10 Quality Metrics in Healthcare You Can Track with Balanced Scorecard Software

First, BSC defines what quality care looks like for the organisation and then lays down goals that are aligned with such vision. This vision is then operationalised into strategic goals, including enhancing patient satisfaction, improving patient outcomes and reducing wait times.

For every goal in BSC, there is an accompanying set of performance measures that would show progress towards the quality outcome.

To meet the expectations of every department, BSC sets achievable targets for each KPI and makes everything accountable.

By constant measurement and evaluation, BSC compares organisational performance with established goals. They make it possible for the health care staff to identify the trends at close range and treatment takes place as soon as there is a problem.

BSC focus on learning and growth, one of the four perspectives. Improving weak areas and reallocating resources elevates overall quality over time.

The use of the BSC framework also offers flexibility in strategy implementation as the firm modifies strategies based on emerging insights. This may include processes or KPIs adjustments in response to trends in the healthcare field.

This approach ensures that quality initiatives are adaptable, transparent, measurable and lean towards operational and patient care efficiency.

Now let's dive into the detailing of specific metrics that Balanced Scorecard software can track.

Measuring Patient satisfaction score is critical in ensuring the quality of healthcare which indicates the performance of the organisation to meet patient expectations. These scores involve patients on their perception towards some aspects such as trust in the providers, clarity of the information given, time spent waiting, comfort, and respect afforded to them hence helping organisations adopt the patient, patient-focused care delivery system.

The balanced scorecard here focuses on the “patient” or “customer” perspective. For this, it tracks the KPIs like responsiveness, survey ratings on communication clarity, environment cleanliness etc. It then displays the customer feedback or experience score through visual boards that ease the process of analysis and making necessary actions.

For example, A hospital may use BSC software to log the patient satisfaction on the time they spent in the Emergency Department (ED). If wait times are beyond these measures, then the performance of the ED under the BSC model could be affected. From there the ED team could then implement changes like improving the triage processes – as well as trying to track any increase in the satisfaction scores.

Clinical outcomes directly affect the overall patient care, medical interventions and treatments. The balanced scorecard software plays here a significant role tracking clinical outcomes metrics such as patient recovery times, mortality rates, infection rates, and readmission rates. It helps to set benchmarks and goals for desired outcomes.

For example, using BSC a hospital can track the success rate of surgeries by measuring the percentage of patients free of post-operation complications. In the case where BSC makes it possible to realise that one department has lower successful rates in comparison to others, the administrators can go deeper to see why the rates are low and make corrections as well as set new goals for such a department.

Safety events are the incidents that make an impact on patient safety such as hospital-acquired infections, adverse drug reactions, medication errors etc. Effective tracking of these metrics helps the organisation to reduce risks and enhance safety standards and patient care. What makes BSC software valuable is that teams can view incidents as they occur, over time, and develop measures to minimise such incidents in the future.

For example, by implementing BSC software, the number of patients who fall within a hospital could be monitored in real-time. In a certain ward, for instance, if the fall rates rise sharply, the data could trigger an instant inquiry and subsequent corrective measures such as training or rearrangement of the floor layout.

Improved access to care and reduced wait times are critical for enhancing patient satisfaction. Minimised wait time reduces complications and makes better health outcomes. BSC can make effective changes in this by tracking emergency department wait times, average wait time for appointments, and time to consultation after arrival.

For example, if the time spent waiting for consultations from specialists is higher than the set standards, a hospital can use BSC software for problem identification. This understanding may lead to actions like hiring more specialists, increasing operation hours or using efficient scheduling software for appointments.

Process compliance in healthcare is the adherence to regulatory requirements, guidelines, and standardised protocols across operational procedures and patient care. It is important to track this metric as it guarantees that healthcare practices follow the best practice guidelines and meet the requirements for compliance and accreditation.

The BSC software fosters a proactive approach to process compliance by quickly identifying the operations that lack adherence, analysing their root cause and generating corrective measures.

Consider an example from medication administration. The use of BSC metrics makes it easy to monitor and manage the dosage and timing of drugs for patients to avoid medication errors.

Staff Efficiency and Turnover directly impact the operational costs, patient care and continuity. A high rate of staff turnover reduces care quality and disrupts team dynamics. On the other hand, lower staff efficiency causes patient dissatisfaction. The organisation can use BSC in this context to boost retention and productivity. BSC enables structured performance management, through which the administrators can set specific targets and implement interventions like increased support and additional training.

Consider the example of monitoring the retention rate of the new employees especially in the first year. If the turnover is high, then it means the facility should invest in ways of enhancing onboarding and support of the employees.

Hospital Acquired Conditions (HACs) can be defined as complications or infections that a patient acquires during a hospitalisation period. Lowering HACs is vital to maintain patient safety, operational efficiency and care quality. By tracking adherence to hygiene protocols, hospital-acquired infection rates, and surgical safety compliance BSC helps the administrators to monitor trends in HAC occurrences across departments. This makes them work towards HAC reduction targets.

Consider the example of a hospital that aims at minimising incidences of post-surgical infections, a typical HAC. With the help of a Balanced Scorecard, they will be able to monitor this measure together with other related objectives, like compliance with sterilisation measures or timely administration of antibiotics. If BSC shows a rise in post-surgical infections, the leadership can immediately take needful actions.

Resource utilisation is the means through which a healthcare facility can determine the efficient and optimal usage of resources including human resources, equipment, and facilities. The Balanced Scorecard is the most effective resource allocation software that can minimise waste, and control costs by aligning it with financial and quality objectives. The real-time and historical data-providing features of BSC make things easier for the future.

For example, a hospital might use the BSC to monitor the bed occupancy and length of stay on the ventilators to determine where there is over or underutilisation of essential resources.

Cost per Patient is another important facet of quality since it relates to the amount of money spent on a patient. It indicates how the facility manages operations, resources, and expenses and, in turn, influences the price of care and the institution’s financial stability. BSC works to lower the cost without lowering the care quality. It integrates the cost metrics and patient outcomes on a single dashboard helps to make cost reduction opportunities and identifies unnecessary high in certain departments and treatments.

For example, with the help of BSC software, a hospital could use the average cost per patient for routine operations and benchmark those costs against industry standards.

The discharge processes involve patient satisfaction with hospital capacity. Effective discharge procedures enable education regarding medication plans, post-care instructions, and follow-up appointments. If the process of discharge is efficient, it also frees up more space in the hospital to accommodate other patients, maximising hospital resources and minimising patient wait times. For this, the BSC tracks patient education completion rates, time from discharge order to actual discharge, and so on. Through the identification of missed steps, administrators make data-driven decisions to improve the process.

For example, the BSC can be used to detect patterns of prolonged stay of the patient after his or her doctor’s discharge order. If data shows that such delays are frequent because of the slow processing of drugs in the pharmacy, the hospital may adopt measures to enhance medication availability.