Let’s play the patients music: A new generation of performance measurement systems in healthcare

Purpose – Current performance measurement systems (PMSs) are mainly designed to measure performance at the organizational level. They tend not to assess the value created by the collaboration of multiple organizations and by the involvement of users in the value creation process, such as in healthcare. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the development of PMSs that can assess the population-based value creation process across multiple healthcare organizations while adopting a patient-based perspective. Design/methodology/approach – The paper analyzes the development of a new healthcare PMS according to a constructive approach through the development of a longitudinal case study. The focus is on the re-framing process of the PMS put in place by a large group of Italian regional health systems that have adopted a collaborative assessment framework. Findings – Framing information according to the population served and the patients’ perspective supports PMSs in assessing the value creation process by evaluating the contribution given by the multiple organizations involved. Therefore, it helps prevent each service provider from working in isolation, and avoids dysfunctional behaviors. Re-framing PMSs contributes to re-focusing stakeholders’ perspective toward value creation; legitimizes organizational units specifically aimed at managing transversal communication, cooperation and coordination; supports the alignment of professionals’ and organizations’ goals and behaviors; and fosters shared accountability among providers. Originality/value – The paper contributes to the scientific debate on PMSs by investigating a case that focuses on value creation by adopting a patient-centered perspective. Although this case comes from the healthcare sector, the underlying user-centered approach may be generalized to assess other environments, processes, or contexts in which value creation stems from the collaboration of multiple providers (integrated co-production).