Quality indicators are measurable aspects of your practice that reflect the quality of care and services you provide to your patients. Tracking quality indicators can help you identify areas of improvement, monitor progress, and demonstrate value to stakeholders. But how do you track quality indicators effectively and efficiently? Here are some tips to help you get started.
Before you can track quality indicators, you need to define what you want to achieve and how you will measure it. Think about your practice vision, mission, values, and priorities. What are the key outcomes and processes that matter most to you and your patients? How do they align with the standards and expectations of your profession, accreditation body, or payer? Write down your goals and the indicators that will help you assess them. For example, if your goal is to improve patient satisfaction, you might use indicators such as patient feedback, retention rate, or referral rate.
My game changer was tracking organizational and departmental metrics in the Smartsheet platform. Instead of me chasing and entering audits, it reminds management when they are due so they can directly enter them where they get automatically ? graph out for exec meetings which then allows me to focus on performance improvement and compliance. It also puts key deadline dates in your face???! I wouldn’t take a quality or project management role without it. Contact Swan Consulting LLC if you want this set up for your facility.
Excellent point about starting with desired outcomes. High Reliability Organizations, those competitors who do not fail, utilize the 3Ms. They are: 1. Measure outcomes and processes which drive outcomes 2. Manage to these measures and 3. Make it easier to achieve the outcomes reliably.
Once you have defined your goals and indicators, you need to choose the tools that will help you collect, analyze, and report the data. There are many options available, such as electronic health records, surveys, dashboards, or software applications. Depending on your needs and resources, you might use one or a combination of these tools. The main criteria to consider are the reliability, validity, usability, and security of the tools. You want to make sure that the tools can capture the data accurately, consistently, and securely, and that they are easy to use and understand.
Systems like Gainsight, Totango, and Salesforce possess the technology to track different KPIs you define. Having employees practice consistent data entry, following guidelines for reporting, and using the system as intended are some potential impediments to a successful deployment.
After you have chosen your tools, you need to implement your system for tracking quality indicators. This involves setting up the data collection methods, frequency, and responsibilities. You also need to establish the data analysis methods, benchmarks, and targets. And finally, you need to define the data reporting methods, format, and audience. You should document your system in a written protocol or manual that outlines the steps, roles, and expectations for tracking quality indicators. You should also train your staff and stakeholders on how to use the system and why it is important.
In my experience, senior leadership support, at minimum, endorsement, is required with any tool deployed. Change requires instruction, oversight, and value to those who will use the tool. Defining your or a client's business objectives is sometimes much easier than it sounds. Even if your objective is achieved, does that equate to a healthier company, an improved corporate culture, increased revenue, lower costs? ... maybe, but not always. Consider using a tool that helps not only benefit your client objectives but offers a mechanism to track progress, provide opportunities for exploratory analysis, and lead to potentially improved workflows.
Once you have implemented your system, you need to monitor your progress regularly and systematically. You should review the data and compare it with your benchmarks and targets. You should also look for trends, patterns, gaps, or anomalies in the data. You should use the data to evaluate your performance and identify your strengths and weaknesses. You should also use the data to communicate your results and achievements to your staff, patients, stakeholders, or regulators.
Sharing feedback is a delicate balancing act. Oversharing can lead to increased workloads and unachievable expectations. Too little, and you find yourself having to explain results repeatedly and miss opportunities to position products, and you can jeopardize credibility because the perception is you are trying to hide something. I have found, that keeping things simple, using bulleted lists, being concise, writing factually (able to back up your recommendations or findings), and providing options are best. Finding patterns, gaps, and anomalies is fine, but what action you take is the critical step. Monitoring is valuable to me because it proves an instinct I had or helps me communicate difficult feedback to a client.
The ultimate purpose of tracking quality indicators is to improve your practice and the quality of care and services you provide to your patients. Therefore, you should use the data to inform your decisions and actions for improvement. You should prioritize the areas that need the most attention and improvement. You should also involve your staff and patients in the improvement process and solicit their feedback and suggestions. You should set realistic and specific improvement goals and action plans. And you should monitor the impact of your improvement efforts on the quality indicators and adjust them as needed.
Quality to me is will the customer continue to use your product, is the client happy, will someone refer work to you, and will you have transparent, respectful, and productive bi-directional communication. Tracking quality indicators is not as important to me as learning what makes a customer keep your business or purchase from you in the first place. A new customer, do they have quality indicators?
Share the formula (the business definition) of the metric you are tracking. Even if people disagree with the definition, they at least understand how it is you got to the number you are showing them. Try to use a single source for the truth. Use a centralized tool (an app, an Excel file, whatever it is...but have everyone use that one asset. Things change, be open to adapting to new demands and shifts in priorities, turnover with stakeholders, M&A, closures, layoffs, and new demands.