPS surveys, calculations, and service recovery tools.

Quantifiable outcome

• 34% HCAHPS response rate vs 22% national average
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments7 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• CMS (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 1980PRC is a CAHPS-approved vendor by CMS for administering official patient experience surveys including HCAHPS, ICH CAHPS, and CAHPS for MIPS. This partnership enables PRC to conduct government-mandated surveys that directly impact hospital reimbursement and public reporting through Medicare's Care Compare website.
• HCAHPS (Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPRC administers HCAHPS surveys as an approved CMS vendor, enabling healthcare organizations to meet federal requirements for patient experience measurement tied to Medicare reimbursement through the Hospital Value-Based Purchasing program.
• AHRQ (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPRC administers AHRQ Surveys on Patient Safety Culture (SOPS) and other AHRQ studies, supporting healthcare organizations in measuring and improving workplace safety culture and organizational performance.
• Lewis CommunicationsminorGTM or Marketing PartnerStrategic collaboration with healthcare marketing agency Lewis Communications to combine PRC brand research studies with additional audience intelligence, campaign performance data, and consumer segmentation for comprehensive brand strategy.
• Katz Amsterdam Foundation (KAF)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration with KAF supporting behavioral health research initiatives in mountain resort communities, utilizing PRC's community health needs assessment methodology alongside KAF's Shared Measurement Model for behavioral health data collection and policy advocacy.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Avatar Solutions: Avatar Solutions is a healthcare-specific patient and employee experience survey firm offering CAHPS, engagement, and culture measurement tools. It is a direct peer in the HCAHPS and healthcare employee survey market.
• SurveyVitals: SurveyVitals is a CAHPS-approved vendor offering patient experience surveys, real-time feedback, and CAHPS analytics for hospitals and medical practices. It is a direct smaller competitor serving overlapping customer segments.
• NRC Health: NRC Health is a healthcare-focused market research and patient experience company offering CAHPS surveys, loyalty tracking, and brand perception research. It competes directly with PRC across HCAHPS, employee engagement, and market perception solutions.
• Press Ganey: Press Ganey is the largest healthcare patient experience measurement firm, offering HCAHPS and CAHPS surveys, employee engagement, and patient experience analytics. It is PRC's most direct competitor in the same CMS-approved vendor and healthcare survey category.
• Strategic Healthcare Programs (SHP): Strategic Healthcare Programs provides CAHPS surveys, OAS CAHPS, HHCAHPS, and home health quality measurement to post-acute and home health providers. It is a comparable CMS-approved survey vendor with adjacent U.S. healthcare verticals.

Broad incumbents

• Medallia: Medallia is a customer experience management platform with healthcare-specific patient experience and employee engagement offerings. It competes with PRC at the enterprise analytics layer for healthcare organizations investing in unified experience platforms.
• Qualtrics (Patient Experience): Qualtrics provides enterprise experience management including healthcare patient and employee experience surveys, analytics, and benchmark data. While broader than PRC, it competes for healthcare experience management budgets especially in larger health systems.
• Deloitte (Healthcare Consulting): Deloitte's healthcare practice includes patient experience strategy, workforce engagement, and community health consulting for large health systems. It competes with PRC's advisory and consulting services for strategic engagement at the enterprise level.
• Gallup: Gallup provides healthcare employee engagement surveys, physician satisfaction measurement, and patient experience research through its Q12 and healthcare practice. It competes with PRC's Employee/Physician Experience solutions at large health systems.

Emerging players

• Health Catalyst: Health Catalyst is a healthcare analytics and outcomes platform that increasingly includes patient experience and workforce analytics modules. It is an emerging adjacent competitor as data platforms expand into the experience measurement space.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xtwitter.com/prcexcellence
• Facebookfacebook.com/PRCexcellence
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/prcexcellence
• Instagraminstagram.com/prcexcellence

Compliance4 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

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 Professional Research Consultants, Inc. (PRC)