NRC Health (NRC)

The Governance Institute Releases Falling Behind Report, Warning Health System Operations Are Advancing Faster than GovernanceApril 27, 2026 11:59 AM
Business Wire
Released during TGI’s 250th Leadership Conference, the report calls for a redesign of governance to match the complexity of modern healthcare.


The Governance Institute (TGI), a service of NRC Health, today released Falling Behind: Health System Operations Are Advancing Faster than Governance, a new governance brief examining whether today's health system governance models are keeping pace with the scale, complexity, and speed of modern healthcare.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260427225909/en/The Governance Institute (TGI), a service of NRC Health, today released Falling Behind: Health system operations are advancing faster than governance, a new governance brief examining whether today's health system governance models are keeping pace with the scale, complexity, and speed of modern healthcare. The report was released during TGI's 250th Leadership Conference in Scottsdale, Arizona, where healthcare trustees, executives, physician leaders, and governance experts are gathering under the theme, "A defining moment for healthcare governance."
The report was released during TGI's 250th Leadership Conference in Scottsdale, Arizona, where healthcare trustees, executives, physician leaders, and governance experts are gathering under the theme, "A defining moment for healthcare governance."


Falling Behind argues that U.S. healthcare has outgrown the way it is governed. A shrinking number of boards now oversee larger, more interconnected systems, while artificial intelligence, federal policy shifts, workforce strain, reimbursement pressure, market disruption, and rising expectations are increasing both the complexity of decisions and the stakes of getting them wrong.


"This is not a critique of boards. It is a recognition that healthcare has advanced faster than the governance model supporting it,” said Steve Kett, Chief Executive Officer of The Governance Institute. “Boards are deeply committed, but commitment alone is not enough. Governance must now be designed, developed, and supported as a core enterprise capability."


The report highlights several data points that underscore the scale of the challenge:



An estimated 1,500 fiduciary boards oversee roughly $900 billion in hospital net patient revenue across the mission-driven hospital sector.



Roughly 70 percent of boards lack continuing education requirements, while average board meeting time spent on director education is less than 10 percent.



TGI estimates that less than 0.01 percent of hospital patient revenue is invested in board development.



The report further identifies two major consequences of the governance gap: degraded decision quality and weaker feedback across complex health systems. When boards lack the structures and information flow needed to integrate decisions, issues such as quality, workforce, finance, strategy, risk, digital transformation, access, and mission can be considered in silos rather than as interconnected enterprise decisions.


"NRC Health's work is grounded in the belief that better understanding drives better decisions,” said David Burik, Executive Vice President, Strategic Insights for NRC Health. “This report extends that idea into the boardroom. The next era of healthcare requires governance that can listen across the enterprise, integrate what it hears, and act with confidence."


Introducing the Governance Trilogy™


Falling Behind introduces TGI's Governance Trilogy™, a practical maturity framework designed to help boards identify the governance capability they have built and the capability they need next:



Intentional Governance™ - Foundation: the board masters responsibilities, including role clarity, authority, structure, recruitment, education, evaluation, and accountability.



Integrated Governance™ - Decision quality: the board weighs quality, workforce, finance, strategy, risk, digital, access, and mission together so tradeoffs are explicit.



Enterprise Governance™ - System performance: the governance system is designed for scale, with clear decision rights, distributed authority, accountability, and feedback loops.



Next step: Blue-Ribbon Committee on Health System Governance


TGI also announced that it will convene a Blue-Ribbon Committee on Health System Governance this summer. The committee will bring together experienced trustees, health system leaders, clinicians, governance experts, legal and regulatory advisors, capital markets perspectives, and innovation leaders to inform the next phase of governance practice and revitalize TGI's board assessment approach.


Click here to read the full report.


About The Governance Institute


The Governance Institute, a service of NRC Health, provides trusted, independent information, resources, tools, and solutions to board members, healthcare executives, and clinician leaders in support of their efforts to lead and govern their organizations. TGI supports not-for-profit hospital and health system boards through research, publications, conferences, assessments, education, and advisory services.


About NRC Health


For 45 years, NRC Health (NASDAQ: NRC) has led the charge to humanize healthcare and support organizations in their understanding of each unique individual. NRC Health’s commitment to Human Understanding helps leading healthcare systems get to know the patients, families, consumers, employees, and communities they serve on a human level. Guided by its uniquely empathic heritage, human-centered approach, unmatched national market research, and emphasis on consumer preferences, NRC Health is transforming the healthcare experience, creating strong outcomes across the healthcare journey.


The organization recently received the 2026 Best in KLAS Award for Healthcare Experience Management, independently validating NRC Health’s relentless pursuit of excellence in healthcare through innovation and deep partnerships that bring together its comprehensive experience management platform, advanced technology, and proven techniques to drive the most human healthcare experiences.


For more information, email info@nrchealth.com or visit www.nrchealth.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260427225909/en/
Media Contact:

BPD Healthcare

nrc@bpdhealthcare.com


Original: The Governance Institute Releases Falling Behind Report, Warning Health System Operations Are Advancing Faster than Governance

NRC Health Announces Board Authorization of $60 Million Share Repurchase ProgramMarch 9, 2026 4:30 PM
Business Wire
National Research Corporation, dba NRC Health, (NASDAQ: NRC), a leader in healthcare experience improvement solutions, today announced that its Board of Directors authorized a stock repurchase program of up to $60 million of the company’s outstanding common stock through March 31, 2028.


NRC Health may repurchase shares from time to time in the open market, through privately negotiated transactions and/or other means in compliance with the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the rules and regulations thereunder. Open market repurchases may be structured to occur in accordance with the requirements of Rule 10b-18 under the Exchange Act. The Company may also, from time to time, enter into Rule 10b5-1 plans to facilitate repurchases of shares of common stock under this authorization. The timing, manner, price, and amount of any repurchases will be determined by NRC Health at its discretion, and will depend on a variety of factors, including business, economic and market conditions, prevailing stock prices, corporate and regulatory requirements, and other considerations. The repurchase program may be suspended or discontinued at any time.


About NRC Health


For more than 40 years, NRC Health (NASDAQ: NRC) has led the charge to humanize healthcare and support organizations in their understanding of each unique individual. NRC Health’s commitment to Human Understanding® helps leading healthcare systems get to know the patients, families, consumers, employees, and communities they serve on a human level. Guided by its uniquely empathic heritage, human-centered approach, unmatched national market research, and emphasis on consumer preferences, NRC Health is transforming the healthcare experience, creating strong outcomes across the healthcare journey. For more information, email info@nrchealth.com, or visit www.nrchealth.com.


Forward-Looking Statements


This press release contains certain statements that may be considered forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and such statements are subject to the safe harbor created by those sections and the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, as amended. Such statements may be identified by their use of terms or phrases such as “believes,” “expect,” “focus,” “potential,” “will,” derivations thereof, and similar terms and phrases. In this press release, the statements related to future dividends are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based upon the current beliefs and expectations of our management and are inherently subject to risks and uncertainties, some of which cannot be predicted or quantified, which could cause future events and actual results to differ materially from those set forth in, contemplated by, or underlying the forward-looking statements, including those risks and uncertainties as set forth in the Risk Factors section of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2025, and various disclosures in our press releases, stockholder reports, and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We disclaim any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect actual results or changes in the factors affecting the forward-looking information.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260309373531/en/
Media Contact

marketing@nrchealth.com


Investor Contact

ir@nrchealth.com


Original: NRC Health Announces Board Authorization of $60 Million Share Repurchase Program

NRC Health Provides Business UpdateMarch 4, 2026 4:15 PM
Business Wire
TRCV surpasses $152 million, increasing 6% from the end of 2025 and 13% year-over-year


National Research Corporation, dba NRC Health, (NASDAQ: NRC), a leader in healthcare experience improvement solutions, today announced that it has surpassed $152 million in Total Recurring Contract Value (TRCV) as of March 4, 2026, representing an all-time high in the metric for NRC Health.


TRCV represents the amount of revenue projected to be recognized over the next 12 months from renewable contracts and is calculated consistent with the definition previously disclosed in the company’s periodic reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.


“This TRCV milestone reflects the confidence our health system partners place in NRC Health and the continued expansion of our long-term relationships,” said Trent Green, Chief Executive Officer of NRC Health. “We believe our platform, which connects the voice of the consumer to decision-making across the healthcare journey, is increasingly critical to our customers’ growth and operational strategies.”


The TRCV milestone announced today does not reflect the company’s complete financial results for the quarter ended March 31, 2026.


About NRC Health


For more than 40 years, NRC Health (NASDAQ: NRC) has led the charge to humanize healthcare and support organizations in their understanding of each unique individual. NRC Health’s commitment to Human Understanding® helps leading healthcare systems get to know the patients, families, consumers, employees, and communities they serve on a human level. Guided by its uniquely empathic heritage, human-centered approach, unmatched national market research, and emphasis on consumer preferences, NRC Health is transforming the healthcare experience, creating strong outcomes across the healthcare journey. For more information, email info@nrchealth.com, or visit www.nrchealth.com.


Forward-Looking Statements


This press release contains certain statements that may be considered forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and such statements are subject to the safe harbor created by those sections and the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, as amended. Such statements may be identified by their use of terms or phrases such as “believes,” “expect,” “focus,” “potential,” “will,” derivations thereof, and similar terms and phrases. In this press release, the statements related to future dividends are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based upon the current beliefs and expectations of our management and are inherently subject to risks and uncertainties, some of which cannot be predicted or quantified, which could cause future events and actual results to differ materially from those set forth in, contemplated by, or underlying the forward-looking statements, including those risks and uncertainties as set forth in the Risk Factors section of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2024, and various disclosures in our press releases, stockholder reports, and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We disclaim any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect actual results or changes in the factors affecting the forward-looking information.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260304702119/en/
Media Contact

marketing@nrchealth.com


Investor Contact

ir@nrchealth.com


Original: NRC Health Provides Business Update

moving on up