A hospital venture is a large investment. If you take stock of everything that has been acquired to offer the best services to your patients, you will see that you have quite significant immobilized capital.

But what we often forget is that this investment needs to generate financial returns for the hospital. From the gurney sitting in the doctor's lounge to the state-of-the-art equipment.

It is up to you, as a manager, to manage these resources in such a way that they generate revenue for the institution and contribute to strengthening the brand over time.

We'll see how to do that next.

Start with strategic planning

The most important step in managing a hospital efficiently and effectively is to start with consistent strategic planning. Defining objectives, goals, and indicators is useless if they just sit in a drawer.

The ideal is to develop an action plan that involves all sectors and employees, implementing the Visual management so that everyone feels integrated in the pursuit of achievements.

Here, a business management tool can greatly facilitate your ability to analyze and make decisions: through control dashboards, it's possible to monitor your action plan day by day.

Engage people

A leadership stance and two-way communication are crucial for efficient people management and the convergence of efforts towards hospital objectives.

We should not only cling to productivity indicators and so on, but to ensure the human side of the relationship between company and employee. In this regard, it is up to you to disseminate a culture of appreciation for the professionals working at the hospital.

Guiding practices, fostering alignment with hygiene and health protocols, clarifying doubts, and always keeping the doors open for criticism and suggestions makes your hospital a good work environment, which improves engagement and talent retention. In the end, patients leave satisfied.

Monitor your asset utilization

As we said at the beginning, a hospital holds a high investment in equipment and infrastructure, which must bring financial returns over time. For this reason, we highlight some issues that should be carefully observed so that you make the most of the available resources.

Bed occupancy rate

This concerns the relationship between the number of patients and beds used per day. Idle beds represent losses, while patients exceeding the bed limit indicates a drop in the quality of care due to a lack of infrastructure for treatment. The calculation of this rate is simple:

Occupancy rate = (number of patients per day / number of available beds per day) x 100

Average length of stay (ALS)

This indicator refers to the average time a patient stays at the hospital institution. With this indicator, your organization can, for example, improve the infrastructure for patient reception, estimate hospitalization costs, or improve the availability of professionals.

TMP = (number of patients / discharges in the same period) x 100

Bed turnover

Indicates how many times the same bed was used within a period of time. It reveals the efficiency in the use of these resources, after all, an empty bed means a loss.

Rotation = (number of discharges / number of beds)

Default

Unfortunately, any business, even healthcare, suffers from non-payment, meaning a lack of payments. But it's important to know this rate so you know what measures to take to recover amounts due, maintaining the hospital's financial health.

Default = R$ pending receipt / R$ expected to be received

Return on Investment

The purpose of any organization is to generate profit to remain sustainable over time. Healthcare institutions are no different. Each procedure requires an investment that must bring financial return, thus, it is of vital importance to monitor the financial return of each service provided.

It is based on this indicator that procedures are prioritized or others are eliminated. For example, a hospital that has high expenses in cardiac surgeries and little financial return for such a delicate procedure may decide strategically to no longer offer this type of service.

It is from this type of analysis that specialized clinics and hospitals emerge. By focusing on a specific niche, it becomes easier to gain know-how and maintain the profitability of the business.

ROI = ((Revenue – Investment) / Investment) x 100

Since we know that routines are always busy, be sure to count on a strategic management software to optimize monitoring and provide it with real-time data for better decisions!