When Metrics Miss the Mark: Refocusing Data on What Matters in Healthcare

News | Published: Monday, March 30, 2026

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At ACC.26 in New Orleans, LA, Joel Sauer, MBA, executive vice president of Consulting at MedAxiom, urged cardiovascular professionals to rethink how data is used to evaluate performance during a session that included ACC Past President Cathie Biga, MSN, MACC, who delivered the James T. Dove Keynote. His central message was clear: “When a measure becomes the target, it ceases to be a good measure.”

Sauer’s presentation, titled “Making Metrics Matter: Staying Ahead of Goodhart’s Law,” emphasized that data should reflect reality – not distort it. Yet in modern cardiovascular care, commonly tracked metrics such as length of stay, readmission penalties and work relative value units (wRVUs) have increasingly become the focus themselves rather than tools to improve care. While these measures were designed with good intentions, Sauer warned that they can unintentionally shift attention away from broader healthcare delivery.

Compensation models based heavily on wRVUs were highlighted as a prime example. By centering incentives on a single metric, organizations may create mismatched expectations and signal values that don’t fully align with physicians’ perspectives or patient needs.

The session also cautioned against data overload. Dashboards and scorecards are important, but too much information can become a burden, consuming time and resources without driving meaningful change. “You shouldn’t need an encyclopedia to understand your data,” Sauer noted, stressing that metrics should clearly answer a simple question: “Are we winning, losing or somewhere in between?”

Sauer also pointed to challenges with qualitative measures, such as patient satisfaction scores, which are often based on limited response rates. While patient perception remains critical, he emphasized the need to measure it more meaningfully and reliably.

Ultimately, the session called for a more intentional approach to metrics. Data should be clear, actionable and aligned with organizational goals. Rather than letting available data dictate priorities, cardiovascular leaders were encouraged to define what truly matters first – and then measure it accordingly.

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