Benchmarking Is A Part Of Total Quality Management

The fourth key to benchmarking is systematic external benchmarking. Once management has realized the importance of internal business processes and world-best practices, it is their responsibility to combine these two themes. Management must systematically examine its internal practices and performance in comparison to external benchmarks. The last key is benchmarking as a survival technique. It may effectively save a business from declaring bankruptcy. However, benchmarking should be used in organizations regardless of financial or economic status.

Berry, L. L. (2000). Cultivating service brand equity. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 28(1), 128-137. Retrieved from http://link.springer.com/article/10.1177/0092070300281012

Quality improvement data is followed in all health care setting. The use of Cerner EHRs allows data to be obtained from patient charts to analyze core measures. According to the joint commission influenza and pneumococcal vaccinations measures should be addressed in all hospital in-patients (The Joint Commission, 2015). Data can be retrieved on those patient who were diagnosed with pneumonia to determine if they received the vaccinations for pneumonia and influenza. As well as tracking the time frame between diagnosis and treatment, and additionally the patient outcome. This is captured through the documentation of the clinical staff. The information can be analyzed to determine the quality improvement changes that need to be implemented to improve patient outcomes.

Benchmarking for clinical performance measurement involves collecting and reporting data on practices’ clinical processes and outcomes. Measuring clinical performance can create buy-in for improvement work in the practice and enables the practice to track their improvements over time. This information should also be used to identify and prioritize improvement goals and to track progress toward those goals. In addition, these data should be used to monitor maintenance of changes already made ("Module 7. measuring," 2013). Benchmarking can also be utilized to do a comparison between other health care organizations, provide areas where training could improve staff functions.

One way that an organization can use benchmarks and performance measures to monitor success of quality improvement initiatives is by measuring overall organizational quality improvement and benchmark amount of waste. By measuring overall quality improvement and setting quality improvement benchmarks, the team can verify if the undertaken quality improvement initiative had a positive impact on overall quality improvement for the betterment of patients. Conversely, quality improvement performance measures can also indicate if some areas of the QI plan need improvement or have been unsuccessful. By analyzing quality improvement performance measures and benchmarks, the QI initiative will provide better indication as to if the bottom line of improving patient outcomes is attainable and or achieved. Or if the quality improvement initiative has had a negative impact on patient outcomes and what QI processes need to be addresses. Benchmarking can help the QI team get a better understanding as to how well the QI initiative goals have done compared to previous processes. If the QI team sets a benchmark to improve the number of patients seen on a day to day basis by adopting a new QI process and does not succeed. The team can then use the QI initiative benchmark and quality improvement performance measures to analyze gathered data and fix the issue or change the quality improvement plan

The first step in the process is that of performance measures. This step includes process measures and outcome measures. Process measures are the way of delivering services that leads to a certain outcome. If the PI team is designed properly, the probability of achieving the desired outcome will increase (p. 45). Outcome measures are the result of “the process of systematically tracking a patient’s clinical treatment and responses to that treatment, including measures of morbidity and functional status, for the purpose of improving care” (p. 46). In this section is where the presentation’s heading National Benchmark should be presented. A benchmark is used in an outcome measure to compare services of one organization with those of a similar

If a payer feels that a practice is weak in a certain area, they can construct performance-based metrics that provide incentive for improvement.

Benchmarking is a tool based on active collaboration among professionals in order to develop and apply best practices for the organization. “The key feature of benchmarking is its integration within a comprehensive and participatory policy of continuous quality improvement (CQI). Conditions for successful benchmarking focus essentially on careful preparation of the process, monitoring of the relevant indicators, staff involvement and inter-organizational visits” (Ettorchi-Tardy, Levif, & Michel, 2012) Benchmarking is a process of researching and implementing best practices at the least cost. The basic principle of benchmarking is to identify a point of comparison against which everything else can be compared. “For more than 10 years now, the demand for performance has become a major issue for the healthcare system. This is due to three factors: the imperative to control healthcare costs; the need to structure the management of risk and of quality of care; and the need to satisfy patients' expectations” (Ettorchi-Tardy, Levif, & Michel, 2012).

Focusing on improving quality service and managing care at Fort Madison Community Hospital is something they are striving to do daily. Managers also have to take in account of looking at information technology and its applications. Using these they find benchmarking and milestones. By discovering the benchmarking it will allow Fort Madison Community Hospital to better manage quality improvement so that it will be for effective daily.

Internal BenchmarkingInternal benchmarking is a self assessment process that identifies the organizations strengths and weaknesses (Success Profiles, Inc., 1996-2003). Greyhound Bus Lines will identify the strengths and weaknesses with regards to the organizational innovation and creativity. Once the strengths and weaknesses are identified new processes will be implemented into the weaker areas of innovation. This process is a repetitive process and incorporates new ideas and best practices into the

Comparisons have become an inevitable and integrated with life and work. Even though myself & most of us don’t like comparisons since every individual is unique and should never be compared for what they are with others and comparison always make sense when it’s made self, within, which can only be the real truth. Even in Agile, it’s advised not to compare two teams with their velocity, since every team features and work are different. Saying that, certain situations, act and benchmark force us to do so to really set the benchmark for others.

A company’s “Best Practice” policies provide a guide for meeting organizational objectives and describe the steps that employee’s are to take when creating a product or delivering a service. Best practices should be a benchmark to learn from as well as through the experience of others. Benchmarking allows an organization to compare its business with other successful businesses and to highlight areas where the business could improve.

Benchmarking is a powerful tool used to promote continuous improvement of an organization. It enables the decision-makers to realize how much improvement is required to achieve satisfactory performance. The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) has defined benchmarking as “a measurement tool for monitoring the impact of governance, management and clinical and logistical functions” (as cited in Ettorchi-Tardy, Levif & Michel, 2012). There are four different kinds of benchmarking: internal, external or competitive, functional and generic or best practice. Also, there are several benefits of using benchmarking within healthcare organizations such as improving the quality of patient care, encouraging accountability among providers, improving productivity, yielding greater efficiency, meeting accreditation requirements, etc.

iConsultant is committed to implementing appropriate quality management systems and processes to enable the delivery of the highest practicable quality products and services. Dyson Limited engaged iConsultant to strategize a total quality transformation for the company to overcome its current quality challenges and hone its competitiveness in the world market.

Total Quality Management (TQM) is an improvement tool that is widely used in many companies. It consists of many aspects including Managing people as well as business processes in order to maintain customer satisfaction. With TQM, Businesses starts to do the right thing from the start and to ensure zero error. Therefore, it is important to learn the principle of TQM and how it acts in organizations with its advantages and disadvantages.