Subject(s)
Benchmarking , Efficiency, Organizational , Hospices , Outcome Assessment, Health Care , Personnel Staffing and Scheduling/standards , Hospices/economics , Hospices/standards , Nurses/supply & distribution , Organizational Culture , Personnel Management , Quality Indicators, Health Care , United States , WorkforceABSTRACT
Hospice has seen rapid growth in recent years, but there is a lack of consistency among hospices when it comes to compliance with standards of care. Consequently, hospices vary in performance and in services they provide. With state hospice organizations, the NHPCO developed a National Data Set (NDS) intended to understand demographics, practices, and outcomes; illustrate industry effectiveness; facilitate communication of industry legislative needs; and to support agency performance and improvement. Our paper describes development of the NDS and data that are being collected, and summarizes key findings from the 2000, 2001, and 2002 NDS. The data collection process, which began in 1999, has evolved substantially over a 4-year period to the point that we believe the 2002 NDS represents a well-designed core that will receive only minor modifications annually. This database will be invaluable for comparative audit, clinical practice and managing services because only that which is measured can be improved.
Subject(s)
Databases, Factual/standards , Hospice Care/statistics & numerical data , Palliative Care/statistics & numerical data , Quality Assurance, Health Care/methods , Quality Assurance, Health Care/standards , Registries/standards , Societies, Hospital/standards , Data Collection/methods , Data Collection/standards , Hospice Care/methods , Hospice Care/standards , Information Storage and Retrieval/methods , Information Storage and Retrieval/standards , Palliative Care/methods , Palliative Care/standards , United StatesABSTRACT
We are at the beginning of a significant increase in the use of performance measurement in hospice. Our resources for measuring performance are improving, while our environment is increasingly challenging. It is worth revisiting the goal of performance measurement in order to know your organization so well that you can continuously identify and act on the specific improvement opportunities that will have the greatest impact on overall results.
Subject(s)
Hospice Care/standards , Quality Assurance, Health Care/methods , Benchmarking , Database Management Systems , Efficiency, Organizational , Hospice Care/organization & administration , Humans , Outcome Assessment, Health Care , Peer Review, Health Care , Quality Assurance, Health Care/organization & administration , United StatesABSTRACT
Although there are many valid applications for comparative data--sometimes simply "knowing where you stand" is valuable--it is time for home care agencies to use benchmarking that moves beyond that point. Benchmarking is integral to organizational and management strategies whose ultimate goal is to improve, and not simply measure, performance. Peer benchmarks can be a critical resource in addressing the full spectrum of management challenges.
