by Angela Guess
Kathleen Roney has written an article for the Becker’s Hospital Review sharing three reasons why hospitals need to embrace Data Governance. The first reason is: “If physicians rely on EHRs, the governance needs to be sound. A strong premise of meaningful use is that EHRs can prompt physicians to conduct the appropriate follow-ups for patients. For this reason, hospitals need strong health information management that verifies an EHR directs information appropriately. When physicians rely on EHRs, there is a strong potential for something to go wrong. ‘Just like with an iPhone that has GPS and navigation, individuals tend to rely on the phone for driving directions. A similar reliance is possible with physicians. If physicians begin to rely on the EHR to steer them in the right direction for patient care, then the data governance for that EHR needs to be strong,’ says Ms. Bowen [SVP of HealthPort].”
The second reason: “ The data warehouse has more integrity. According to Ms. Bowen, if a hospital’s health information management is not thorough for all information systems and the EHR, then its data warehouse can easily become a data outhouse. ‘If you don’t know how the data went in to the data warehouse — a path that is defined by data governance — then it is harder to get it out. For instance, does your data warehouse receive data strictly from the revenue cycle data? All of that information has to come together so you can rely on knowing that when you get information, you are getting everything you need,’ says Ms. Bowen.”
