SPH Analytics Acquires DSS Research, Strengthens Market Position as the Nation’s Premier Health Plan Market Research and Experience Analytics Firm

Latest acquisition expands market presence to more than 350 health plans and 8,000 providers

Alpharetta, GA – SPH Analytics, the top-ranked satisfaction measurement firm in the Health Plan market, announced today its acquisition of DSS Research, creating the nation’s premier member experience measurement and analytics firm. The acquisition is part of SPH Analytics’ broader strategy to bring an integrated approach to the challenges of quality, cost, and experience in today’s healthcare climate.

“We recognize the growing and changing requirements for health care organizations to effectively support operations under value-based care models,” said Amy Amick, President and CEO of SPH Analytics. “This acquisition is reflective of our commitment to providing the industry with a holistic approach to understand and analyze clinical, financial and consumer experience data to optimize performance. The addition of DSS Research further expands our data science and market research capabilities to deliver even greater insights to our clients, and underscores SPH Analytics’ commitment to provide deep data analytics to our clients to help them understand and engage their patients and members more effectively.”

Complementary to SPH Analytics’ core mission, DSS Research has excelled in market research and experience analytics across the healthcare industry for more than 37 years, supporting some of the largest and most progressive health plans and provider organizations in the nation. The combined company now serves more than 400 health plans and more than 8000 providers including hospitals, physician practices, ambulatory surgery centers, Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs), clinically integrated networks (CINs), home health and hospice agencies, dialysis centers, and pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs). The integration of these two proven industry leaders will facilitate expanded investment in experience analytics, empowering the client base with even greater insights, and when coupled with SPH Analytics Member and Patient Engagement solutions, will help accelerate quality and experience improvements. 

Amick continued, “I have the utmost respect for DSS Research and for the leadership offered by Roger Gates over the past 37 years since he envisioned and created the company.  DSS was a pioneer in this industry and has continued to be a premier thought leader with a clear reputation for earning exceptional client loyalty driven by the world-class research capabilities the DSS team delivers.  I am excited to merge the DSS and SPH Analytics teams to bring an even higher level of excellence and impact to the clients we serve.”

Under the combined company, clients will have access to an expanded suite of solutions, including advanced SaaS analytics and dynamic benchmarking, expanded set of regulatory and insight surveys, robust custom market research, as well as multi-modality patient/member outreach. The combined company will hold 15 accreditations to help clients meet CMS and NCQA regulatory requirements.

“We are thrilled about this new chapter for DSS clients and teammates,” said Roger Gates, President and CEO of DSS Research. “SPH’s vision and proven ability to support client’s comprehensive quality agenda immediately expands the value DSS historically could bring to our clients. Combining DSS’s market research and member/patient experience expertise with SPH’s broader capabilities will help our clients develop a 360-degree understanding of their members and patients and provide the means to engage them in a more targeted and personalized way.  I am confident that our clients will benefit from the expanded vision and capabilities in the months and years to come”

Terms of the deal will not be disclosed. Roger Gates will move on to other pursuits after a short transition period, but the remainder of the DSS leadership team will be retained in the newly combined company.   SPH Analytics will continue to be headquartered in Alpharetta, GA, and will maintain the DSS Research offices in Fort Worth, TX, and Arlington, VA.

About SPH Analytics

SPH Analytics (SPH), a leader in healthcare analytics and population health management, empowers clients to analyze and interpret their clinical, financial, and consumer experience data to maximize their performance. SPH’s Population Care™, Population Value™, and Population Engage™ solutions are built on the innovative Nexus™ Platform, providing insights and impact to integrated health networks, ACOs, hospitals, ambulatory care providers, physician groups, and health plans. SPH’s quality measure dashboards, financial risk measurement, healthcare survey and patient outreach solutions, and consulting services empower clients to meet the Triple Aim by improving population health, reducing overall cost of care, and improving the patient experience.

SPH Analytics is a recognized leader in the industry, earning accolades as a top ranked population health vendor by KLAS, ranked the number one analytics firm out of the top 50 disruptive health IT companies by Black Book Research, and ranked number one in MACRA and MIPS Support Technology for Value-Based Care by Black Book Research. SPH Analytics has been providing insights to clients for more than 25 years and serves clients in all 50 states. Corporate headquarters are in metro Atlanta. SPH Analytics is a portfolio company of the $3 billion STG Partners. For more information, call 1-866-460-5681 or visit SPHAnalytics.com.