Gap Analysis

Gap Analysis for Population Health Management

A gap analysis is a study and evaluation of your performance with the goal of discovering the gaps between where you are now and where you want to go. It clarifies the gap between reality and ideal for your organization—for example, on metrics where you're falling short of a target—so you may better focus your resources and efforts on those highlighted areas to improve them.

It is useful to do gap assessments on a frequent basis (annually is a decent guideline depending on the size of your firm) in order to keep on top of performance. However, it is also a wonderful problem-solving technique to use anytime challenges arise, such as:

1. Complaints from patients
2. Under performance on a given measure or by a single department
3. Concerns about meeting healthcare compliance standards
4. There are noticeable disparities between the existing and planned conditions.