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HEALTHCARE HAS ALWAYS focused on managing information from application to application, instead of looking at information holistically and defining it holistically. The industry's shift of focus onto analytics-whether it's for predictive analytics or modeling for improved readmission rates-puts the focus back on foundational data. That's what is needed for things like population health, which is increasingly important in healthcare.
Patient data isn't held or used solely in electronic health records (EHRs); it's also present in billing systems, analytics programs, population health data sets, and several other sources. To get a holistic view of each patient, it is important to integrate these sources to ensure all information is available for treatment.
Many healthcare organizations are looking to partner with cloud services and analytics services to make better use of their data. To maximize the outcomes of these partnerships, organizations must adopt strong data governance practices. By engaging a partner with a sustainable infrastructure for data, governance teams can focus on business process analytics.
An organization that has its data in order will be able to make the most effective use of analytics. After all, if the analytics inputs are using bad information, the outcomes can't be trusted to provide accurate responses that can be used for decision-making.
Getting Started with Data Governance
A common data governance question in healthcare is where to start-and how to make inroads with decision-makers. A good start is to tie governance to corporate objectives. It's also important to identify problems or pain points that solid data can resolve. It's crucial that organizations start defining their information...