eHealth Initiative Foundation Releases Brief on the Value of Data Governance in Healthcare

08/20/2018

ATLANTA — eHealth Initiative Foundation, in conjunction with the Health Care division of LexisNexis Risk Solutions, has released an information brief: “The Value of Data Governance in Healthcare.” It discusses the importance of data governance in today’s analytically driven healthcare environment. Specifically, the brief provides perspectives from healthcare industry executives, shared at a roundtable on the subject, while also defining data governance, data stewardship and access, and their role in healthcare.

“In healthcare’s multi-stakeholder environment, data governance is essential,” said Jennifer Covich Bordenick, chief executive officer, eHealth Initiative Foundation. “A wealth of patient engagement tools are available. But organizations that hold data need to walk a fine line, ensuring data is accessible enough for patients to engage and providers to treat; while still tightly controlling access and protecting information. Data governance is about finding the right balance.”

The eHealth Initiative Foundation brief delves into the challenges around interoperability, standards and regulations, data size and type, patient-matching and access and workflow necessary to implement data governance. The brief also discusses the importance of moving beyond simple record keeping and investing time, money, and resources in a data governance strategy to realize long-term benefits. Key takeaways and action items based on opinions expressed by the experts at the roundtable include:

• Solve patient matching and identification issues. When patient-matching results in silos of data, the opportunity to inform care by taking advantage of data across systems and registries is lost.
• Support patient engagement and access to their health information. Patients need complete access to their medical information and to control who receives access. In allowing patients greater access to their electronic health information, data governance supports patient engagement strategies. When patients experience transparency, accuracy and integrity of information, they will have greater confidence in their providers and become more engaged in their care.
• Improve the timing and precision of information delivery. Even if data is correct, information delivery needs to be precise to avoid overwhelming providers at the point of care. Care will be most effective when physicians receive the most relevant information in the right places at the right time.
• Build a more complete picture of the patient through clinical, social determinant and claims data. Industry stakeholder collaboration is needed to establish interoperability standards and encourage electronic transactions. Access to clinical data puts organizations in a unique position to facilitate new, valuable insights.

“As a leading data analytics organization, we recognize and respect the valuable and important role data can and must play, if we are to successfully address the critical healthcare issues raised by the roundtable participants,” said Josh Schoeller, senior vice president and general manager, Health Care, LexisNexis Risk Solutions. “We welcomed this opportunity to work with the eHealth Initiative Foundation to help shine a light on the importance of data governance and to play a key role in helping to raise awareness of the long-term benefits of responsibly and effectively using data in healthcare.”

The brief is available for download in the eHealth Resource Center and on the LexisNexis Risk Solutions website.

About eHealth Initiative
eHealth Initiative (eHI) & Foundation is a Washington DC-based, independent, non-profit organization whose mission is to drive improvements in the quality, safety, and efficiency of healthcare through information and information technology. eHI is the only national organization that represents all stakeholders in the healthcare industry. Working with its membership, eHI advocates for the use of health IT that is practical, sustainable and addresses stakeholder needs, particularly those of patients, www.ehidc.org.

About LexisNexis Risk Solutions
LexisNexis^® Risk Solutions harnesses the power of data, sophisticated analytics platforms and technology solutions to provide insights that help businesses across multiple industries and governmental entities reduce risk and improve decisions to benefit people around the globe. Headquartered in metro Atlanta, Georgia, we have offices throughout the world and are part of RELX (LSE: REL/NYSE: RELX), a global provider of information-based analytics and decision tools for professional and business customers. For more information, please visit LexisNexis Risk Solutions and RELX.