Understanding Key Anesthesia Metrics
At CCI Anesthesia, we know how valuable data is to facility administrators. We meticulously track anesthesia Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to share with our clients and to support our own efforts in delivering the best, most efficient anesthesia care possible. We maintain a list of worthwhile anesthesia KPIs to track and will feature some of the most important ones here.
Benefits of Tracking Anesthesia KPIs
Anesthesia groups who are not tracking KPIs are missing out on loads of informative data that can support their bottom line, promote better patient care and help their clients achieve quality goals. Some of the many benefits of tracking anesthesia KPIs include:
- Ensuring the delivery of quality service from anesthesia providers
- Supporting optimal outcomes and patient satisfaction
- Identifying areas of quantifiable improvement
- Improving the financial health of the anesthesia department
- Helping to align the anesthesia group with hospital or surgery center objectives.
Without robust, reliable data, these areas become open for interpretation. Anesthesia KPIs allow decisions to be made based on facts rather than opinions and interpretations.
The Best Anesthesia KPIs to Track
Dividing KPIs into quality metrics and operational metrics can be helpful. Quality metrics focus on matters having to do with direct patient care while operational metrics relate to billing and productivity matters. Some of the most beneficial operational metrics to track include:
Patient Temperature Timelines
This KPI proves whether anesthesia providers are capturing patient temperatures according to your facility’s timelines and standards. If this data capture occurs outside the window which is considered timely, patients are potentially put at increased risk if they experience abnormal temperatures.
Postoperative Nausea and Vomiting (PONV)
PONV is preventable in many situations when treated pre-operatively. Patients are more likely to reflect poorly on a successful surgery when they have experienced PONV. Tracking this KPI and closely examining it using an analytics solution can help drive changes in practice that will not only have an immediate impact on patient scores, but assist in developing action plans to prevent PONV.
Percentage of Intensive Care Unit (ICU) Cases
It is inevitable that some patients will need to be sent directly to an ICU after surgery instead of progressing through a normal postoperative and recovery phase. This is commonly referred to as, “Unexpected Admit to ICU.” Knowing the overall percentage of these cases is valuable.
When it comes to operational metrics, we always track:
Billing and Collections
Most anesthesia groups leave five to 15 percent of their payments on the table due to inappropriate billing, sub-optimal reconciliation processes and other costly mistakes. Your anesthesia group should have proper systems in place to follow up on contracted payments repeatedly until they are paid in full.
Payor Mix
More than any other specialty, anesthesia has a greater disparity between private and government reimbursement rates. Other specialties regularly collect one and a half to two and a half times more from private payors versus government payors, but for anesthesia, the difference is closer to four times.
Provider Productivity
By comparing productivity between surgeon and anesthesia provider pairings for the same procedure types, you can work to optimize your schedule by consistently teaming up personnel who thrive together.
Implementing an Anesthesia Information Management System
Tracking anesthesia KPIs becomes even easier when you implement an Anesthesia Information Management System (AIMS). AIMS achieves the ability to efficiently collect and analyze anesthesia data that is accessible by various departments. For years, we have helped our clients transition to electronic medical records and realize the benefits of AIMS. As your anesthesia practice management partner, we can help you choose the right system for your facility, train providers and office staff on how to use it and help you convert data into valuable knowledge.
Are you ready to put data to work for your facility? Call us today at 800.494.3948 to get started.