Avatar Leads the Trend in Providing Patient-Centric Improvement Solutions for Healthcare Industry

Posted: September 7, 2011

VSS Structured Capital I, an affiliate of Veronis Suhler Stevenson (VSS), a leading global private investment firm focused on the information, education, media, communications and business services industries, today announced that it has sold Avatar International, a premier provider of patient-centric, quality improvement solutions for the healthcare industry, to The Riverside Company. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Founded in 1981 and based in Orlando, FL, Avatar International provides customized, intelligent patient survey and reporting tools and training designed to improve the all-around patient experience. The Company — whose primary clients include health systems, large physician practices, group purchasing organizations and home health agencies — serves more than 400 hospital clients within more than 20 hospital systems, as well as 120 facilities representing 14,000 physicians, and 120 home health agencies. Avatar International is the industry’s only third-party, HIPAA-certified patient experience vendor, and provides clients with data that tracks a patient’s journey from admission to discharge.

Under VSS’s ownership, Avatar International has grown into a market leader, shifting and expanding its focus on providing comprehensive patient-centric solutions and positioning Avatar as the vendor with the most comprehensive approach to patient experience improvement in the U.S. market. Over the past three years, the Company has accumulated information on close to 25 million U.S. healthcare consumers and their interactions with healthcare providers, leading to improvements in the patient experience and bolstering healthcare provider accountability. Key development efforts since 2008 encompassed strengthening Avatar International’s management team, creating a research and quality department, and developing a structured sales team.