Question

Compared and contrast all 4 clinical metrics

Answer 1

Ans) Healthcare Key Performance Indicators and Metrics
A healthcare KPI or metric is a well-defined performance measurement that is used to monitor, analyze and optimize all relevant healthcare processes to increase patient satisfaction. Many of these metrics are actually specific key performance indicators for hospitals.

1) Length of stay:

Length of Stay measures the length of time between a patient's admittance to and discharge from a hospital. This metric is most often tracked over months and annual quarters, though it can also be tracked over the course of a few weeks. Length of stay measurement can be used throughout a hospital or for a specific therapy area, such as acute myocardial infarctions (AMIs).

- This data is important because it provides hard data over time on care efficiency. Longer patient stays are associated with greater risk of hospital-acquired infections (HAIs) and other hospital-acquired conditions (HACs), as well as higher patient mortality rates. An exception to this rule are cardiac patients. Those admitted for heart failure see lower mortality rates with shorter hospital stays, but higher readmission rates. Like with other conditions, there is risk of releasing patients too early and overlooking potentially life-threatening complications.

Patient length of stay also impacts hospital financial performance. Naturally, the longer a patient stays at a hospital the more money is required to care for them. In addition to patient care costs, CMS emphasizes shorter patient stays where possible, offering financial incentives to reduce the time patients spend in hospitals for an episode of care.

2) Readmission Rates:
Readmission Rates track the percentage of patients that are admitted into the same or another hospital within 30 days of being discharged for the same condition or a complication from the original episode of care. This metric measures quality of care given to patients. High hospital readmission rates indicate that physicians and other care providers are not delivering the proper care to patients, overlooking complications or relevant patient data. Lower hospital readmission rates, by extension, indicate a strong quality of care.

- High readmission rates could also be a detriment to hospital financial performance. Hospitals with the highest readmission rates may not receive full Medicare reimbursement payments as a penalty. Walking the line between short patient stays and low readmission rates is a difficult task, but it is important for patient health as well as hospital financial health.

3) HCAHPS:
The Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) survey measures 64 markers of patient satisfaction. Topics included in the survey range from care quality to cleanliness of the care facility. Results from the survey are released as star ratings on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being the best possible score. HCAHPS scores provide actionable data on how hospitals can improve patient care and services offered.

4) Mortality Rates:
Patient mortality rate measures the percentage of patients that die in a hospital's care before being discharged. This metric is a strong indicator of providers' ability to stabilize a patient's condition following surgery or another procedure. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the national average patient mortality rate is 2 percent, for a total of 715,000 patient deaths annually.