Premier Inc. scored the highest marks in this year's KLAS Healthcare Management Consulting report, garnering the highest overall rating in the report, which was released Thursday.
Premier achieved an overall score of 95.6, which was the highest rating of all companies analyzed. Premier also received the highest marks in the value-based care and financial improvement subcategories.
The industry research firm rated the performance of healthcare organizations and their solutions by gathering feedback from 276 provider and payer executives who use the organizations for consulting purposes.
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"The report noted that Premier services have helped providers achieve improved efficiency, workflows and cost savings, and access insights from peers regarding best practices and benchmarking," Premier said in a statement.
The top performers, which also included The Advisory Board and The Chartis Group, were found to have a broad healthcare focus, and therefore were better able to give clients a consistent experience across the spectrum of clients. While Premier dominated the value-based care and financial improvement consulting areas, Chartis Group grabbed the top spot when it came to strategy, growth and consolidation.
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However, the report also notes that when it comes to "delivering the strongest combination of insight and impact" it's actually Premier, Optum and Valence that clients lauded most. The report said Premier clients achieved improvement in efficiency, workflows and cost savings, and appreciated Premier's insights regarding peers' best practices and benchmarks. Optum grabbed attention for its robust modeling, data-presentation capabilities, analysis of clinical practices, patient populations and the financial and actuarial aspects of value-based care programs. Optum also excelled at assisting its clients with developing a better understanding of how to make a value-based care program financially sustainable. Finally, Valence Health was reviewed as being "highly knowledgeable" about pediatrics and provider-sponsored health plans, providing assurance for clients that it is "on the right track to VBC."
Some of the firms evaluated were categorized as broad firms, meaning KLAS was able to fully rate them in at least one consulting area and had limited data in at least one more area. A focused firm was was fully rated in only one key area. Premier, Chartis and Advisory Board were all counted as broad firms.
Twitter: @BethJSanborn