Performance Measures for Health Care Systems

Findings Before implementing performance within the firm’s organizational goals, it is essential that health care executives understand the current environment in which they perform. Performance measurement has come a long way since the 19th century. The main characteristics of the current environment include: • Continued strong interest in comparative performance information by both public and private purchasers • A widely accepted national performance measure set for managed care plans (HEDIS) • Approved list of several performance measure sets (ORYX) • Continued difficulty with focusing measurement on “bottom-line” patient outcomes like mortality, morbidity or functional status • Continued development of evidence-based medicine • Continued challenge of coordinating performance measures for external/public use with performance measures for internal management and quality improvement use • A significant role for health plans as agents of public and private purchasers top define and implement performance measures for hospitals and physicians