"Technology advances are enabling the creation, capture and retention of more data and information, from more sources every minute of the day," says Deborah Green, COO and executive vice president of the American Health Information Management Association. "Beyond the need to harness, analyze and turn data and information into intelligence, there is also a need to control it."
While the need to have an information governance strategy is not unique to hospitals and health systems, healthcare is still behind other industries in moving out of the "infancy" of information governance, says Ms. Green. However, the need to control information is great, with the industry's pressing needs not only to prevent data breaches or information loss but to use available information to develop evidence-based practices and prove the value of care delivered under new reimbursement models.
To implement a successful information governance strategy, hospitals and health systems must first realize it's not an IT project, or even a project at all — it's "an ingraining of principles, a framework, rules and managed processes for managing and controlling information across the enterprise," says Ms. Green.
This means the governance framework must be both accepted and labeled as high-priority by all organizational leadership, says Ms. Green. This includes recognition of the importance of managing the information throughout its lifecycle, from collection to destruction.
Additionally, all of a hospital or health system's information must be subject to the governance framework, not just the clinical information. "Information governance in healthcare cannot be limited to health information," says Ms. Green. "Data and information supporting the business of the entire organization must be governed."
AHIMA has several initiatives in place to define, develop and adopt information governance structures for healthcare organizations. They are establishing an expert information governance panel to advise on information governance efforts, publishing whitepapers, convening stakeholders to discuss best practices, partnering with stakeholders to create a self-assessment tool to help organizations determine their information governance maturity and collecting and developing other resources.
Ms. Green stresses the importance of hospitals taking steps toward an information governance strategy, even if it's their first step. "Wherever information is exchanged, used, administered, analyzed, released, stored, archived or deleted/destroyed, it must be governed," she says. "Information is a mission-critical asset to be controlled throughout its lifecycle."
AHIMA is conducting a survey of healthcare organizations to determine the state of information governance. To participate in the survey, click here.