ISE Magazine

DEC 2017

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42 ISE Magazine | www.iise.org/ISEmagazine Cracking the KPI code in healthcare per hour in a clinic. This principle applies to any business type or business unit and is critical in configuring structure (i.e., staffing levels) for the business unit. After form is complete, KPI development should focus on function or process. These KPI measures could consist of glob- al KPIs such as length of stay or cost per adjusted discharge, as well as operational measures such as response times, turn- around times or other metrics. KPI development will be spe- cific to your industry and business unit, but the metrics chosen always should be tied to strategic goals and imperatives. Finally, KPI development should focus on how the data will be displayed to end users. The ideal display platform is a user-friendly dashboard. It is imperative to include voice of the customer during dashboard design and implementation. The KPI display should be clear, concise and accessible to all relevant stakeholders. More advanced KPI displays may include graphs, color- coded gauges and options for time series of KPI data for his- torical performance comparisons. The simpler the better. Af- ter all, most end users, whether they are C-suite executives or front-line leaders, need a KPI story board that will paint the current state operational picture quickly, because in healthcare time is at a premium and can mean the difference in saving or losing lives. A KPI success story This concept was successfully implemented with a dually li- censed (i.e., ambulance service and critical care neonatal trans- port service) multicounty 911 hospital-based ambulance ser- vice and supporting communications center. The ambulance service received more than 40,000 requests per year and the communications center received more than 100,000 calls per year, including requests for advance life sup- port 911 emergencies, critical care transports and scheduled interfacility nonemergency transports. The leadership team quickly realized that there were significant issues with service (i.e., response times) that needed immediate attention. Step one was to review the current dashboard, which was mini- mally developed and was configured with KPI goals for re- sponse times that were not in line with national standards. Next, the team discovered that the analytics platform did not have a proper demand analysis configured to determine how many calls per hour the service received each day of the week. Subsequently, during peak call volume hours, the service did not have enough ambulances available to meet customer demand. This lack of resources resulted in lost revenue, pro- longed response times and customer complaints. The first priority focused on form. The team built a proper demand analysis that showed the number of calls the service received each hour of the day for each day of the week over a 20-week span. The demand analysis was incorporated into the dashboard and allowed leadership to pull this data instantly with the click of a button. It is important to note that each day's call volume was not the same. One of the service's issues was that the staffing pattern was the same each day of the week, even though the hourly call volume patterns varied. This, obviously, created delays and dissatisfied customers. Next, the team built the staffing model around the hourly call volume patterns to ensure that enough ambulances were available when needed, especially during peak call hours, for each day of the week. Figure 2 de- tails an ideal example of a demand analysis and staffing model where the staffing supply is adequate to meet the hour service demands, but not excessive. This is a great depiction of an op- timized system related to structure. After form (i.e., structure) was complete, the team focused FIGURE 2 Ensuring adequate resources A proper demand analysis and staffing model can help your enterprise make sure that enough resources are available to meet demand.

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