The creators of the first measurement tool for hospitalist programs hope that it becomes a standardized gauge for HM practice performance.
The Greeno-Hawley Hospital Medicine Index, unveiled earlier this month by Cogent HMG, uses a 26-question survey to measure HM group performance in five categories: alignment, performance management, infrastructure, operational processes, and leadership and people. The score will offer HM leaders a perspective on where their group stands in comparison with other hospitalist programs.
“It’s meant to be a snapshot in time,” says Beth Hawley, MBA, FACHE, Cogent’s chief customer experience officer, who helped develop the index with Ron Greeno, MD, MHM, the company’s chief medical officer. It is intended to help programs pinpoint the areas on which they need to focus in order to improve their performance, she says.
The index will be formally demonstrated at the American College of Physician Executives meeting April 30 in San Francisco. It will be available online in May.
Hawley says that once programs begin using the index, Cogent can assimilate and review the data to determine whether the tool can serve as a predictive model. Until then, it can be a guidepost for practice improvement for HM leaders who have never before had comparative tools.
“People would sit there thinking they’re doing a great job but they only know their little market or their hospital,” she says, “and really don’t see the broad picture of where hospital medicine is going and what a hospital medicine program can do for a hospital.”