Increasing pressure on hospital finances, coupled with the unknown future of reimbursement, is driving many healthcare facilities to aggressively focus on identifying cost-savings opportunities. To stay ahead of those pressures and address challenges head on, organizations are looking at new ways to pursue performance improvement (PI) and find efficiencies throughout their systems. 

A top-down approach to PI, however, is no longer enough.  We’re seeing leading hospitals and health systems empower department leaders by arming them with sophisticated performance analytics and pushing them to identify opportunities for improvement. They believe that the best way to get started and identify improvement opportunities is by wielding data that proves that change is needed.

With performance improvement, you’ve got to have a benchmark – a true apples-to-apples comparison. And you must have clear visibility into that peer group’s data. Actionable steps forward will be determined with transparent benchmarking comparison data – something you won’t get from internal brainstorming alone or from generic information gathered at a conference.

But even with data that shows variation and points to where there’s room for improvement, resistance will emerge. So plan for it from the start and you’ll be prepared to manage objections. Here are a few you should anticipate and demand from your analytics:

• Be sure leadership actively supports your cause.
• Be sure the data is accurate. A lot of the time you may get the reaction: "the data must be wrong".  Make sure that department leaders are involved in a deep dive into the data and have full visibility into data mapping.
• It better be current. Another classic push back.
• Is it valid for your organization? Make sure the data is giving you that apples-to-apples comparison and department directors can identify their peers.
• Expect the refrain, “but we’re different here.” And be prepared to show that, in fact, change is needed and the data confirms there’s no denying that there’s room for improvement.
• Seek out lessons learned and best practices from your peers across the industry.

Through our INFORM KnowledgeWeb community, we often hear from department managers from hospitals, large and small, rural and urban, across the country. These well-intended managers often feel impotent when they try to inspire ideas or implement changes in their organization and come up against the classic excuses: resistance, denial, confusion. They come to the KnowledgeWeb seeking advice and ideas from colleagues and peers on how to tackle the many things that get in the way.

• How can I improve the efficiency of our lab?
• Where can we save money in the supply area?
• Why are we spending so much more than our peers on clinical equipment repairs?
• How do I handle the nay-sayers who refuse to accept that we must make changes?

 With any performance improvement initiative, you have to be ready for the naysayers but also embrace those ready to help you push that rock up the hill.  Be sure you measure results, share and celebrate success, and collaborate to identify better solutions to the issues the data identifies.

Where are you facing challenges to your performance improvement efforts? Have you come up with some creative ways to tackle them? I’d love to hear about your experience. Contact me at lalbery@ivantagehealth or send comments on twitter @ivantagehealth.