Global healthcare quality has been steadily improving over the past decade. While a lot of the improvement can be attributed to ever-evolving healthcare technology, competition among healthcare organizations has also had an immense impact.
Nowadays, most healthcare organizations have quality improvement (QI) teams dedicated to identifying opportunities to enhance clinical performance in order to meet organizational goals. One common recommendation is organization-wide benchmarking.
Hospitals and health systems that know precisely when the right time to benchmark is are the ones who often see the most success. When your revenue strongly relies on how your performance compares to your competitors, you can’t afford to spend months waiting. Here are several indicators to help you know if your healthcare organization is ready for benchmarking.
How Compliant is Your Organization to Healthcare Regulations?
Different healthcare regulations are put in place to ensure that all organizations give quality clinical practice to their patients and all stakeholders at large. Compare your organization’s adherence to the regulations with that of your competitors. If your competition has found more streamlined ways to comply with existing regulations, it may be time for your organization to find a new solution if you want remain competitive.
Leading organizations embark on these programs knowing that they will become more resilient, stronger and more successful. Don’t hesitate to implement benchmarks in order to increase your organization’s competitive advantage in the healthcare industry. Besides, regaining compliance would be a much greater undertaking.
What is the Potential Value-Add?
It is not secret that benchmarking is a time-consuming process that should be well thought out. Your management should be clear on the expectations and desired results from a successful benchmarking process. Conducting a cost-benefit analysis is a great way to ascertain if your organization is ready for benchmarking and the potential savings that can be gained in doing so.
How Supportive is Your Technology?
Current medical technology grows more obsolete by the second and failure to adapt leads to performance setbacks. At the same time, a sudden update of technology might be detrimental considering the staff’s attitude, skills and readiness to adopt frequent operational changes.
As you establish strategies to help your staff get acquainted with new technological change for your organization, benchmarking can be one of the best solutions. Using historical data and best practice models to discover how your regional competitors transition their teams into new systems/platforms can help you discover how to introduce new technology to your own organization.
Are You Falling Short of Sustainable
Sustainable clinical practices go a long way in ensuring clinical safety, effectiveness and equity. There are four basic principles which should be the landmark in determining whether or not your healthcare organization is currently falling short:
- Prevention
- Patient Empowerment and Self-Care
- Lean Care Systems
- Low Carbon Alternatives
A healthcare organization should always aim at curtailing the need for healthcare among consumers through promoting health policies. Patients need to be educated and empowered by being allowed a greater role in managing their own health. Organizations observing sustainable clinical practices should be on the front-line using technology to reduce unnecessary travel by patients and clinicians as well as making the right interventions and timely referrals. Also, all modes of treatment and technologies should be geared towards ensuring minimum environmental impact. If your organization has the opportunity to improve on any of these principles, it may be the right time to benchmark.
Benchmarking is an effective process that an organization should adequately prepare for before implementing. While an organization can benchmark anytime, choosing the right time all but guarantees more success. If you feel your organization is ready to see how they stack up, get in touch with the healthcare consultants at ALTIUS. Our healthcare benchmarking services identify important operational and financial indicators, provide meaningful performance comparisons, and outline areas where you can improve patient care and overall efficiency. Discover for yourself how our healthcare benchmarking process can take your organization to the peak. Contact us today!