As an ABA agency, we understand the importance of goals for our clients, but they are just as important for our business. One of the ways to track goals within the organization is to use KPIs or Key Performance Indicators. KPIs are outcomes we use to measure items that have the most impact on moving the organization forward. These KPIs should be derived from the organization’s mission and vision. It is important to have 5-7 KPIs and they should have target, timeframe, data, frequency, and owner.
So why is it so important for us to measure KPIs? KPIs give us a snapshot of the overall health of the company. You should create KPIs in four categories: Team members, clients, processes, and revenue. They also help you measure progress over time- just as goals for our clients do. KPIs can help adjust company goals and targets to ensure you stay on track throughout the year. They help you solve problems that occur in your organization and take advantage of opportunities. They are the dashboard of the business, a place to go to check the overall health of the company throughout the year. Finally, they help to analyze patterns. Organizations can look at KPIs from quarter to quarter to detect patterns within the organization. For example, it is easier to predict increases in client absences in quarter four, will decrease income in quarter one.
When creating a KPI we look at the target, timeframe, data source, frequency, and owner. Let’s focus on a KPI that almost every ABA company should have, session note completion. In our company we have a KPI that is as follows:
100% of session notes will be completed within 24 hours of the client session.
Let’s talk about this KPI in a little more detail.
First of all, why was this chosen as a KPI? Well, it fits within our core values to be accountable and we cannot get paid until we have documentation. If we don’t get paid, we won’t be a financially solvent company.
- Our target is 100%. Normally KPIs should not be set at 100%, but in this case, it is important to have 100% of all session notes completed.
- Our timeframe is within 24 hours. Again, it is important to have session notes completed in a timely manner to ensure the accuracy of the documentation.
- Our data source is our O/D Spreadsheet. This spreadsheet is our “old-fashioned” way of tracking sessions and note completion. We have a variety of companies our BCBAs serve with different data management systems and this is the best way to keep track of everyone in one place.
- Our reporting frequency is weekly. This was determined after a previous KPI had the review of sessions monthly, this was too long of a period and was harder to track, so it was adjusted.
- Finally, the owner is the Clinical Director. Each staff is responsible for their own session notes, but the Clinical Director is responsible for ensuring the data regarding session notes is complete and accurate. They are also responsible for follow up if session notes are not completed.
This is just one example of a KPI and as you can see, having this KPI can help us to monitor the health of our organization by tracking compliance and billable. Other KPIs help us keep track of where our deficits are and where our opportunities are.
What are some of the KPIs your organization has? If you need more help with KPIs or want to know more about KPIs within an ABA organization specifically, please contact us.
References:
https://www.kpi.org/kpi-basics/
