All Entries Tagged With: "performance committee"
Free tool: Tips for running committees
How do you manage your committee work? Organizing this extracurricular activity can be a time-suck. For instance, we recommend that you not take your own minutes; utilize another member of the committee to take minutes while you are speaking. You can learn more by downloading the free tool, Tips for running committees (Word doc).
This tips tool comes from the Roles and Responsibilities of the Board, Medical Staff, and Management: Medical Staff Leader Virtual Training Workshop,” a live Webcast that aired on Jan. 26, 2009 and was moderated by our blogger Liz Jones. Did you miss the taping? No worries; you can still purchase the CD and get a comprehensive training packet to share with your colleagues.
Be sure to catch the next show in the series, Feb. 19 An Introduction to Peer Review Responsibilities: Medical Staff Leader Virtual Training Workshop!
Set performance objectives
Your hospitalist practice should set performance objectives or targets against which to assess actual performance; doing so will help you determine whether your program is meeting expectations and will help you identify ways to improve. Ask the following questions when setting targets:
- What is the program or organization’s historical or baseline performance on this performance metric?
- Do you want to improve over baseline performance?
- Is there a comparison group against which the practice’s performance on this metric should be compared, such a non-hospitalist program in the same facility? Or should it be compared with data from outside groups or best practices standards?
The best hospitalist programs adopt a balanced approach to performance measurement that don’t focus on one or two areas of performance (such as financial performance) at the expense of others.
The above excerpt is adapted from The Hospitalist Program Management Guide 2nd edition by Kenneth G. Simone, DO, and Jeffrey R. Dichter, MD, FACP, published by HCPro, Inc.
How to form a performance committee
The purpose of creating a hospitalist performance committee is to improve quality, efficiency, and the bottom line for the program and the hospital. Provider productivity is essential to the financial viability of the practice, and clinical performance is integral to ensuring quality patient care and superior clinical outcomes.
When organizing a hospitalist performance committee membership, remember to include:
- Performance improvement director
- Quality assurance director
- Hospital vice president of medical affairs/medical director
- Hospitalist clinical/medical director
- Hospital chief financial officer
- Hospital administrator overseeing the hospitalist program
- Hospitalist practice manager
- Guests or representatives from ER, cardiology, nursing, social services, laboratory, radiology, and data analyst sector
Meeting frequency and attendees will vary according to the tasks at hand. In general though, the following guidelines should apply:
- Monthly meetings between hospital administrator and the hospitalist clinical/medical director will serve to review the following issues: average daily census and average length of stay, admission activity, delay days, ancillary utilization, cost per case, current in-house outliers, 30-day readmission rates, coding performance, and medical record completion data
- Quarterly meetings with all members to address the following issues: number of admissions/consultations, total patient visits/patient days, average daily census and average length of stay, delay days, ancillary utilization, cost per case, top 10 DRGs and payor mix, monthly/quarterly/year-to-date charges, hospitalist profit-and-loss reports, referral source (by provider and practice), clinical guideline utilization (pay-for-performance measures), 30-day readmission rates, return rate to the critical care unit/intensive care unit, medical record completion data, and coding audits
- Year-end meeting with all members to review performance
The above excerpt is adapted from Hospitalist Case Studies: Tactics and Strategies for 10 Common Hurdles by Kenneth G. Simone, DO, published by HCPro, Inc.
