NURS 8302 Discussion Measurement Systems and Methods

Even though formulating a balanced scorecard to track patient satisfaction can be controversial due to factors like effectiveness level, data analysis, and implementation, it is important to use the scorecard as a tool. The purpose of this week’s discussion is to identify a healthcare organization or nursing setting that uses a scorecard or dashboard to track patient satisfaction and give a description of the measures used. Besides, the discussion will explore whether the metrics are currently being met and the possible impacts of either meeting or not meeting the metrics.

The Description of the Organization

The organization chosen for discussion is Cleveland Clinic. Even though it is a teaching hospital, the organization also engages in patient care, training and research. In addition, Cleveland Clinic has close to ten community hospitals and over fifteen family health centers. Cleveland also offers its services to both international and local patients (“Cleveland Clinic,” n.d). In the last decade, the organization has been working with various quality indicators through the use of the PSI module, largely informed by the private payers and Federal Payment programs that consider quality indicators when reimbursing.

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The Measures Used In the Score Card

Cleveland Clinic uses various measures as an organization, including customer, financial, internal, and employee growth and learning. These categories have various specific measures allied to them that the organization uses to track and improve quality. The organization uses three major patient-focused measures on its scoreboard to measure, track and set improvement goals related to patient experience. The three measures include positive press, referrals, and long-term patient relationships. All these metrics are patient-survey related. For instance, upon discharge, patients are prompted to state whether they can refer other patients to the facility, among other survey questions (“Cleveland,” n.d).  The organization values patient and family feedback and enhances the positive paths by sharing the written compliments and survey scores with the staff make them feel valued and improve quality.

Establishment of Goals for the Metrics

Since starting to deal with the quality measure indicators a decade ago, Cleveland Clinic has set goals and reviewed them at various intervals to evaluate how well they are being met. So the organization establishes goals for the discussed metrics. For some time now, the organization has been having patients experience strategic goal and ensure that patients come first. As such, they engage in various services such as listening to the patients and their family members and utilizing the feedback obtained to improve quality, managing data and applying the information in quality improvement, and offering quality training to their caregivers (“Cleveland,” n.d).  Currently, at Cleveland Clinic, these metrics are largely being met. Indeed, eight of the Cleveland clinic’s facilities recently got a five-star rating for patient service quality and safety. This indicates that the organization is meeting the patient experience metrics.

Potential Impacts of Not Meeting the Metrics

When an organization fails to meet the patient experience metrics, it implies that various operations are not going well, and specific changes could be needed or even overdue. When the metrics are not met, one of the major impacts is that patients would prefer getting services in other healthcare facilities and a shrinking customer base (Bergeron, 2017). In addition, the facility may fail to attract more competent staff due to a tainted image. If the metrics could not have been met, then the Cleveland clinic could not have been among the top healthcare facilities in America. As such, if it happens that the hospital fails to meet the metrics in the future, the ranking would be lower, and many patients would prefer to go to other facilities. Another potential impact is that the organization may have to take drastic and calculated measures to evaluate the various leadership positions that influence the operations and make necessary changes.

References

Bergeron, B. P. (2017). Performance management