KPIs are performance metrics that help any organization track and understand how effectively it can achieve its key business objectives. KPIs are certain parameters and exceeding those parameters denotes the achievement of the pre-set objective. In terms of healthcare, KPIs are significant for monitoring and improving the quality of care, operational efficiency, and financial performance.
Tracking these KPIs will help healthcare organizations to make informed and timely decisions.
Want to know what key metrics can be tracked? Let’s dive into it-
Before moving forward, as every organization might have a different objective, thus their key performance indicators may vary, however, some common KPIs in healthcare are-
Bed Occupancy Ratio
It denotes how many hospital beds are occupied during a specific period. The higher number represented through percentages shows that during those months the bed was most occupied, maybe due to a disease outbreak. The purpose of healthcare organizations should be to keep this rate at an optimum level, otherwise, a higher percentage will build pressure on hospitals and indicate critical patient health.
Average Hospital Stay of Patients
For efficiency of these metrics, patients should be categorized based on their treatment type and duration. For instance, a critical disease will require longer treatment thus, increasing the stay time in the hospital or vice versa. With such KPIs, hospitals can manage their staffing, ensure bed availability, control costs, and predict related revenue.
Patient Wait Time
One of the key performance indicators (KPIs) for assessing quality care in healthcare is patient wait time. This metric measures the time from when a patient arrives at the hospital to when they receive treatment. By tracking this KPI, healthcare providers can gauge patient satisfaction and identify any operational issues within the facility. High patient wait times indicate areas that need improvement to enhance overall patient satisfaction.
Staff-to-Patient Ratio
The staff-to-patient ratio indicates whether healthcare facilities have enough staff to attend to patients. Hospitals must ensure there are optimal staff available for the patients no matter what time of the day. An understaffed facility can lead to a burden on the current staff and a decline in offering quality care. On the other hand, overstaffing can lead to unnecessary costs. With such KPI, healthcare can identify staff gaps and optimize staff levels to ensure continued care.
Average Revenue Per Patient
To gauge the financial performance of healthcare organizations, this KPI will help in checking the average revenue earned per patient during a specified period. By analyzing average revenue per patient, healthcare providers can optimize billing processes, enhance resource allocation, and improve their service offerings. With the help of interactive dashboards and advanced healthcare analytics, healthcare organizations can figure out which factors have the largest impact on patient revenue.
Treatment Costs
Treatment costs comprise both direct such as medications, and hospital stays, and indirect costs like administrative expenses, labor, and equipment. The purpose of keeping track of these expenses is not to reduce them but to detect the extra expenses and address them. The expenses can also be divided based on various categories such as per operation, and age group, for better cost analysis.
Costs incurred by the Payer
Payers are responsible for incurring patient expenses, which can include private insurance companies, government programs like Medicare and Medicaid, and payments made by patients out of their pocket, that are not covered by any insurance. These metrics help healthcare organizations to know the biggest payers for their health facility. Additionally, healthcare providers can forecast revenue more precisely and allocate resources more efficiently by considering the expected reimbursements from various payers. This helps in creating realistic budgets and avoiding financial shortfalls.
Net Profit Margin
Net profit is one of the important metrics to track. It is how much money healthcare organizations make after deducting all their expenses, such as labor costs, payroll, medical supplies, and so on. A healthy net profit margin indicates that healthcare organizations are generating enough revenue to cover expenses and reinvest in themselves. This ensures long-term financial stability and the ability to provide quality care. While the opposite of this means that healthcare facilities need to reduce unnecessary costs.
Readmission Rates
The readmission rate shows how many patients are returning to the hospital within a short period after they have been released. Tracking this metric through the healthcare dashboard offers insights regarding the quality of care offered by healthcare facilities or to detect any other metric for potential gaps in care coordination such as inadequate discharge planning, incomplete treatment, and so on.
Appointment Scheduling Efficiency
Appointment scheduling is a critical aspect of healthcare operations, and its efficiency can significantly impact patient satisfaction and operational costs. Having a comprehensive dashboard will help in identifying all the metrics related to appointments such as the percentage of appointments booked through the telemedicine app or walk-in. This can lead to better utilization of resources and potentially lower operational costs.
Final Words
The primary motive of healthcare facilities is to offer high-quality care, and to achieve this they need to identify and address irregulates in the system. With the help of a comprehensive healthcare dashboard, significant KPIs can be tracked and better insight can be drawn for confident decision-making.
At Canopus Infosystems, we have worked with similar kinds of projects and have developed a deep understanding of healthcare dashboards. You can trust our expertise to deliver robust and effective solutions.
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