HLTH4105 SPC Mod 4 Operational Analysis Using Dashboards Paper

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Module 4 Homework: Operational Analysis Using Dashboards

In Chapter 7 of Fundamentals of Healthcare Finance, you read about using dashboards to measure KPIs and operational performance. Print the Local_Hospital_Dashboard for a reference to answer the questions on the Module 4 Assignment worksheet.

Many organizations use dashboards to be able to quickly evaluate performance. As shown in Local Hospital’s dashboard, there are several ways to look at a performance. As a leader in healthcare, you may not have to create these dashboards, but you will need to be able to interpret them.

Step one is always to familiarize yourself with the dashboard. In the upper left hand corner is a fictitious date in the middle of the month of November, 2020. The dashboard is projecting the end of the month totals, based on the performance of the first 11 days in the month. The box with the yellow heading is looking at month end projections, and comparing them to what the organization did last year. The light blue box is projecting year-end total, based on year to date performance. The box with the red heading is comparing the projected year to date, to last year. The bottom 4 graphs are visual representations of some key drivers for the month, and how the organization is performing compared to budget.

Please download and complete the Module 4 Assignment. Submit the completed assignment in the drop box by Sunday before midnight EST.

  • Save your homework assignment using the following file-naming format to receive full credit: HSA3170_Mod 4HW_Last Name.

Reading Assignments:

  • Gapenski, L. C. (2019). Fundamentals of healthcare finance (3rd ed.). Chicago, IL: Health Administration Press. ISBN: 9781567939750.
    • Chapter 7: Managing Financial Operations
    • Chapter 8: Business Financing and the Cost of Capital

Assignment : ( This has been attached)

HSA 3170: Healthcare Finance

Module Four Assignment

Referring to the dashboard, I will go over a few examples of some information that can be obtained.

Look at the PRIOR YEAR-TO-DATE section:

  • If I look at the Total Surgery row, I can see that I am down 10.4% or 361 cases compared to last year.The variance that indicate a negative indicator is in red font.I would want to look into why I am loosing volume.If I have market research data, I would ask if the entire volume in the community is down.If so, by what percent.If the market in the area is stable, you would conclude that you are losing market share.

Now look at the PROJECTED YEAR-TO-DATE section:

  • If I look at ALOS (Average Length of Stay) row, I can see that I am projected to be at an average of 3.83 days, and I am running at 3.85.Would you assume that we are doing well?The answer is “no”.We are close, but in a big organization, every .1 variance in length of stay can equate to a $500,000 in revenue!!This is because if you assume that all patients are paid a flat amount for their stay, as Medicare does for the lives that they cover, every day is more cost to you, and you do not get paid any more money.

You can see that there is a lot of information that can be obtained from a dashboard.Please refer to the dashboard, and answer the following questions:

Look at the PROJECTED MONTH END section:

  • Looking at total revenue, is Local Hospital beating budget?By what percent?
  • In many cases, hospitals are paid the same amount for a patient if they are in the hospital for 3 days or 4 days, because they are paid by the diagnosis.

With that information, would you say that Local Hospital is doing a good job with ALOS (average length of stay)? Why?

Look at the PRIOR YEAR-MONTH END section:

  • From a total revenue perspective, is Local Hospital doing better or worse than last year? By what percent?

Look at the TOP HALF OF THE DASHBOARD:

  • Are OP Surgery Cases above or below budget on a projected year to date basis? By what percent?
  • Have OP Surgery Cases grown in volume over last year?By what percent?
  • Are ED visits projected to be above budget for the month?Are they projected to be above budget for the year?
  • Imagine that there is another hospital within one mile of Local Hospital. Market data has shown that the annual number of ED visits in the community is unchanged.When you look at the prior year to date ED visits, would you say that Local Hospital is gaining market share or losing it?Why would you say that?
  • If you knew that surgical volume in the community was constant to last year, would you say that Local Hospital is gaining or losing market share?
  • Looking at total revenue, would you say that Local Hospital has a better projected month end, compared to budget, than have had related to the rest of the year?Why would you say that?

Using the 4 GRAPHS ON THE BOTTOM HALF OF THE PAGE:

  • What is the one area that you would focus your attention on improving?