Healthcare Market Research
Healthcare market research is the study of how patients, members, providers, employers, administrators, and payers make decisions – and how organizations can use those insights to design better products and services at the right prices, while improving member, patient and provider experiences.
TRC has conducted healthcare market research for more than 30 years, working across health insurers, hospitals and health systems, medical device manufacturers, and companies offering other products and services in the healthcare ecosystem.
We combine quantitative methods – like conjoint analysis, brand equity measurement, segmentation, and pricing research with deep qualitative work to answer the questions that matter most to healthcare decision-makers.
Healthcare Sectors We Work With
Health Insurers and Payers
We help health insurance companies understand why members enroll, stay, or leave. Our work spans benefit design, plan configuration, member satisfaction and loyalty, and the trade-offs various consumer types make when choosing coverage.
We actively engage online communities of health insurance members to capture real, day-to-day member experience, and their preferences and attitudes. But our work goes beyond, providing help to practices, providers, employers and brokers.
Hospitals & Health Systems
We help hospitals and health systems quantify brand value, set defensible prices, and understand how patients choose where to receive care. Our brand-equity and conjoint work measures how much a hospital’s brand is actually worth in a competitive market and where that value is concentrated across service lines.
Medical Device Manufacturers
We support medical device manufacturers across the product lifecycle – from early concept and message testing through pricing and launch – with research designed for high-stakes decisions. Our conjoint analysis and pricing research help manufacturers understand how physicians, administrators, and purchasing committees weigh clinical features, evidence, and cost when evaluating new technology, while segmentation work identifies which stakeholder groups drive adoption decisions.
Other Products and Services in the Healthcare Ecosystem
We bring the same market research rigor to other players in the healthcare ecosystem, including digital health and telehealth companies, ancillary benefits providers (dental and vision), and pharmacy and pharmacy benefits management (PBM) organizations. Whether the question is how to price a new digital health offering, how to segment a fragmented member base, or how to improve satisfaction and retention among plan participants, we help these organizations make evidence-based decisions in a rapidly shifting market.
Healthcare Research Methods We Use
Healthcare decisions are rarely simple, so we match the method to the question:
- Conjoint analysis – for benefit design, plan configuration, and pricing decisions where customers weigh multiple features at once.
- Brand equity research – to quantify how much a hospital or health-plan brand is worth, and where that value concentrates.
- Pricing research – to test price sensitivity across procedures, plans, or devices before a decision is made.
- Market segmentation – to identify and profile the patient, member, or provider groups that matter most.
- Satisfaction & loyalty – to measure and improve the member and patient experience over time.
- Online research communities – ongoing access to healthcare consumers for real-time, qualitative depth.
Your Data Is Protected: HITRUST Certified and SOC 2 Attested
TRC has earned HITRUST CSF® Certification and an independent SOC 2 attestation for information security. For healthcare clients, this matters in practice: our HITRUST certification allows us to contact insurance and network members or patients directly and include their data in our analysis, under rigorous, independently validated controls.
These certifications place TRC in an elite group of research firms equipped to handle sensitive and regulated healthcare data.
Healthcare Insights from Our Team
Our senior researchers write regularly on the questions shaping healthcare today.
Case Studies - Healthcare, Hospital Systems, and Medical Devices
Read how we helped our healthcare clients clients uncover their most valuable products or services, as well as new opportunities, so they could appeal to, capture, and retain their customers.
Third Party Verified Client Recommendations
Greenbook.org, the market research industry directory, reached out to our clients and verified their reviews of TRC.
“TRC are excellent partners. They listened to the business problem we were trying to solve and worked with us to design research that would yield actionable insights. The research didn’t just give us interesting findings. It gave us the precise direction we needed. The project management was stellar. We always knew exactly where we were in the process. TRC also pay great attention to detail and quality. I always know I can rely on the accuracy of the data they provide.”
Verified Client – Market Strategy and Insights Manager, Healthcare, 2500 or more employees
Leading Healthcare Companies Choose Us
This is just a partial list that we can share
Advanced IVR Functionality and Reporting
A Cost-Effective Way to Meet Regulatory Requirements and Improve the Patient/Member Experience
TRC’S IVR (Interactive Voice Response) practice provides insight and reporting tools that far exceed state- and federal-level requirements for patients and members. An easy, intuitive interface can be used on any phone. Questions can be driven by simple rating scales, or opened up to capture more complex, transcribable answers. Our system supports inbound calls and enhancements including email and text outreach.
Reporting options include targeted performance measures for Providers, Regions, States and other regulatory bodies, as well as any number of KPIs your organization might use to monitor and improve the member experience.
We can even upload results and reports to a secure online portal with strong individual access controls built in.
Healthcare Research Experts
Frequently Asked Questions
What is healthcare market research?
Healthcare market research studies how patients, members, providers, and payers make decisions, so healthcare organizations can design better products, set defensible prices, and improve the patient and member experience. It combines quantitative methods like conjoint and pricing research with qualitative depth.
How do hospitals measure the value of their brand?
Brand value is measured by asking consumers to make realistic care choices – trading off hospital brand against cost, timing, and convenience. This quantifies brand value in dollars and shows where it’s concentrated. Brand value tends to be highest for serious or complex care and lower for routine care.
How is patient and member data kept secure in healthcare research?
TRC holds HITRUST CSF® Certification and an independent SOC 2 attestation. These independently validated controls let us work directly with insurance and network members’ data under rigorous security standards.
What research methods work best for healthcare pricing decisions?
Conjoint analysis is a core method because healthcare pricing involves trade-offs among features, coverage, and cost. For hospitals, brand-equity work shows where pricing power is concentrated across service lines.