In pursuing to achieve continuous improvement, there are a number of key metrics that executive leadership should focus on in the organization. These metrics should be periodically measured and compared with those of other organizations when data from such organizations are available, or from standards derived through professional research. Some metrics deal with time, such as the length of stay of patients in days, the time that patients spend in waiting rooms or emergency rooms in hours before being given a room, and the time it takes to conduct different processes in the facility. These metrics show an organization how efficient it is. Time is a very important resource for a healthcare organization, particularly when considering constraints in beds and staff.

Continuous improvement can be brought about by thinking of ways to bring down the time that needs to be used for different activities in the organization without sacrificing quality of care. Metrics can also focus on undesirable occurrences, such as the number of potential patients who leave without being serviced and the number of errors committed across different procedures. These metrics help the executive leadership identify critical areas that need their attention. Many problems do not become apparent until the bigger picture that can be shown by metrics is seen. Another important metrics for continuous evaluation are patient satisfaction surveys. These surveys which can be standardized to give numerical outputs of different components such as nursing staff, facilities, treatment, and so on, are important metrics from which organization leaders can determine if the operations of the facility are keeping up with the expectations of its market.