St. Rita's Hospital: Data Governance

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Data governance (DG) is an emerging field within the healthcare industry that has coincided with the data explosion. A definitive definition of DG varies among the bodies of authority and education. Despite the differences between the nuances of the various definitions, they all contain the same core elements. Taking the common themes of the definitions into account, the definition of DG for St. Rita’s Hospital is: the system that establishes data asset management as an enterprise endeavor. As such, policies and procedures shall be put forth that protect, manage, and monitor the asset so that the data can be utilized and protected to benefit the organization in an optimized manner.
The first step toward a successful implementation of a DG program …show more content…

What works for one DG project may not be as effective for another project. There are four highly recommended principles that can facilitate St. Rita’s move towards the successful construction of a DG program. The first key factor is having the backing from an executive sponsorship. A suitable executive sponsor must be in alignment with the parameters of the common goals. Strong executive sponsorship provides inspiration and guidance for implementation as well as advising and coordinating enterprise wide change. Executive sponsors must understand and support the initiative, effectively communicate, guide the transition, and reinforce accountability. Executive sponsors are responsible for the development of policies, standards, and procedures that align with state and federal laws, as well as rules and regulations of accrediting organizations. With executive sponsorship leading the transition, it will assist in unifying administrators who will facilitate alignment among their various departments to achieve the common …show more content…

The next step would be to define the roles and responsibilities for each of the stake holders as well as the respective stewards or subject matter experts. This would include outlining policies and procedures for each of the data steward’s responsibilities. The progress of the DG initiative needs to be measured and monitored. To do that the benchmarks must be identified and determined how they will be measured. Technology is the key to St Rita’s “silo” problem and identifying the right tools to implement the changes are required. Lastly, there must be a system in place to track performance and monitor that the information provided is meeting St Rita’s specific needs (Wray,

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