Essentials of a Successful Clinical Benchmarking Program Compare your facility’s metrics to other ASCs BY MICHELLE GEORGE, RN, CASC


Clinical benchmarking can seem daunting at first glance, and yet, it can serve as a very effective tool in driving clinical excellence


in health care organizations. I will dis- cuss how to design and implement a successful clinical benchmarking pro- gram in the ASC setting at ASCA 2017, May 3–5, in Washington, DC. Benchmarking provides an impar- tial, confidential venue for compar- ing an individual ASC’s metrics to the rest of the industry and for obtaining quantitative information to support decision-making.


There are multiple benefits to bench-


marking your facility’s clinical results. Let’s explore five of the key benefits. 1. Benchmarking provides a means of comparing your ASC to like facilities in the ASC community. These external comparisons dem- onstrate your performance against others and are very helpful in un- derstanding how your facility is performing compared to the indus- try as a whole. The gap between your ASC’s performance and the performance of other ASCs also provides the information you need to set new performance thresholds for your facility.


2. Some benchmarking information contains quantitative data that can be essential to decision mak- ing. Benchmark sources that in- clude operational efficiency metrics can drive decisions around staffing models, throughput and other pro- cess development projects.


3. Benchmarking can measure the results of new initiatives. This information provides the frame- work to continually improve the program over time. This is also a


8 ASC FOCUS FEBRUARY 2017


Benchmarking provides an impartial, confidential venue for comparing an individual ASC’s metrics to the rest of the industry and for obtaining quantitative information to support decision-making.”


—Michelle George, Surgical Care Affiliates


good mechanism for measuring the return on your investment for those projects requiring a major capital outlay for resources or equipment.


4. External sources used in clinical benchmarking provide insightful performance comparison and the opportunity to collaborate with industry peers. This col- laboration is an excellent source of best practices and tips for per- formance improvement.


5. Benchmarking clinical outcomes and patient experience provides the information that ASCs can use to differentiate performance and community reputation. The


ASC industry can be a very com- petitive environment where ASCs and hospitals vie for the same pa- tients. Today’s consumers of health care services are better educated and have taken a strong positon in driving their own health care de- cisions, including where they will have surgical procedures, making clear differentiation more impor- tant than ever.


Today, we are seeing a shift of more complex cases from the hospi- tal setting to the ASC setting. Some of these cases are joint replace- ment procedures, spine procedures and even cardiovascular procedures.


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