ABSTRACT
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are a means, not an end. Core measures that gauge the organization's past or current performance in particular areas, KPIs reflect how closely the organization's underlying processes are aligned with best practices. What gets measured gets noticed, and KPIs are the focal point for that measurement. The KPI perspective can be clinical, financial, or patient focused. KPIs may also be quantitative or qualitative—or a hybrid of the two—and expressed as a fixed value, percentage, ratio, average, or rate, depending on the measure. Regardless of the selection criteria, KPIs can filter throughout the organization from the department level or up from the boardroom. One of the challenges of defining indicators at the department level and then propagating them through the healthcare organization is the potential lack of congruence. Having a KPI owner assigned to each indicator does not obviate the need for a "super owner" who periodically examines classes of indicators.
