The Balanced Scorecard as a Performance Management Tool in the Healthcare Sector - The Case of the Medical Commission Department at the Ministry of Public Health, Qatar.

Background The balanced scorecard (BSC) system provides the basis for developing and executing a good strategy and successfully managing change at the institutional level. Moreover, developing a BSC performance system at the Medical Commission Department (MCD) in Qatar will enable stakeholders to approach their organization and work in a more strategic manner. Methods A descriptive cross-sectional survey was conducted to determine the need of employees at the MCD for the BSC, as a performance management tool, to attain the organizational objectives. Thus, a simple random sample was employed to enroll 199 participants. Also, a self-administered validated English and Arabic survey tool was employed to collect socio-demographic characteristics and encompassed 20 questions on the needs assessment for BSC. Results The response rate was high (97.5%) while the scoring indicates difficulty in successfully executing the MCD strategy and meeting the needs of their customers. The results showed a medium score of need to implement the BSC (score =59.9±9.7). The BSC needs score was strongly associated with the item "Our employees have a solid understanding of the mission, vision, and strategy" and it was higher among nationals as well as those with a higher level of education. Conclusion The BSC system provides the basis for properly executing a strategy and successfully managing change in an organization. Thus, building a BSC performance system at the MCD will enable employees to think in a more strategic way about their organization and their work. It will also bring change in the way things are done, as new policies and procedures will be developed and be implemented accordingly.