ABSTRACT
BHCS approaches the process of setting organizational goals and compensating leaders based on achievement of these goals in line with the Institute for Healthcare Improvement’s (IHI) recommendation for establishing measures of system-level performance, adopting specific aims for improvement of these measures, and establishing oversight of these aims at the highest leadership levels under the first of Seven Leadership Leverage Points.1 BHCS began linking performance management incentives to specific clinical indicators of health care quality in 2001. In the ensuing years, BHCS has more clearly defined its goal setting and incentives initiatives to focus on the four areas that guide the organization’s goals (people, quality, finance, and service). System-wide goals in each of the four areas cascade to employees at all levels , and a performance award program places a proportion of executive pay “at risk” depending on achievement of the goals. Aligning incentives and goals in these ways has encouraged the adoption of quality care objectives throughout the organization.
