Patent Document ID: 8214227
Application ID: 11278084
Patent Flag: 1

Claim One:
1. A computer-storage medium having stored thereon a data structure and computer code useable by a computing device for facilitating the analysis of a current clinical process within one or more clinical facilities, comprising: the data structure that includes: a first data field containing data representing a critical lever within an optimal clinical process for a type of clinical process corresponding with the current clinical process, the optimal clinical process having been predefined for the type of clinical process, the critical lever corresponding with an activity within the optimal clinical process that has been predetermined to have a greater potential to impact outcomes for the type of clinical process as compared to other activities in the optimal clinical process that have not been predetermined as critical levers; a second data field containing data representing an optimal measure for the critical lever; a third data field containing data representing benefit metrics that facilitate quantification of financial and non-financial benefits that may be realized by adopting changes to the current clinical process corresponding with the critical lever, wherein the benefit metrics are employed in conjunction with clinically-related data from the current clinical process to determine a benefit index associated with the critical lever; a fourth data field containing data representing effort metrics that facilitate quantification of financial and non-financial efforts required to adopt changes to the current clinical process corresponding with the critical lever, wherein the effort metrics are employed in conjunction with clinically-related data from the current clinical process to determine an effort index associated with the critical lever; wherein the optimal clinical process, critical lever, optimal measure, benefit metrics, and effort metrics have been predefined based on at least one selected from the following: analysis of medical literature, published medical guidelines, and operational evidence collected from a plurality of clinical facilities; and the computer code including instructions to cause the computing device to employ the data structure to provide for prioritization of process improvement opportunities by: determining the benefit index for the critical lever based on the clinically-related data and the benefit metrics, determining the effort index for the critical lever based on the clinically-related data and the effort metrics, and calculating a return-on-investment for the critical lever as a function of the benefit index and effort index determined for the critical lever.