ABPM Health Care Administration, Leadership & Management cheat sheet
ABPM Health Care Administration, Leadership & Management · Keep the key ideas within reach.
Health Care Administration, Leadership, and Management (HALM) Core Content
Budget variance = actual − budgeted; a favorable expense variance is negative (spending below plan), an unfavorable one is positive.
Break-even volume = fixed costs ÷ (revenue per unit − variable cost per unit); contribution margin per unit is the denominator.
Days in accounts receivable = (accounts receivable ÷ total charges) × days in period; a common revenue-cycle efficiency metric.
Full-time equivalent (FTE) = total paid hours ÷ standard full-time hours (commonly 2,080 per year, or 40 per week).
Cost per RVU = total physician cost ÷ total RVUs produced; work RVUs (wRVUs) are the usual productivity benchmark.
Span of control: a manager's direct reports; wider spans suit routine, standardized work, narrower spans suit complex or high-risk work.
PDSA (Plan-Do-Study-Act) is a rapid-cycle improvement model; DMAIC (Define-Measure-Analyze-Improve-Control) is the Six Sigma counterpart for existing processes.
Lewin's change model has three stages - unfreezing, changing (moving), and refreezing - and treats change as a planned transition.
Just culture distinguishes human error (console), at-risk behavior (coach), and reckless behavior (sanction); it is the standard framework for event review.
System-Based Needs of Health Care Environments
Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) Triple Aim: improve population health, improve patient experience (including quality and satisfaction), and reduce per-capita cost of care.
The Quadruple Aim adds clinician/staff well-being and burnout reduction to the Triple Aim components.
Donabedian model evaluates quality through three linked dimensions: structure (resources), process (what is done), and outcomes (results).
Structure measures assess capacity (staffing ratios, equipment, EHR capability); process measures assess delivery (screening rates, guideline adherence); outcome measures assess results (mortality, readmissions, infections).
A sentinel event is an unexpected occurrence involving death or serious physical or psychological harm; root cause analysis (RCA) is the standard retrospective response.
Failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA) is prospective: it scores severity × occurrence × detection (RPN) to prioritize process risks before harm occurs.
The Joint Commission National Patient Safety Goals include identifying patients correctly, improving staff communication, using medicines safely, preventing infection, and identifying patient safety risks.
Health care is a high-reliability organization (HRO) aspirant; HRO hallmarks include preoccupation with failure, reluctance to simplify, sensitivity to operations, commitment to resilience, and deference to expertise.
Population health management stratifies a panel by risk (e.g., utilization, chronic conditions) and targets care coordination at the highest-risk tier to reduce avoidable admissions.