Question

Benchmarking is the process of comparing and measuring an organization’s operations or its internal processes against those of a best-in-class performer from inside or outside its industry.

There are several obstacles to successful benchmarking. One of the most common obstacles is poor team composition. Imagine that you are the administrator for a large urgent care clinic in a metropolitan area. You are benchmarking the urgent care’s clinical operations and processes to improve quality of care and gain competitive edge in an increasingly competitive environment.

Who do you think should serve on your benchmarking committee and why (justify your choice of team members)?

(200 word count)

Answer 1

In my opinion the benchmarking committee should include one or two physicians with good experience in providing quality care in different organizations because they can identify the difference between the process followed by our organization and other organizations and identify the pitfalls. The team should also include technical specialist with knowledge in healthcare technologies to give suggestions on the technological differences and the implementation of newly developed equipments in our healthcare. They can analyze other organizations and suggest what is superior in other organizations in terms of technology. I would like to have financial expert as well in the committee to identify the cost associated with each operations and processes. Financial expert can also identify whether the implementation of the technologies and facilities we lack compared to other successful organizations is feasible while considering our financial conditions and the benefits that can be provided through them in the long run. Our benchmarking committee should include a healthcare staff also because the lower level employees can identify the difficulties associated with each processes than anyone in the field. They work closely with the patients and the equipments and hence can provide suggestions on the benefits and troubles the patients and healthcare staffs may undergo while adopting different processes.