Establishing a balanced scorecard measurement system for integrated care organizations in China

To address, among other issues, the regional and international challenges of the heavy health care burden caused by an aging population, integrated care organizations (ICOs) were proposed at the end of the 20th century for health care delivery. However, the implementation of ICOs has not progressed smoothly, and the current results have not eliminated the imbalance of medical service capabilities among hospitals of different levels. To make up for the deficiency in the current evaluation system at ICOs and offer suggestions for improved sustainable health planning and management, this study establishes a balanced scorecard based on a comprehensive measurement system valid for a Chinese ICO by surveying the staff at the West China Hospital ICO. This study collected valid responses from 216 professional staff members at the ICO via questionnaires. K-means clustering and the coefficient of variation method were used to evaluate the weights of the first- and second-level indicators. The results show the importance ranking of the core perspectives of the ICO balanced scorecard in the following order: patient, internal process, learning and growth, and financial. The weight-based analysis identified the importance ranking of all indicators and pointed to the areas that require close attention in future ICO planning and management.