Balanced Scorecard

Abstract

The change in hospital funding with diagnosis related groups (DRG), medical advances as well as demographic changes will call for new quantitative and qualitative standards imposed on German hospitals. Increasing costs and competition in the health care sector requires new and innovative strategies for resource management. Today's policy is mainly defined by rationing and intensified workload. The introduction of DRGs will presumably further constrict management perspectives on pure financial aspects. However, to ensure future development, compassionate services and continued existence of hospitals, a balance of seemingly conflicting perspectives, such as finance, customer, process, learning and growth are of utmost importance. Herein doctors and nurses in leading positions should play a key role in changing management practice. For several years the balanced scorecard has been successfully used as a strategic management concept in non-profit organizations, even in the health care sector. This concept complies with the multidimensional purposes of hospitals and focuses on policy deployment. Finally it gives the opportunity to involve all employees in the original development, communication and execution of a balanced scorecard approach.

Value-Based Health Care for Prostate Cancer Centers by Implementing Specific Key Performance Indicators Using a Balanced Score Card

“…The BSC considers four dimensions or perspectives: financial perspective, referrer and patient perspective, process perspective, and employee perspective [2,3,12].…”

“…Two types of metrics are distinguished in BSCs: leading indicators and lagging indicators [2,3,12]. Leading indicators reflect the current development and can influence the short-term results, while lagging indicators indicate whether the goals have been achieved [2,3,12].…”

“…Additionally, they should implement patient-oriented services and processes, all the while maintaining satisfied and motivated employees [1,2]. Medical institutions that adhere to these principles would embody an ideal institution within an ethical, patient-centered, and economical healthcare system [1,3,4].…”