Clinical outcomes are a traditional metric by which hospitals evaluate their virtual programs, and rightly so. Tracking metrics like reductions in falls and readmissions can indicate quality of care and have regulatory, reimbursement, and certification implications.
However, clinical outcomes only tell part of the story. It is important to also examine key operational indicators. You won’t just see what’s happening — you’ll understand why, informing decisions that streamline operations and ultimately enhance patient care.
And while it may seem overwhelming, analyzing operational KPIs doesn’t require a total overhaul. Here’s examples of how to do it.
KPI Categories That Drive Virtual Care ROI
You can’t improve what you don’t measure, and in virtual care, the most powerful performance drivers are integrated into daily operations. Focusing on three performance indicators (responsiveness, efficiency, and collaboration) can allow you to clearly identify and address certain aspects of your virtual program to positively impact care delivery.
1. Responsiveness
In healthcare, every second counts. The ability of teams to recognize and act on care needs in real time is a critical driver of safety and throughput.
For example, in tele‑ICU programs, Hicuity tracks how quickly intensivists respond to red alerts, as faster intensivist involvement is directly tied to patient outcomes. In virtual sitter programs, programs can measure by how quickly bedside teams respond to in‑room alerts. For virtual nursing programs, leaders often examine admission timelines — from when an order is placed to when the virtual nurse completes their portion of the admission and med rec — to identify bottlenecks and improve consistency across shifts.
Hicuity’s programs are designed to help hospitals capture and act on these types of signals, so you can refine workflows and deliver care more effectively.
2. Efficiency
The goal of virtual programs is to get the appropriate level of care to the patient, by the right team member, that reflects the urgency of the situation. Virtual program leaders seek to remove the noise that detracts from this goal and highlights processes that help achieve it. Understanding efficiency and workload can help you improve productivity, boost morale, and increase responsiveness.
For instance, Hicuity thinks carefully about how we assign our clinical team members: we measure the different ways we interact with our bedside partners by inbound and outbound call volume, orders requested and placed, camera consultations, etc. We consider the different EMRs and technology solutions, patient acuity, and bedside engagement. Transparent, data-informed assignments are not only practical from an efficiency standpoint, it instills a sense of fairness among the clinical team members.
It is also important that clinical team members don’t get bogged down by tasks that draw their attention away from patient care. Rather than our virtual sitters or bedside team members troubleshooting equipment, our 24/7 help desk proactively monitors virtual sitter equipment for connection issues, working with 3rd party technology vendors and bedside partners to maximize cart up-time to enhance program utilization.
3. Collaboration
Engagement between virtual and bedside teams is the thread that ties a virtual care model together. It is important to understand how the two teams collaborate and communicate to identify opportunities for enhancement.
For example, in our remote telemetry monitoring program, Hicuity reports on the rate at which we reach the bedside to report an alarm. This helps identify if the communication pathway is working or needs further refinement. In tele-ICU, Hicuity evaluated the process used by bedside nurses to request order from Hicuity virtual providers. This led to adoption of new technology which streamlined the process and prompted faster turnaround time from order requested to order placed. In both examples, examining how virtual and bedside teams work together can correspond directly to patient care.
How to Implement Operational KPIs that Drive Clinical Outcomes
The most impactful operational KPIs in healthcare are the ones that change behavior. But how do you set them? Where do you start?
Begin by clarifying your goals for your virtual program and examining how your workflows ladder up to them. You might ask yourself where you can cut back on redundancies, and how you can automate time-consuming manual processes. What data is readily available, and is there a low-lift, high-yield data set that you can build quickly?
By laying a strong foundation and working toward a clear north star, it becomes easier to see where improvements can be made and begin to improve processes methodically.
Ready to Measure What Moves the Needle?
Maximizing responsiveness, boosting efficiency, and improving collaboration between virtual and bedside teams requires consistent surveillance and continuous tweaking. It’s not a question of pointing fingers, but rather, surfacing opportunities for refinement so that everyone can focus on what they do best.
Hicuity Health’s virtual models captures data from various patient and bedside interactions, alerts, and escalations, helping identify trends and opportunities for enhancement.
Data isn’t valuable until it’s visible and actionable. Hicuity can deliver on both.
Identify the KPIs that will drive your next phase of ROI. Connect with Hicuity today.
