Skip to main content

Table 2 Common measures of the characteristics of health care organizations

From: The role of organizational research in implementing evidence-based practice: QUERI Series

Organizational structure

• Size of organizational unit(s) (e.g., facilities, beds, providers)

• Academic affiliation (e.g., scope of training programs, integration of trainees in care delivery)

• Service availability (e.g., differentiation and scope of services, general and specialty services, access to specialized units)

• Configuration (e.g., service lines, teams, integrated networks)

• Staffing/skill-mix (e.g., types of providers, level of training/experience)

• Leadership structure/authority (e.g., leadership quality, hierarchical vs. vertical structures, ownership, practice autonomy, organizational influence)

• Financial structure (e.g., health plan, reimbursement, compensation structures)

• Availability of basic and specialized service, equipment or supplies

• Resource allocation methods, resource sufficiency, and equitable distribution

• Organizational culture (e.g., group culture, teamwork, risk-taking, innovativeness)

• Work environment/organizational climate

• Knowledge, attitudes, beliefs of managers, providers, staff (e.g., organizational readiness to change)

• Level of organizational stress/tensions, degree of hassles

Organizational Processes

• Care management processes (e.g., practice arrangements, use of care managers to coordinate services and follow-up)

• Referral procedures (e.g., demonstration of need for referral, identification of appropriate provider resources, nature of handoffs, communication of referral results/outcomes, returns)

• Organizational supports for clinical decision-making (e.g., use of reminders, disease-specific checklists or computerized templates, electronic co-signing; designated staff implementing general or disease-specific protocols)

• Recognition/rewards, incentive systems, pay-for-performance

• Communication processes, procedures, quality of interactions

• Relationships (nature of roles and responsibilities, interpersonal styles,)

• Problem solving, conflict management, communication and response to expectations

Organizational Outcomes

• Process quality measures (e.g., percentage of eligible diabetics receiving foot sensation exams)

• Intermediate outcome measures (e.g., glycemic control among diabetics in the entire practice)

• Disease-related outcomes (e.g., complication rates, disease-specific morbidity and mortality)

• Global health status measures (e.g., functional status)

• Utilization measures (e.g., ambulatory care sensitive admission rates, guideline-recommended use of services at the organizational level)

• Workflow or efficiency measures (e.g., wait times, workload)

• Costs (e.g., costs of the QI intervention and its implementation at the organizational level)