HealthStream Acquires Providigm to Drive Quality Outcomes via Workforce Training for the Nation’s Skilled Nursing Facilities

HealthStream (NASDAQ: HSTM), a leading provider of workforce and provider solutions for the healthcare industry, today announced that it has acquired Providigm LLC, a Denver-based company focused on quality assurance and performance improvement in healthcare, primarily serving skilled nursing facilities. HealthStream adds to its workforce development solutions with a comprehensive quality management system created by Providigm, known as “abaqis,” which is the leading SaaS-based quality-improvement program adopted by U.S. skilled nursing facilities.

HealthStream’s commitment to improving the quality of healthcare through the development of the healthcare workforce extends throughout the continuum of care, including the 15,600+ skilled nursing facilities in the U.S. and the 1.66 million employees working in them. New federal requirements by CMS are driving the need for innovative solutions to better manage quality and performance improvement in skilled nursing facilities. HealthStream’s acquisition of Providigm expands its marketplace of powerful solutions for the healthcare workforce in this important segment of the care continuum. With substantial overlap among acute care and skilled nursing facilities’ workforce competency requirements, the acquisition of Providigm and its SaaS-based products provides a particularly relevant and timely extension of HealthStream’s market-leading workforce solutions.

In 2016, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published revised Requirements of Participation (RoP) in Medicare and Medicaid for skilled nursing facilities, which introduced a “competency-based staffing approach.” Requirements for clinical staff assessments, demonstration of competencies, and competency-based education (among other requirements) were spread across three phases set to go into effect in November 2016, November 2017, and November 2019, respectively. The third phase requires all skilled nursing facilities to have programs in place to assess competencies, provide competency-based education, and document their effectiveness. If flagged for substandard compliance, admissions can be frozen and financial penalties levied. To date, over 2,000 skilled nursing facilities are already using Providigm’s abaqis to achieve better outcomes and compliance with RoP.