Benchmarking: a data-oriented look at improving health care performance.

Benchmarking uses measures of comparative performance to develop an understanding of what is possible and how others have achieved higher levels of performance. Companies measure each other's performance, identify the best performer out of a group, and then seek to identify and understand the practices that can improve both clinical and administrative operations. When a powerful consortium of Cincinnati businesses began addressing ways to lower the cost of employee care in a project known as the Iameter study, the University of Cincinnati Hospital joined the effort to identify and improve major cost factors. One aspect highlighted by this review is the length of stay in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). The results of the study were incorporated into an NICU early discharge program, which has had a number of positive effects in both patient care quality and cost containment.