The Advisory Board Company and HIMSS Analytics to Collaborate to Solve Health Care IT Challenges

WASHINGTON, March 1 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The Advisory Board Company and HIMSS Analytics™ LLC are collaborating to provide a new level of business-oriented information technology (IT) research to health care executives and IT leaders.  Through this affiliation, data from the HIMSS Analytics™ Database will be provided to The Advisory Board Company as the foundation for new and expanded services and projects.

Both organizations recognize that hospitals and health systems now face mounting pressures to reach the full potential of their IT systems and drive broad performance improvement for their institutions. This initiative will help IT professionals meet these challenges by pairing HIMSS Analytics' deep IT knowledge and rich database with the Advisory Board's best practice operational and clinical expertise. David E. Garets, President and Chief Executive Officer of HIMSS Analytics, and Mike Davis, Executive Vice President of HIMSS Analytics, will leave HIMSS Analytics at the end of March to join The Advisory Board Company and lead the effort.

"We are thrilled to tap into the deep data resources of HIMSS Analytics," said Robert Musslewhite, Chief Executive Officer of The Advisory Board Company. "CIOs across our 2,600+ hospital and health system members face key challenges in change management, performance improvement, and transparency.  Together with HIMSS Analytics data, we will provide CIOs and other executives with a new level of support as they work to implement key information systems and drive real gains for their institutions."

With the proposed rules for meaningful use for the electronic health record now under review, internal and market forces are converging to require more integrated clinical models in order to deliver higher-value health care.  In this context, innovative workflow processes and clinical practice, built upon sound IT choices and strong implementation execution, are critical to future hospital and health system success.  The Advisory Board Company, together with HIMSS Analytics data, will enable hospital and health systems to improve technology adoption by physicians and other important stakeholders, leverage the technology to impact care delivery, and drive continued value from IT investments.

"The addition of HIMSS Analytics' data on IT processes and environments, costs and management metrics, and purchasing decisions will greatly enrich the work that we do with our member CIOs," said Musslewhite. "This initiative also provides an outstanding opportunity for us to serve the broader executive suite in a more in-depth way on technology issues that are strategically important to the future success of their institutions.  We are particularly excited about the IT knowledge and expertise that Dave and Mike bring to the Advisory Board.  This is a winning combination, and I am confident that it will create tremendous value for our members and for all the additional members who come on board to take advantage of this work."

"Successful IT choices require deep expertise on the environment in which the system will operate," said H. Stephen Lieber, President and CEO of Healthcare Information Management Systems Society (HIMSS). "The Advisory Board's nuanced understanding of best practices in the clinical and operational setting of hospitals provides a critical perspective to IT leaders.  For our part, HIMSS Analytics is excited about this new chapter in our work.  Together, HIMSS Analytics and the Advisory Board will support IT users, business users, and clinical users across the full project planning and implementation cycle to yield successful IT projects that drive real returns.  We look forward to a long and fruitful relationship."

For more information or to register for The Advisory Board Company's Web conference on the new suite of services for health care IT leaders, visit www.advisory.com/public/cio.

About The Advisory Board Company

The Advisory Board Company provides best practices research, analysis, executive education and leadership development, software tools, and installation support services primarily to the health care industry, focusing on business strategy, operations, and general management issues. The Company provides best practices and research through discrete programs to a membership of approximately 2,800 organizations, including leading hospitals, health systems, pharmaceutical and biotech companies, health care insurers, medical device companies, colleges, universities, and other education institutions. Members of each program are typically charged a fixed annual fee and have access to an integrated set of services that may include best practice research studies, executive education seminars, customized research briefs, web-based access to the program's content database, and software tools.

About HIMSS Analytics

HIMSS Analytics is a wholly owned not-for-profit subsidiary of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS). HIMSS Analytics collects and analyzes healthcare information related to IT processes and environments, products, IS department composition and costs, IS department management metrics, healthcare trends and purchase-related decisions. HIMSS Analytics delivers high quality products, services and analytical expertise to healthcare delivery organizations, healthcare IT companies, state governments, financial companies, pharmaceutical companies, and consulting firms. Visit www.himssanalytics.org  for more information.

SOURCE The Advisory Board Company