Practice re-engineering through the use of benchmarks: Part 1.

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Management
• Process Improvement
• Performance Measurement

Background:

• Benchmarking is a valuable tool for practice performance improvement.
• Many practices struggle to integrate benchmarks into daily operations for accountability or process re-engineering.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe a nine-step benchmarking process for practice performance improvement.
• To discuss the successful application of benchmarking for process re-engineering.
• To introduce key performance indicators for practice integration in Part 2.

Main Methods:

• Detailed description of a nine-step benchmarking process.
• Discussion on integrating benchmarking into practice operations for performance improvement.
• Focus on process re-engineering as a core outcome of benchmarking.

Main Results:

• Benchmarking, when properly implemented, can drive significant performance improvements.
• Effective integration of benchmarks into daily workflows is crucial for success.
• The described process facilitates accountability and targeted process re-engineering.

Conclusions:

• A systematic benchmarking process is essential for healthcare practice improvement.
• Successful re-engineering requires integrating benchmarks into daily operations and accountability structures.
• Part 2 will further elaborate on performance indicators and their integration.