Hospital performance indicators: 7 to track and how to calculate them

A hospital brings together dozens of procedures that need to work together so that processes, some of them seemingly basic, happen within the required quality levelsopens in a new tab. When patients’ lives and the work of the teams depend on that integration, tracking performance stops being optional.

To measure operational efficiency and confirm that the hospital follows the required standards, managers turn to hospital performance indicators, also called hospital KPIs.

In this article, you will see 7 indicators, the formula for each one and how to track them day to day.

What are hospital KPIs?

KPIsopens in a new tab are measures an organization uses to assess performance in concrete terms. They are used to assess operations and set goals, as long as they have clear criteria for calculation, source and frequency.

Without those criteria, KPIs become numbers in spreadsheets. Well defined, they help managers turn data into decisions and, when they spot a deviation, promote continuous improvement of processesopens in a new tab.

The 7 hospital performance indicators

1. Occupancy rate

The occupancy rate shows whether the hospital operates below or above capacity, that is, whether beds are routinely empty or in short supply. It is the percentage ratio between patient-days and available bed-days.

Tracking the rate over time lets you adjust bed supply and operational efficiency. Patient-days are the sum of the patients admitted on each day of the period.

Occupancy rate = (patient-days / bed-days) x 100

2. Average length of stay

Hospitals break down the data to see how long patients stay after certain procedures or in certain departments. Long stays call for an investigation of the causes, such as administrative failures or infections.

Short stays call for a different kind of care, making sure patients are not being discharged too early.

Average length of stay = patient-days in the period / discharges in the same period

3. Infection rate

Also called healthcare-associated infection, the infection rate shows how often patients contract infections during treatment. A lower number indicates that the hospital follows safety and sanitation guidelines.

Infection rate = (infected patients in the period / total patients treated in the same period) x 100

4. Readmission rate

A readmission is a patient’s new admission to the same hospital after discharge. It suggests the discharge may have been given mistakenly, and high rates indicate that the service provided is not solving the patient’s problem.

Readmissions are also expensive, because they treat situations that should have been resolved earlier.

Readmission rate = (readmissions in the period / total discharges in the same period) x 100

5. Patient waiting time

How long does the patient wait in the emergency room before seeing a doctor? Long waits lower satisfaction and increase the risk to health.

To get the index, add up each patient’s waiting time and divide by the number of visits in the period.

Average waiting time = sum of waiting times / number of visits in the period

6. Operating margin

Besides care indicators, the hospital needs to track its financial indicators, covered in our guide to hospital financial indicators (in Portuguese). The operating margin compares revenue and costs to show whether the hospital makes a profit and is sustainable in the long term.

Operating margin = (operating profit / net revenue) x 100

7. Patient satisfaction

A low satisfaction score indicates that the patient experience needs to change, whether in staff, training, facilities or equipment. It also suggests the loss of future patients, besides the dissatisfaction of current ones.

One way to measure satisfaction, also used in healthcare, is the NPS surveyopens in a new tab (in Portuguese). It has a single question and a scale from 0 to 10, such as “how likely are you to recommend our hospital to relatives and friends?”.

Scores of 9 and 10 are promoters, scores of 7 and 8 are passives, and scores from 0 to 6 are detractors.

NPS = % of promoters - % of detractors

Summary of the 7 indicators

How to track hospital indicators

Calculating the indicator is the first step. The value only becomes improvement when each indicator has an owner, a measurement frequency and a defined action for when the result deviates from the goal.

Stratws, the AI platform for strategic and performance management created by Siteware, brings indicators together on visual dashboards, records each deviation with a root cause analysis and tracks the action plan through to completion.

Hospital Careopens in a new tab standardized indicators across 17 units and 111 business units with Stratws. When indicators, deviations and action plans sit on the same base, every unit is followed by the same criteria, and the deviation reaches the decision-maker with the action already recorded.

Frequently asked questions

What are hospital performance indicators?+−

They are measures used to assess the hospital's efficiency, quality and financial sustainability. Examples are occupancy rate, average length of stay, infection rate, readmission rate, waiting time, operating margin and patient satisfaction.

What is the difference between occupancy rate and average length of stay?+−

The occupancy rate shows bed use, comparing patient-days and bed-days. The average length of stay shows how long each patient remains admitted, dividing patient-days by discharges. The first looks at capacity, and the second at length of stay.

How often should hospital indicators be tracked?+−

It depends on the indicator. Waiting time and occupancy call for daily or weekly tracking, while infection, readmission and operating margin are usually measured monthly. What matters is defining the frequency and the owner of each one.