With the continuous increase in activity and an era of unprecedented growth, it was recognised by a few key managers that the hospital's financial management needed to be enhanced. As a result the Friendly Society Private Hospital has developed an innovative IT solution in partnership with Brisbane based IT firm NetOptions. The end result, after four years of collaboration and development, is an exciting, ground breaking management tool known as a KPI "Dashboard."
The KPI Dashboard is a software solution driven by advanced technology that has been developed and built to meet the specific needs of the Friendly Society Private Hospital. It allows the hospital to monitor key performance parameters in ‘real time' and in by doing so we are able to react to market pressures quicker. Like most businesses we are continually looking at ways to exceed patient and stakeholder expectations; the need to scrutinise, monitor and control KPI's is an important cog in the wheel of delivering upon our mission of "providing total quality care".
Whilst the KPI Dashboard was developed specifically for the Friendly Society Private Hospital and as such we are the owners of its intellectual property, it has a level of sophistication that allows it to be customised for use at other sites and medical facilities. To this end the FSPH KPI Dashboard has now become a marketable product within the healthcare industry.
Last Friday the Friendly Society Private Hospital presented their innovative "Dashboard" management tool at the Private Hospital Association of Queensland's (PHAQ) Innovation Practice Conference after being selected as a finalist.
The idea was conceived through management's desire to be able to access ‘real time' data allowing them to assess and manage the ‘health' of the hospital's operations through analysing KPI performance on a daily basis. Historically KPI's were reviewed on a monthly basis but management wanted a dashboard style report that took data from a huge variety of sources automatically, therefore providing live updates on their computer screens. This identified the need for us to harness the disparate information sources in a holistic manner and this was the challenge that the KPI Dashboard provided a solution for.
"The dashboard looks a bit like a car dashboard with lights, dials and needles, to indicate the performance of each of the 220 parameters. We set limits on each of the parameters and use a combination of colours to show warnings, and gauges to show rates," said hospital IM and HR Manager Andrew Smith. "All indicators are classified into four main areas Human Resources (HR), Quality, Finance and Clinical (inpatients and theatre patients). The display of these functions is customisable for each individual enabling them to view their significant data their way and then drill down for more detail should there be concerns. For instance our Theatre Services Manager may have theatre activity at 100% for green, 80% for orange and 60% or below for red."
Importantly the KPI Dashboard allows all Managers to see the correlations and interactions between each of their individual department's KPI's and how one department's performance can likewise affect that of another, fostering a greater need for team work and co-operation. Key business stakeholders can be sure that activity and resources are available, which will assist in key decision making within their areas and executive management will know within an instant which areas need their focus depending on the alert preset within the dashboard system. Ultimately the ability of the hospital to manage, control and forecast resources has been revolutionised by the development and implementation of the KPI Dashboard platform.
By having our daily Clinical, Financial, Quality and HR indicators located in a readily accessible and ‘live' location further propels our position as a leading healthcare facility. The addition of this state of the art technology places us at the forefront of Australia's healthcare industry yet again.
