ANN ARBOR, Mich.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Truven Health AnalyticsTM, a leading provider of healthcare analytics and data solutions and services, today announced the acquisition of Joan Wellman & Associates (JWA Consulting), an organization focused on the use of Advanced Lean in hospitals and health systems. The strategic acquisition combines Truven’s market-leading cost and quality analytics and consulting expertise with JWA’s pioneering healthcare process improvement capabilities to help healthcare stakeholders improve quality and safety while reducing costs and improving access to care.
The JWA acquisition follows closely on the heels of Truven Health’s April 2014 acquisition of Simpler Consulting, a global leader in providing Lean enterprise transformation services. JWA will add to Truven Health’s strengths in the Lean management arena, bringing additional specialized expertise in Advanced Lean Operating Systems, Lean leadership coaching and training, and Lean facility design.
“Our mission at Truven Health Analytics is to improve the cost and quality of healthcare, and today that often entails comprehensive review of delivery structures,” said Mike Boswood, Truven Health Analytics president and CEO. “By aligning JWA’s deep insights into performance improvement with our deep data and analytics and our rapidly growing Lean management practice, we are able to offer the end-to-end solutions our clients need to achieve truly transformative outcomes.”
JWA Consulting is a pioneer in adaptation of Toyota Production System principles for healthcare. JWA has built an exceptionally strong foundation in pediatric and academic healthcare, helping clients achieve dramatic improvements in operations and clinical quality, cost reduction, healthcare access and employee and patient safety.
“New payment models, regulatory requirements, competition, and consolidation have created unprecedented challenges and opportunities for innovation in healthcare,” said Joan Wellman, JWA CEO. “I’m thrilled at the prospect of working with Truven Health Analytics to pair our proven systems with the industry’s leading data and analytics. Together with Simpler, we hope to be the global leader in Lean transformation, creating an extraordinary new force in improving the quality, availability, and experience of healthcare.”
Wellman and the entire JWA management team will continue to run the business as part of the Simpler unit of Truven Health Analytics and will report into Marc Hafer, president, Simpler Consulting.
With this acquisition, Truven will offer a comprehensive range of analytics, data management, consulting, and performance improvement services to hospitals and health systems, including Lean training so that clients can achieve ever-improving access, delivery, and satisfaction with healthcare.
About Truven Health Analytics
At Truven Health Analytics we are dedicated to delivering the answers our clients need to improve healthcare quality and reduce costs. We are a healthcare analytics company with robust, widely-respected data assets and advanced analytic expertise that have served the global healthcare industry for more than 30 years. These combine with our unique perspective from across the entire healthcare industry to give hospitals, clinicians, employers, health plans, government agencies, life sciences researchers, and policymakers the confidence they need to make the right decisions, right now, every time. With our healthcare-specific expertise and tools for managing complex and disparate data, we understand how to implement and integrate tailored analytics that drive improvement.
Truven Health Analytics owns some of the most trusted brands in healthcare, such as Micromedex, ActionOI, 100 Top Hospitals, MarketScan, and Advantage Suite. Truven has its principal offices in Ann Arbor, Mich.; Chicago; and Denver. For more information, please visit www.truvenhealth.com.
