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Performance Analytics: Healthcare Dashboards

I received an email from DMReview Webcast Direct about attending a webcast titled "Performance Analytics: Next Generation Healthcare Dashboards ... Now". I have attended webcasts over the past few years and most get very one sided and vendor specific. That clearly seems the case for this one.

The webcast is June 4, 2008 at 2 p.m. ET. The pitch is a case study.

"The most competitive healthcare facilities are realizing the benefits of user friendly, visual performance analytics that provide a complete view of critical business information. Join Cleveland Clinic and Business Objects to see a live Web seminar illustrating how Cleveland Clinic is currently using their performance analytic solutions to visually understand their business with performance dashboards and interactive business models. Discussion Topics:
• Best practices in leveraging visual performance analytics and dashboards
• How healthcare providers and payers are leveraging this information today
• How to add visual performance analytics to documents, spreadsheets and presentations
• Empowering end-users. "

The problem with lowering healthcare costs is only indirectly addressed by visualization, performance dashboards and interactive models. The key is figuring out the performance metrics that really will improve efficiency and effectiveness. Bad metrics lead to bad dashboards and bad models. So what are the metrics for healthcare administrative decision support?

1. Professional staffing levels by department and average cost?
2. Average cost of care per patient?
3. Utilization of hospital beds?
4. Staffing percentages and average cost by category, support, administrative, professional
medical, professional other?
5. Monthly operations cost trends, energy, supplies, food?
6. Donations, charitable contributions monthly and historical average?
7. Medicare reimbursement prior month versus budget?
etc., etc.

Let's discuss the metrics before we get excited about the display and the tools.

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