Comparison of HIS quality with other organizations in order to find best practices. Benchmarking in general describes a process in which organizations evaluate various aspects of their performance and compare it to a given standard or to the best organizations (“best-practice”). Typically, benchmarking comprises quantitative evaluation criteria such as costs, quality of structures, quality of processes, or quality of outcome. In strategic hospital management, benchmarking is seen as an important approach to assess a hospital’s performance. Benchmarking is often seen part of a continuous quality improvement process, in which organizations measure and then steadily improve their performance. @en