DASHBOARD VISUALISATION FOR HEALTHCARE PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT: BALANCED SCORECARD METRICS

OBJECTIVE: The increase in demand for hospitalisation in an environment of financial stress has hastened the quest for more efficient healthcare delivery systems. In the past performance management methodologies in the healthcare sector have been predominantly static resulting in a lack of consistency, comparability and timeliness. To mitigate these shortcomings this research work has attempted to create a conceptual framework in the digital dashboard format. SETTING: Of the frameworks presently used, the Balanced Scorecard(BSC) is very popular, primarily because the BSC is a management system (not just a measurement system) that helps an organization highlight its vision and translate them into action. DESIGN: The design adopted in this research work is primarily qualitative and exploratory. The methodology includes collating KPIs from published literature, crystallising them using the Delphi Method and applying the Likert-scale to prioritise them. To facilitate visualisation of the prioritised KPIs in the BSC format, the construction of a digital dashboard was envisaged. RESULTS: A dynamic dashboard was created in the BSC format with three Key Performance Indicators(KPI) for each of the four perspectives. 1. Financial: Return on assets, Average daily collections and working capital ratio 2. Customer Perspective: Patient satisfaction, lost business - number of appointments not attended and percentage of patients Leaving Against Medical Advice(LAMA) 3. Internal Processes: Billing and collections/posting time, emergency patients triaged within 15 minutes of arrival and patient waiting time 4. Learning And Growth: Empowerment (decision-making & participation), employee satisfaction and strategic alliances/partnerships