TOOLS, METHODS, AND STRATEGIES - THE BENCHMARKING EFFORT FOR NETWORKING CHILDRENS HOSPITALS (BENCHMARK)

Background: In 1992, 12 large children's hospitals established the Ben chmarking Effort for Networking Children's Hospitals (BENCHmark). The goal was for the BENCHmark effort to supplement the hospitals' continu ous quality improvement (CQI) programs and to speed adoption of best p ractices from peer institutions. For three years, the hospitals have b een comparing data on cost, quality, and speed indicators. Also, ''bes t practice'' groups have met to share information on how processes can be improved. Results: The BENCHmark hospitals have experienced signif icant process improvement in areas such as emergency department waitin g time and admitting process time. Example: The BENCHmark hospitals se lected admitting as one of the first best practice groups to meet. Int erdisciplinary staff from all BENCHmark hospitals met three times over the course of a year to define their indicator and share information on best practices. St Louis Children's Hospital, as a result, institut ed a pre-arrival team and cross-trained staff, with the result being a reduction of admitting processing time from 58 minutes to 19 minutes. Same-day surgery patients now bypass the admitting department and go directly to the surgical floor. Patient and surgeon satisfaction has i ncreased greatly. Conclusions: Hospitals that are planning to benchmar k are encouraged to reach consensus on project goals and to focus on i ndicators that provide a clear business advantage. Physician involveme nt is key to improving performance and physicians will only be engaged if the hospitals against whom they are benchmarked are considered pee rs. Being willing to share initial data openly seems to be a key facto r in determining successful integration of the BENCHmark process into hospital CQI efforts. The BENCHmark project has been so successful tha t a second group of 12 comparable pediatric institutions, known as the Network II, has been established.