In other words, we want patients to be able to return home as soon as they can while minimizing, if not eliminating, the need to return because of problems on discharge.

What It’s About

The purpose of the Rouge Valley Health System’s Physician Scorecard is, simply, to confidentially communicate physician performance to each doctor and Program Chief on a quarterly basis in order to improve care and lower costs.

The scorecard includes several quality indicators, such as readmission, complication and mortality rates, to balance off with efficiency indicators, such as length of stay.

The scorecard also:

• Reinforces a positive culture of learning;
• Profiles good performance, which physicians can model;
• Ensures and promotes ongoing physician education and timely supports for the interpretation of results.

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Doctors Make It Work

Dr. Naresh Mohan, Chief of Staff, says, “We wanted a process that would help us see our own performances in an objective and fair system that allowed us to improve patient care and conform to the need to spend health care resources more efficiently.”

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Results

Improvements measured in the first year of the Physician Scorecard include:

• Decreased length of patients’ stay by more than 6,000 days, or 17 beds a year;
• Increased the number of physicians achieving Length of Stay targets by 18 per cent;
• Reduced readmission rates between 2001/02 and 2003/04
• Saved $1.5 million;
• Aligned physician accountability with the organization’s strategic direction;
• Expanded awareness and understanding of how physicians impact the system;
• Renewed dialogue among physicians regarding best practice;

• Enhanced physician leadership and mentorship opportunities through regular review of the Physician Scorecard with the physician chief or division head;

• Encouraged physicians to seek clarification of health records data;
• Boosted outpatient treatment, allowing more patients to return to their families in their own homes sooner.