Out of all the different economic sectors, key performance indicators (KPIs) are critical to managing hospital and clinic operations. Demands on health care have dramatically risen in the last year under the Covid-19 pandemic, but improving health care quality, coverage, and outcomes within the resources available is a constant for health care systems.
Hospitals, clinics and other medical systems have started using KPIs to measure and improve performance across a range of departments and systems, joining private-sector and other businesses that have long embraced KPIs as an important tool in tracking and explaining progress.
Data are hard, incontrovertible facts, and this is where the value of KPIs lie. Collecting, evaluating and implementing data for KPIs help stakeholders see a clear picture of the entire health care system. And while KPIs can’t improve performance, they can show where systems work and where improvement is possible.
In implementing KPIs in health care systems, a baseline must first be established. Boost Midwest has proven experience in creating a dashboard that measures hospital systems to establish a starting point that can be used to measure progress. KPIs are also measured against approved standards of care and practice as well as comparable organizations.
The bottom line is that KPIs can help hospitals and healthcare organizations improve services and become more efficient by identifying if practice performance meets best practices — and also where improvements may be needed.
Here are 10 KPIs in important to health care systems operations:
Patient wait time. Calculates the average amount of time a patient must wait between checking in and seeing a provider. This can help with staffing and scheduling and also provide insight into patient satisfaction.
Average number of patient rooms in use at one time. Shows how well space is used to treat patients and helps determine if more or less space is needed in the facility. This is your occupancy rate, similar to a hotel.
Medication errors. Measures the number of times there is an error in prescribing medication at the facility. This includes when a mistake is made in the medication, patient, or dosage, and it applies to both inpatient and outpatient services.
Number of ER visitors who leave without being seen. Indicates the number of people who were unwilling to wait to see an emergency room physician. This may help determine if more beds or staff are needed to handle the number of patients coming in.
Staff-to-patient ratio. Demonstrates the number of staff available per patient and may indicate whether the facility is overstaffed or understaffed.
Patient safety. Provides data on the quality of care your hospital delivers to its patients. It will give you insights on what must be improved in the different services.
Infection control. Measures the rate of infections occurring after a patient is admitted. Infection prevention and control maximize patient outcomes and are part of providing effective, efficient and quality health services.
Patient room turnover rate. When the patient leaves the room, cleaning, evaluating the equipment, preparing the room for another patient to enter, and changing medical materials all take place under the room turnover. The goal is to create a speedy process but ensure quality.
Overall patient satisfaction. Calculates satisfaction levels by combining several factors. This can be a great marketing tool for your organization if it's high, but a low number could signal a problem with other operations or services.
Patient follow up. Measures the number of patients who receive follow-up after their visit to the facility. This could be from a physician, nurse, or other staff member asking about the visit and the patient's improvements. To successfully guide patients through their recovery process, monitor the follow-up rates by departments, and see what kind of care patients need the most.
Boost Midwest is experienced at determining first, the best key performance indicators for your hospital, clinic or individual practice and second, establishing a data baseline using best practices in health care operations. With that KPI data in hand, we can improve health care operations for better patient outcomes.
Ready to learn more about how Boost Midwest can help your healthcare practice optimize operations? Schedule your free consultation call with us today using our Quick Schedule Link here.