Duke Children Hospital

This is a three page APA research paper that relies on four sources, to discuss how Duke Children’s Hospital implemented the balanced scorecard. It is clear that the scorecard methodology was well implemented by Duke Children’s Hospital; the organization achieved a significant improvement in all key aspects–financial, customer satisfaction, learning and growth, as well as the internal business. The most important step is for organizations to rapidly develop scorecards that allow for alignment of goals and effective communication as well as continuous team education.

Introduction

Duke Children’s Hospital followed a number of steps to launch its renown rapid-fire approach to implementing balanced score card. The process, in summary, included three main steps. The first step of implanting the balanced scorecard is communicating the vision to stakeholders. This involves Get establishing key linkages with relevant stakeholders. Here, the ultimate goal is to implement a comprehensive score card that integrates the mission, vision, strategy, targets, objectives, key performance indicators (KPIs), and projects of the organization. With Duke’s approach, key stakeholders were consulted and linked so as to create measurement strategies and to define objectives. In other words, the purpose of bringing together stakeholders is to identify the key performance indicators that are pertinent to the organization and to effectively link them to the goals and strategy (Meliones et al., 2001).

The second step is achieving of results and evaluating performance. At Duke Children Hospital, one of the important roles of the physician executive is to facilitate education and communication. The balanced scorecard supported this effort by providing a structure for dialogue and education. It is through such communication that feedback can be obtained and used to improve performance, hence, making the organization smarter. The third step is improving on performance. According to Kaplan and Norton (1996), this is where the organization gains knowledge and strategic control, gets smarter. Getting smarter involves utilizing management’s information, tools and other measures that allow the organization to maintain strategic focus. It is through constant review and revision of the scorecard that organizations are able to transform themselves into learning centers.

Analysis

In the balanced scorecard Duke University Children’s Hospital developed, the internal business process of the hospital focused on the power of information. The Hospital realized that it had a tremendous amount of data but lacked the relevant information to make intelligent decisions. Sharing information is a fantastic opportunity to educate and empower staff, though it has its risks. The information was presented in a manner that enhances improvement, as opposed to finger pointing. Therefore, all stakeholders, particularly physicians, were given accurate, clear and relevant information. As a result, different groups were able to focus on their own performance—thus, avoiding distractions from other departments.

Duke Children’s Hospital utilized the power of technology power and knowledge of the applications service provider (ASP) in the rapid implementation of the scorecard. The ASP model allowed physician executives to provide mission critical information to everyone in real time—team members easily viewed the scorecard on their desktop. The ASP approach minimized hardware and software expenses, thereby decreasing maintenance costs, and effectively wiped out IT costs. The organization utilized a number of measures. Performance indicators clearly define and link the business objective and clinical aspects of the organization.

Staff satisfaction is also another measure. Physicians prescribe care to patients, while nurses and associated health professionals provide the care, patients, on the other hand, receive the care, and the payers bear the cost of the care. Hence, if any of these groups are dissatisfied with the performance of the organization, there will be disgruntlement, resulting in reduced quality. Many organizations normally measure patient and payer satisfaction, but forget to measure staff satisfaction. Physicians, nurses, and other health practitioners are an integral part of the healthcare system. Thus, their continuous education and satisfaction, together with their impact on quality of care, must be recognized and measured. Duke Children’s Hospital also factored in the issue of regulation, as a measure of performance. The Hospital maintains strategic focus that fully complies with industry standards—the healthcare industry is one of the most highly regulated industries. Through the development of an all-inclusive and aligned performance strategy, the scorecard facilitates regulatory compliance as a guaranteed benefit of everyday clinical practice. Duke Children’s Hospital achieved this by linking initiatives to the organization’s overall strategy, promoting interdisciplinary collaboration and demonstration of continuous improvement (CQI, 2008).

Conclusion

From Duke Children’s Hospital case, it is clear that every organization has the opportunity of developing a strategic focus and evaluation of the business and quality of service, in a measurable and continuous manner. The Hospital did this by bridging the gap between stakeholders and clinical drivers of health care, working together with physician executives whose main role was to communicate the organization’s value proposition to administrators and clinicians. With this approach, the organization successfully developed and implemented the integrated scorecard. The scorecard allowed the organization to identify, treat, and implement precautionary measures on its business and quality of health care. Therefore, the use of the balanced scorecard as an excellent long-term solution requires a significant amount of time and resources before it is warmly embraced by all stakeholders. Hence, the most important step is for organizations to rapidly develop scorecards that allow for alignment of goals and effective communication as well as continuous team education.

Evaluation

The scorecard methodology was well implemented by Duke Children’s Hospital; the organization achieved a significant improvement in all key aspects–financial, customer satisfaction, learning and growth, as well as the internal business. Strategic investments are increasingly being made by the Hospital that will guarantee the future success of its services. The health of the organization has significantly improved since and its mission has been advanced (Meliones, 2012).

References

CQI (2008). Introduction to Quality. The Chartered Quality Institute. Retrieved March 15, 2012, from

Kaplan, R. S., and Norton, D. P. (1996). The Balanced Scorecard: Translating
Strategy into Action. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.

Meliones, J. N., Ballard, R., Liekweg, R., and Burton, W. (2001). No mission(<–>)no margin: It’s that simple Journal of Health Care Finance; Spring 2001; 27, 3; ABI/INFORM Global pg. 21

Meliones, J.N. (2012). “Get Connected, Get Results, and Get Smarter – bridging the gap between the business and quality of health care – Statistical Data Included.” Retrieved March 15, 2012, from http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0843/is_1_27/ai_70033626/pg_2/?tag=content;col1