What is the purpose of performance improvement in healthcare?

The purpose of performance improvement in healthcare primarily focuses on enhancing services, efficiency, and patient outcomes. This approach is rooted in the belief that by systematically analyzing and improving processes, healthcare organizations can provide higher-quality care, which in turn leads to better health outcomes for patients. Performance improvement initiatives often target various aspects of healthcare delivery, such as clinical practices, operational workflows, and patient engagement strategies.

Improving services means ensuring that healthcare providers are delivering care that meets or exceeds established standards of quality. Efficiency relates to optimizing resources and workflows to provide care in a manner that maximizes value, reduces waste, and minimizes delays. Ultimately, enhancing patient outcomes is about ensuring that patients receive effective treatments, have positive experiences during their care journey, and see measurable improvements in their health.

While reducing costs, increasing patient volumes, and improving hospital ratings can be important goals in the broader context of healthcare management, they are typically secondary to the main focus of improving the quality of care and patient wellbeing. Performance improvement initiatives often lead to these secondary outcomes as a result of effective quality care and operational excellence. However, the core objective remains centered on the advancement of service quality and patient results.