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Identifying achievable benchmarks of care: concepts and methodology
C I Kiefe1, N W Weissman, J J Allison
1Department of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, 35205-4785, USA. ckiefe@dopm.uab.edu
Summary
This study introduces an Achievable Benchmark of Care (ABC), a data-driven method for healthcare quality improvement. The ABC methodology provides objective and reliable benchmarks for measuring healthcare performance.
Area of Science:
- Healthcare Quality Improvement
- Health Services Research
- Medical Informatics
Background:
- Traditional healthcare benchmarks often rely on subjective assessments, lacking data-driven objectivity and replicability.
- Existing benchmarking methods may not represent achievable levels of excellence in healthcare delivery.
Purpose of the Study:
- To present a data-driven methodology for establishing an Achievable Benchmark of Care (ABC).
- To outline the premises for sound, data-driven benchmarks in healthcare quality improvement.
- To demonstrate the application and refinements of the ABC methodology.
Main Methods:
- Overview of benchmarking in healthcare quality improvement literature.
- Description of the evolution of a data-driven method using process-of-care indicators.
- Postulation of five premises for sound benchmarks: excellence, attainability, data reliability, inclusivity of high performers, and mitigation of small sample size bias.
Main Results:
- The proposed Achievable Benchmark of Care (ABC) methodology provides an objective and reliable tool for healthcare quality measurement.
- An example application to the cooperative cardiovascular project illustrates the computation of an ABC.
- Ongoing refinements address challenges such as small data denominators.
Conclusions:
- The ABC methodology offers a robust, data-driven approach to healthcare benchmarking, enhancing objectivity and reliability.
- This method has been well-accepted in multiple quality improvement projects, moving beyond arbitrary benchmark definitions.
- The ABC approach facilitates the identification of achievable excellence in healthcare processes.
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