Using business intelligence to improve performance: Cleveland Clinic tracks KPIs daily to measure progress toward achieving the organization 's strategic objectives. This effort has helped reduce labor costs and other expenses--and improve quality of care.(CASE STUDY)(key performance indicators). COPYRIGHT 2009 Healthcare Financial Management Association
Many healthcare organizations possess a wealth of untapped strategic information in their transaction systems. If this information could be summarized in a meaningful and intuitive manner and updated daily, leaders for these organizations would have real-time views of actual performance against strategic objectives--and could use these data to help focus scarce resources and accelerate change.
Sixteen years ago, Cleveland Clinic of Cleveland began tracking key performance indicators (KPIs) that had an impact on financial performance. At the time, Cleveland Clinic 's CEO sought ways to better monitor and manage performance across the organization 's multiple facilities. Since then, the initiative has helped Cleveland Clinic reduce costs and enhance quality of care, even during periods of financial turmoil. For example:
* Since 2006, Cleveland Clinic has reduced nursing agency expenses by more than $5 million per year.
* Careful analysis of blood product use has enabled Cleveland Clinic to reduce its blood product expenses by more than $400,000 annually.
* The organization is able to more effectively recruit clinical professionals to prepare for seasonal shifts in employment.
Focusing on Key Performance Data
Between 1993 and 1994, Cleveland Clinic began identifying operational drivers that had an impact on financial performance. Previously, the organization 's performance metrics were based primarily on financial outcomes; income was evaluated against targets two weeks after month 's end, which was the soonest that data were