The Benefits of Membership: Operational Benchmarking- BWH Bulletin - For and about the People of Brigham and Women's Hospital
The Benefits of Membership: Operational Benchmarking- BWH Bulletin - For and about the People of Brigham and Women's Hospital
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July 13, 2001
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In This Issue:
Funds from the Fun Run
Outside the Presidency
BWH/MGH Make 2001 Honor Roll of “America’s Best Hospitals"
The Benefits of Membership: Operational Benchmarking
The Latest on Prostate Health
Staff Survey Ice Cream Social
Be a Book Buddy
Office Moves
Notice: A Section of Francis Street to Temporarily Close
New Clinic Focuses on Transplant Recipients’ Skin Healt
Personal Package Reminder
Street Beat 2001
In BWH’s quest to continually improve its performance in patient care, research and teaching, the hospital voluntarily participates in a nationwide benchmarking database project through the University HealthSystem Consortium (UHC), chaired by Jeff Otten (see related article “A Conversation with Jeff Otten,” cover). The benchmarking project is a tool for BWH to challenge its status quo and to recognize success stories at hospitals across the country. BWH is one of 38 UHC hospitals and nearly 800 hospitals nationwide that participate in the database. “Remaining competitive and excelling in today’s health care market requires BWH to continually identify means to operational efficiency and productivity,” said Roger Deshaies, chief financial officer at BWH, who explained that coordination with BWH leadership is vital to the project’s success. Participating in the operational benchmarking project since 1999, BWH intends to participate more frequently and make improvements based on indicated opportunities brought forth by the benchmarking data. The database provides the ability to run a myriad of reports and versatile data sorting to obtain information based on each institution’s individual needs. BWH gains prime networking ability as a project participant. All participating organizations are entered into a list server to enhance communication among participants, giving hospitals a forum to exchange best practice models. “Although BWH is consistently recognized as a top performing hospital on HCIA-Sachs 100 Top Hospitals list, analyzing our performance in relation to other hospitals is an important factor in our continued success,” said Sandy Sloane, senior service line analyst, Financial Services and the UHC benchmarking project coordinator at BWH. The UHC’s operational efficiency database is just one of the tools that BWH uses to improve performance. Others tools include a clinical database, which reveals helpful information regarding quality indicators and length of stay, and quarterly customer satisfaction surveys conducted by Press, Ganey Associates, Inc. For more information on BWH’s involvement in UHC’s operational efficiency database project, call Sandy Sloane at 617-525-3025.