Benchmarking in health care: turning challenges into success

Since 1990, more than 120 partner hospitals have participated in 15 projects using a collaborative benchmarking approach developed by SunHealth Alliance.

Medical records project. Twenty hospitals focused on activities that could reduce accounts receivable days in medical records for Medicare inpatients. Thirty-five key practices, as identified by correspondence and site visits for four benchmark hospitals, were reviewed with all 20 hospitals.

Pneumonia project. Four hospitals focused on reducing the length of stay and mortality rates for pneumonia (DRG [diagnosis-related group] 89) patients. Each hospital formed internal task forces, who reviewed comparative data, analyzed their hospitals' internal care processes, determined opportunities for improvement, and chose best practices for implementation-including standardizing the sputum-collection process and developing a clinical path. Meeting the challenge. Hospitals should strive for innovation, seek new goals of excellence, and share their successes with other hospitals.