Have I managed to confuse you yet? Well then, read on. Things are about to become clearer. So, as I was talking to a potential client, I approached him with the same questions that have listed out in these blogs. One of them was "Have you defined your measures yet?". But before he answered, he said "Kishore, my biggest problem is competition. I often make 40 cents on the dollar, there are several other clinics who offer the same services we do in the general area and I am losing my shirt. Someone suggested business intelligence as a solution, but I have no idea where to start". As I was listening to him, light bulb went off in my head! Folks, I am going to tell you something that I normally don't tell anyone...I was wrong! See, just then, I realized I had made a big assumption. I had assumed that everyone knew they WHY of informatics. Not so. So, here is step 1. Know your GOALS!
How do you define your goal? Well, you know this better than any consultant you will ever hire. Your goals may be to "Save more money" or "Comply with ARRA" or "Need to improve my quality of care". Once you know your goals for your measures, i.e, what are you going to do with them, you now have a good idea of "What to measure". Now you can define the measures and follow the steps I have outlined in my previous posts. So folks, happy "goaling"! (Is that a new word? Hmmm....need to check it!)
