6 Questions Hospital Leaders Should Ask When Managing Care Variation

Huron Healthcare, part of Huron Consulting Group, has shared six key questions hospital executives should ask when implementing care variation management.

Managing care variation includes standardizing evidence-based practices across an organization to improve quality and efficiency.

Here are the six questions Huron Healthcare recommends hospital leaders consider when managing care variation:

1. Do you have a reliable and regular way to compare current practice patterns to benchmarks and evidence-based guidelines?

2. Is there a culture of collaboration and accountability among your clinicians?

3. What care pathways or guidelines are currently in place, and are they used to drive decision making at the point of care?

4. Do you have an effective process for concurrently monitoring adherence to the pathways and guidelines, and an escalation process to address non-compliance?

5. Where is your performance on the diagnosis-related groups that fall under the current value-based purchasing program, and on those DRGs that are likely to be added to the program in the future?

6. What tools are currently in place for tracking and reporting quality performance?

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