Qualtrics has completed its USD $6.75 billion acquisition of Press Ganey Forsta, significantly expanding its presence in healthcare.
The deal combines Qualtrics' Experience Management platform with Press Ganey Forsta's healthcare experience and patient feedback systems, used in more than 41,000 healthcare facilities worldwide. The enlarged business brings together a large body of healthcare experience data with Qualtrics' broader customer and employee experience software.
The acquisition strengthens Qualtrics' position in healthcare as hospitals and other providers face growing pressure to respond more quickly to patient expectations and service issues. Press Ganey Forsta's systems are used across much of the US hospital market, as well as in provider, payer and post-acute care settings.
The combination will also extend beyond healthcare into financial services, retail, hospitality, the public sector and technology. Qualtrics argues that the added healthcare data and context will strengthen its broader artificial intelligence work across experience management.
Jason Maynard, Chief Executive Officer of Qualtrics, described the deal as a response to changing customer and patient expectations shaped by artificial intelligence tools and digital services.
"AI permanently changed what people expect from every experience in their lives," said Jason Maynard, Chief Executive Officer, Qualtrics. "That's why the future will be won in the Experience Gap. Leaders want to deliver intelligent, responsive, and predictable human experiences. In the age of AI, experience is now the differentiator in every industry, and for the first time ever that problem can be solved in healthcare. The rich data and context intelligence we are building raises the standard for what experience management can do across every industry we serve."
Healthcare focus
Healthcare is at the centre of the acquisition. The expanded dataset includes decades of patient feedback information and healthcare operational context, which Qualtrics intends to use to help providers move beyond retrospective surveys toward more immediate and predictive responses.
In healthcare, experience management is increasingly tied to clinical, regulatory and operational demands. Patients now compare healthcare interactions not only with other hospitals, but with the service standards they encounter in travel, hospitality and other consumer-facing sectors.
That shift has increased pressure on hospitals and health systems to improve communication, responsiveness and continuity of care. The combined company aims to use patient and provider feedback data to help healthcare organisations identify issues earlier and act on them faster.
Several health system leaders backed the combination, focusing on the link between patient experience, workforce conditions and clinical outcomes.
"The opportunity ahead for healthcare is not simply more data or more AI, it is the ability to turn insight into timely, human-centered action," said David Entwistle, President and CEO, Stanford Health Care. "As the industry evolves, organisations that succeed will be those that pair proven technology with deep expertise in patient and care team experience to drive meaningful improvements in care delivery, trust, and outcomes."
"At Carilion, our focus is always delivering safe, high-quality care and the best care experience for our patients," said Steve Arner, President and CEO, Carilion Clinic. "To meet evolving community needs, health systems need to understand what patients and caregivers are experiencing in real time and respond thoughtfully. The combination of Qualtrics and Press Ganey Forsta will help identify timely insights to support informed decisions, stronger connections, and ultimately a better care experience for our team and the patients who depend on us."
Stephen J. Motew also highlighted the connection between patient experience and treatment outcomes.
"Our unwavering commitment has always been to deliver the highest quality, safest and most compassionate care for patients. The combination of Qualtrics and Press Ganey will enable our organisation to seamlessly bridge the gap between patient experience and clinical outcomes. We are excited to leverage these unified capabilities to surface real time insights, act faster and continuously elevate our standard of care," said Stephen J. Motew, M.D., President and CEO, UF Health.
Industry context
The deal reflects a broader move across healthcare and enterprise software to combine operational data with survey, feedback and sentiment information. Vendors argue this can give organisations a fuller picture of patient, customer and employee behaviour, particularly as artificial intelligence systems are applied to decision-making and workflow design.
Keith Kirkpatrick of The Futurum Group said the combination fits that trend.
"Qualtrics' acquisition of Press Ganey Forsta reflects a broader industry shift toward unifying experience and operational data to power AI-driven decision-making," said Keith Kirkpatrick, VP & Research Director, The Futurum Group. "By combining healthcare-specific benchmarking and provider data with its XM platform, healthcare organisations will be well positioned to transition from relying solely on retrospective insights to leveraging real-time, outcome-oriented actions that improve both patient and provider experiences."
John Couris, President and CEO of Tampa General Hospital, said: "This combination brings together two dynamic companies that provide deep AI-powered analytic insights and drive improvement, ultimately accelerating our goal to reach zero harm and build resiliency in the workforce, with the benefactors being our patients, families, clinicians and team members."