Discussion

In order to be competitive in health care markets, organizations must ensure that the services they provide are consistent in pricing and quality with other comparable organizations. In this Discussion, you will examine how the process of benchmarking, or comparing organizations, is important in financial decision making.

To prepare:

• Review the information on benchmarking found in this week's Learning Resources.

• Search the Walden Library or other reliable resources on the Internet and locate a journal article discussing how a health care organization has used the principle of benchmarking.

• How could the concept of benchmarking be used in your own organization (or one with which you are familiar), regardless of size?

• Consider how benchmarking could be useful to you in decision making.

• Analyze the potential risks of making a faulty comparison.

Post a summary of the article you found (including the APA reference) and explain how it informed your understanding of benchmarking. Discuss how benchmarking could be used for financial decision making in your own organization (or one with which you are familiar). Also analyze the potential risks of making comparisons with an organization that is not a credible match with your own.