Redefining Success in Healthcare with Dashboards and KPIs

Healthcare organizations run on data. Patient data, claims data, financial data, operational data. But when that data is scattered across systems and spreadsheets, it creates chaos instead of clarity.

Most finance teams feel this every month. Sage Intacct’s Healthcare Finance Team Leadership Survey found that manual reporting and a lack of real-time visibility were the top internal frustrations for healthcare finance leaders. What they want most is automated, self-service reporting that frees the team for strategic work.

What are the most important healthcare KPIs? Start with revenue cycle metrics like days in accounts receivable, denial rate, and cost to collect. Then add practice-level measures like revenue per provider, cost per visit, payer mix, and profitability by location or service line. The best dashboards combine financial, clinical, and operational data in one view.

Here’s how to decide what to measure, who should see it, and how to turn it into better decisions.

What to Measure: Go Beyond Revenue and Expenses

Traditional financials tell you what happened. They don’t always tell you why. Linda Pinion, Principal Solutions Consultant at Sage Intacct, encourages healthcare finance leaders to dig deeper:

• Compare supplies vs. equipment costs
• Separate direct vs. indirect expenses
• Measure provider vs. provider and location vs. location
• Track revenue by insurer
• Compare the profitability of treatments and services

Look ahead, too. How will capital improvements, new payment models, or new services affect the bottom line?

Health Solutions CFO Paige Oldham said combining KPIs in one report gave her team “a much clearer picture of what’s going on with the business.” The lesson: you won’t know until you measure.

Healthcare KPIs worth tracking

Many of these follow the HFMA MAP Keys, the industry standard for revenue cycle benchmarking. HFMA also offers target ranges for days in A/R and other key metrics.

Share Dashboards Across the Practice

Measurement done in a vacuum doesn’t move the practice forward. Success depends on everyone understanding where the business stands today and where it’s heading.

That means giving people dashboards tailored to their role:

• Providers see their own productivity and revenue per visit
• Department and location managers see their costs and performance
• Executives see the full picture across every entity

When each group knows what they’re accountable for, they can act on it. And when reports update automatically inside your finance system, your team spends less time building spreadsheets and more time on strategic work.

Combine Financial, Clinical, and Operational Data

Strong financial reporting is critical. But the real insight comes when you connect it with clinical and operational data.

Village Family Dental is a good example. By tracking which offices and service lines were profitable, the practice chose to expand pediatrics and OR cases and reduce certain insurance carriers. According to COO Virginia Jones, PhD, that increased revenue by as much as $40,000 per month. When they added new services, they could evaluate each one’s profitability right away.

Your questions might look different:

• What’s our revenue and cost per patient, visit, or procedure?
• Which providers are most profitable?
• What happens if we enter a value-based contract?
• What would a new service line add to revenue?

With all your data in one place, you stop just reporting on the past and start planning the future of the practice.

How Sage Intacct Supports Healthcare KPIs and Dashboards

Sage Intacct for healthcare is built for exactly this kind of reporting. Key capabilities include:

• Dimensional reporting: Tag transactions by location, provider, department, or service line, then slice reports any way you need without a complex chart of accounts.
• Statistical accounts: Track non-financial data like patient visits or provider counts alongside your financials.
• Role-based dashboards: Give each team real-time access to the metrics they own, with permissions controlling who sees what.
• Multi-entity consolidation: Multi-location practices can share a chart of accounts and roll up results instantly. (Still running separate QuickBooks files? See 5 signs you’ve outgrown QuickBooks.)
• HIPAA support: Sage Intacct’s security safeguards are certified HIPAA- and HITECH-compliant, and Sage will sign a Business Associate Agreement with eligible healthcare clients.

Start Measuring What Matters

Better data doesn’t have to mean more work. With the right KPIs and a system that connects your financial, clinical, and operational data, your finance team can spend less time reporting and more time guiding the practice forward.

FAQ

What is a KPI in healthcare?

A healthcare KPI (key performance indicator) is a measurable value that shows how well a practice or organization is performing. Common examples include days in A/R, denial rate, and cost per visit.

What should a healthcare finance dashboard include?

A good dashboard combines revenue cycle metrics, practice-level metrics like revenue per provider, and operational data like patient visits. Each user should see the metrics tied to their role.

Can Sage Intacct track non-financial healthcare data?

Yes. Sage Intacct uses statistical accounts to track data like patient visits or provider counts next to your financials, so you can calculate metrics like cost per visit.

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