Brigham and Women’s Hospital Improves Patient Care with SAS®

When patients check in to Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH), a nonprofit teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School in Boston, they are often treated with the latest medical technology, from 3-D diagnostic imaging to robotic cardiac surgery. Advanced technology, in the hands of BWH's skilled healthcare professionals, helps improve patient health and deliver positive results.

So when BWH needed to improve the health and quality of its own internal operations, it was natural that technology would play a key role. BWH has turned to SAS to power its acclaimed performance management efforts. Using SAS® Performance Management for Healthcare, a software solution that specifically targets the needs of healthcare providers, BWH has created a culture of data transparency, increased accountability and improved performance.

Award-winning performance
BWH has also received national recognition for its SAS performance management system. The hospital was recently named to the prestigious Balanced Scorecard Hall of Fame for Executing Strategy by the Balanced Scorecard Collaborative. The Hall of Fame award cited BWH's breakthrough performance results using the Balanced Scorecard process. It follows BWH's receipt earlier this year of the 13th annual National Quality Healthcare Award, presented by the National Committee for Quality Health Care.

"Brigham and Women's Hospital is using dashboards, scorecards, BI and analytical technology from SAS to achieve meaningful improvements in the quality and safety of patient care, in patient and employee satisfaction, and in its overall financial performance," says Melissa Fitzpatrick, RN, MSN, FAAN, Chief Healthcare Strategist at SAS. "We are pleased to partner with such a world-class, Hall of Fame organization and to contribute to its overall success."

Turning data into strategy
From front-line care providers to the board of trustees and the CEO, data drives conversation, decision making and strategic alignment at BWH. SAS Performance Management for Healthcare serves as the vehicle for reporting and communicating metrics that were carefully and collaboratively agreed upon by all key stakeholders. "The SAS system at Brigham and Women's, currently in its fifth year, has become a single source of the truth for the entire organization," adds Fitzpatrick.

The hospital's Center for Clinical Excellence uses SAS to measure and monitor key performance indicators across all inpatient areas using nearly 200 scorecards. A specific quality outcomes scorecard is used by the Board of Trustees to monitor clinical improvements and performance against established targets. And more than 200 surgeons can view their own scorecards, comparing their outcomes against established benchmarks in their specialties.

SAS helps BWH turn data from more than 80 sources – and based on 50,000 patient encounters each year – into strategy for operations throughout the hospital, whether in a patient-care setting or in the business office. SAS integrates, analyzes and distributes information to executive management, physicians and front-line employees, helping BWH's more than 1,200 employees and physicians see how their actions, individually and as a whole, affect patient satisfaction and the bottom line.