Quantified Best practices Added to the Benchmarking System
Benchmarking Application - Version 9 is scheduled for re-lease in July. It will contain very powerful query options that will allow clients to glean insight into specific hospice practices at will and within moments. Last October, MVI linked specific hospice practices to financial results to cre-ate truly Quantified Best practices from a financial per-spective. This was perhaps the first time in hospice history that true quantification of practices and vendors has been done on any scale. With this new benchmarking release, many of these practices will be available on a permanent basis and reflect up-to-date information.
Figures 1 & 2 show the two tabs on the new query screen. As you can see, specific practices as well as vendor selec-tions are included.
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Many factors work in tandem in a hospice that result in an organization’s performance in specific as well as overall performance. With this application, hospices are at liberty to explore relationships between operational elements related to practices and vendor selections.
“Best Practice” is a phrase that is often thrown around loosely and can be based on quite subjective criteria. But how does a hospice know if a practice is best? In qualita¬tive terms, it can be difficult to measure. In financial terms, it can be denominated to a reasonable extent which this application does.
I would like to reiterate a few points regarding the viewing of practices and vendors quantification to help derive value of this information. They are seemingly small amounts, over-familiarity, popularity, and self-justification.
Small Differences When looking at query results, do not overlook small dif¬ferences…even ½ percentage shifts. Why? Because even ½ percentage changes represent cost savings and the cumululative impact of lots of efficiencies is huge. I would bet that a typical hospice in America could add 5% to its bottom-line just by incorporating small subtle changes in efficiencies. Sustain these small efficiencies over a decade, compounded by interest, and a typical hospice would have millions in reserves without sacrificing a thing (although the “com¬pounded by interest” thing doesn’t seem to be working at present).
Over-Familiarity I have missed many things in my career because of my over-familiarity with a subject matter… falsely presuming that I understand a situation, only to have overlooked some important detail. Often, what we know hinders us from seeing innovation and fresh perspective. In addition, most people discount what comes easily, thus best prac-tices are not even noticed when present. Many best prac-tices never reach the consciousn level.
Popularity Popularity is another thing that can blind us to recognizing value. Many hospices will discount a prac¬tice used by only a couple of hospices. “Look, only a few hospices do that!” There is a herd mentality in hospice that keeps so many hospices looking and acting the same. It is the rare bird hospice that will challenge the status quo, go against the grain, and do things differently. The herd mentality is so prominent that a freak hospice will go unnoticed, perhaps for decades, until some influential per¬son gets a glimpse of something new or an indoctrinated individual leaves the hospice to work at another hospice. "Migratory" best prac-tice pollination has been one of the primary ways hospices have learned of Best practices from some certain entities.
Self-Justification The human capacity for self-justification is unlimited. Even the most blatantly horrible actions will often be justified by an individual. Regarding best practices, many will look at certain data elements where their own performance is poor and think “Oh, those hospices that are doing better financially must not be providing quality care!” Try to withhold your judgment. On a daily basis, I witness hos¬pices that are simply hitting the ball out of the park re¬garding quality and financial performance. In my mind, they go they go hand-in-hand.
As you look at the numbers in the coming months, we will find areas that need better definitions and elements we need to add as well as items to be eliminated because they add minimal value. Its evolution…and more quality-related items are going to be included in the future.
We are excited about how immediate access to this infor¬mation will result in improved operations for our clients. Just think of adding 2-4% to your hospice’s bottom-lines and improving quality at the same time! It’s a good direc¬tion!
Quantified Best practices Added to the Bench-marking System
– by Andrew Reed
