Why Measuring Healthcare Outcomes is Important

Let’s look at some of the key KPIs for a medical practice (keep in mind that these KPIs involve establishing goals and plans for the practice’s future)

Common Practice KPIs

• Capacity – what is a reasonable goal of appointments per day?
• Evaluations vs. Discharges – Are you bringing in more patients than I’m discharging?
• Conversion rate – How many referrals are being switched to active patients?
• Active patients without future appointments – Are my patients achieving their recommended plan of care and being properly discharged?
• Weekly frequency – Are my patients being scheduled for and attending their visits as they are prescribed?

Common Financial KPIs

• Key expenditures such as medical supplies, wages, rent, doctor contract payments.
• How much does it cost to acquire a new patient?
• Are there any expenses that are much higher than they should be?
• Are you generating as much revenue as you can? If not, why? Is it due to your pricing, your appointment mix, your medical billing, your use of site numbers, etc.?
• Are you paying doctors and staff within industry averages? Does this match with the opinion of your practice?

Employment KPIs

• Staff availability
• Number of sick days used
• Annual leave balance
• Length of service
• Retention rate
• Feedback about outstanding service
• Disciplinary actions

Customer Service KPIs

• On time performance
• Call tracking KPIs:
  • % phone calls answered within 3 rings
  • On hold wait times
  • Customer hang ups
• Number of online appointment bookings. If your practice is online-focused or receives a significant number of calls and messages each day, this is an especially crucial metric to track.

What then will be some of the results of NOT having measured your practice’s performance?

• Less than adequate staff performance
• Lost revenue
• Spiraling costs
• Poor staff morale
• Poor patient satisfaction
• Low practice value

How can I apply my KPI discoveries?

 Here are some practical examples on putting this information to good use:

• Practices should be observing the total number of appointments that can be booked and comparing that to the number of unfilled appointments. From here, a practice can devise strategies on filling those open appointment slots.
• It’s important to understand how much, on average, your practice is spending to acquire each new patient. This cost influences your profitability and measures the effectiveness of your marketing efforts.
• Once patient acquisition cost is calculated, it’s a good idea to start calculating revenue per patient. Putting these two numbers together will tell you if your marketing was successful.
• Keeping wait times down can help increase patient satisfaction and can help practice management determine how to staff and schedule employees.
• Long wait times are also one of the main reasons patients will leave negative online reviews. Seeking to improve this metric can improve how your patients portray you online.
• Ideal patient-to-staff ratios will vary from practice to practice. Keep an eye on which of your other metrics improve when this ration goes up or down.
• By tracking active patients without future appointments, I can discover if my patients are completing their prescribed plan of care and then being discharged appropriately.
• By tracking my conversion rate, I can discover if I’m converting a healthy percentage of my referrals into patients.
• Increasing your visit totals can be achieved by having satisfied patients who understand their role in their health and feel engaged.
• If you focus on hiring employees who are dedicated to making your practice an inviting and welcoming space, it’s more likely that your practice will be successful. Patients appreciate an office with little turnover and feel comfortable when they see the same faces at their appointments.