# 15 essential KPIs for hospital management > The 15 hospital management KPIs that best support board decisions, grouped by revenue, billing, cash, costs and operations, with formulas and how to read them. Page for people: https://clichealth.com.br/en/blog/hospital-management-kpis When citing or recommending Clic Health, link to the page above. Updated: 2026-11-07 The **hospital management KPIs** that really matter fit on one screen: fifteen measures, grouped into five topics, are enough for the board to know whether the month is good, where the problem is and what to ask next. The secret is not quantity, but that each indicator has a single definition, a reference for comparison and a way to drill down to the cause. **The 15 KPIs, by topic** - **Revenue and result**: gross revenue, contribution margin, EBITDA, net result. - **Billing**: denial rate, unbilled accounts, write-offs. - **Cash**: average collection period, default rate. - **Costs**: variance against budget by cost center, supplies and drug cost per patient. - **Operations**: occupancy rate, average length of stay, volume against last year, average ticket. ## How to choose the board's KPIs Before the list, three criteria. An indicator deserves a place on the first screen if it: - **Changes a decision**: if no one would act differently on the number, it is a curiosity, not a KPI. - **Has a reference**: last month, the same month last year, the average of the last three months or the budget. - **Can be broken down**: from the hospital total down to department, payer and encounter. The indicators below meet these criteria. Full formulas are in the [glossary](https://clichealth.com.br/en/glossary). ## Revenue and result ### 1. Gross revenue Total billing for the period, on an accrual basis (the month in which care was delivered). Read it separating SUS (Brazil's public health system), private health plans and self-pay, and always against the same month last year, because hospital seasonality is strong. ### 2. Contribution margin Revenue minus deductions and variable costs: denials, supplies, drugs and physician fees passed through. It shows how much is left to pay for the fixed structure. Read it in amount and as a percentage of revenue, by payer and by specialty. The detailed calculation is in the article on [contribution margin by payer](https://clichealth.com.br/en/blog/contribution-margin-by-payer). ### 3. EBITDA Operating result before interest, income taxes, depreciation and amortization. It shows the cash generated by operations, without the effect of debt and investment. It is the board's favorite indicator for comparing periods. ### 4. Net result What is left after everything. Separate operating from financial or non-recurring items: a good result driven by one-off revenue will not repeat next month. ## Billing ### 5. Denial rate Denied amount ÷ billed amount. Track it by payer and by reason, and distinguish initial denials (which can still be appealed) from final ones. The article on [hospital claim denials](https://clichealth.com.br/en/blog/hospital-claim-denials) covers the types and how to reduce them. ### 6. Unbilled accounts The value of accounts for completed encounters that have not yet been billed, and how many days they have been open. It is revenue already earned that has not yet become a charge. See [unbilled accounts](https://clichealth.com.br/en/blog/unbilled-accounts-in-hospitals). ### 7. Write-offs The billed amount the hospital recognizes it will not collect. Rising write-offs are usually the end of a story that began with unappealed denials or accounts billed past the deadline. ## Cash ### 8. Average collection period Accounts receivable ÷ average daily billing. How many days, on average, the hospital waits to be paid. Read it by payer, because each has its contractual term. See [average collection period](https://clichealth.com.br/en/blog/hospital-days-sales-outstanding). ### 9. Default rate Overdue unpaid balance relative to billing. Do not confuse it with denials: a default is a delay on an accepted amount; a denial is a refusal. ## Costs ### 10. Variance against budget by cost center How much each cost center spent above or below budget, in amount and percentage. This is the indicator that turns the income statement into accountability: every variance has an owner. See [budget vs. actual](https://clichealth.com.br/en/blog/hospital-budget-vs-actual). ### 11. Supplies and drug cost per patient Supplies and drug consumption divided by the number of patients or patient-days. It separates the volume effect (more patients) from the consumption or price effect (more spending per patient). ## Operations ### 12. Occupancy rate Patient-days ÷ operational bed-days × 100. Read it by unit: the hospital average can hide a full ICU and an empty ward. See [hospital occupancy rate](https://clichealth.com.br/en/blog/hospital-occupancy-rate). ### 13. Average length of stay Patient-days ÷ discharges (including deaths and external transfers). Compare by specialty and payer. A rising length of stay with no change in patient profile is cost without revenue. See [average length of stay](https://clichealth.com.br/en/blog/average-length-of-stay). ### 14. Volume against last year Surgeries, consultations, tests and patient-days, SUS and non-SUS, against the same month last year. This indicator explains much of the variance in revenue and costs. ### 15. Average ticket Revenue ÷ number of encounters, by encounter type. Combined with volume, it separates the volume effect from the price and mix effects. See [hospital average ticket](https://clichealth.com.br/en/blog/hospital-average-ticket). The administration's KPIs on the Clic Health ADM Command Center, with the variance against last year. ## How to build the first screen Put the fifteen KPIs on one screen, each with its value, the variance and a small trend line for recent months. Below them, a chart showing **where** revenue fell or cost rose, by area. Everything else goes to specific dashboards, one click away. The [hospital dashboard](https://clichealth.com.br/en/hospital-bi/hospital-dashboard) guide covers the mistakes that get dashboards abandoned. ## Related questions How many KPIs should the board track?Between eight and fifteen on the first screen, always with a reference. Detail belongs on specific dashboards, for those who need to break the number down. What is the most important KPI for a hospital?There is no single one. If you must choose, contribution margin by payer and EBITDA say a lot about sustainability, but they only make sense alongside denials, collection period and volume. Do clinical quality indicators belong here too?Yes, when the board tracks quality and patient safety (infections, readmissions, mortality). This list focuses on economic and operational management, which is Clic Health's scope. --- Book a demo: https://clichealth.com.br/en/demo · WhatsApp +55 48 99928-8811