Question 1: W5: Practical Connection Paper Practical Connection Paper

Running head: HEALTHCARE INFORMATION GOVERNANCE 1

HEALTHCARE INFORMATION GOVERNANCE 10

Healthcare Information Governance

Abstract

Many countries face healthcare challenges especially when it comes to the management of written information thus affecting the quality of health services and the costs involved. The importance of Information Governance (IG) is that it provides a tool for efficient and effective information management for better health operations of the healthcare companies ' regulatory standards. Information governance helps a company to improve on productivity and service delivery at affordable costs to the communities especially in developing countries where healthcare is dwindling in performance. The use of information governance in health centers in most developing countries should be embraced so that healthcare is enhanced, and more patients can access treatment at affordable costs. This will eventually reduce the epidemics that affect such communities and will also lead the healthcare management to improve the health facilities and add more equipment in the hospitals to help many people who don't have access to treatments in African developing countries. The use of the information governance tool will help in the identification of applications and benefits that will lead to its effective deployment in many healthcare companies. This study has been conducted to classify and identify how the IG program has been integrated within the health systems and what can be done to ensure that most health centers have implemented the program. The information governance program has been classified into five general groups and they include management of financial costs, patient care and healthcare safety, quality healthcare provision, the confidentiality of patient information, special care facilities for the less privileged and improving on the management of any information about healthcare.

Introduction

Information governance is a positive approach that healthcare institutions use in managing the data collected from patient’s records, employee’s information, healthcare companies and other stakeholders (Clarke & Weale, 2011). This process assists in the balancing of two important health I formation needs: The need to collect important information regularly while still obtaining value from the information collected. The data that is usually collected in healthcare systems include patient's personal and health information as well the financial data to help in obtaining the patients who are being sponsored and the ones who are paying for their medical fees. If the IG is used well in the healthcare systems, data governance will eventually be promoted and will be used for a long period by most health companies. The American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) has defined information governance as a framework for managing health information in the health systems operations from the entry of a patient's data until the moment they are discharged. The data collected include information such as patient's drugs, payments, research, patient outcomes, medical improvements and government sponsorship in special cases. The presence of an efficient data governance platform of viable policies and practices will help health companies to achieve the following in its operations: Improve the health of different communities, reduce per capita cost of healthcare and improve patient experience on healthcare leading to patient satisfaction and quality care (Dong & Keshavjee, 2016). The Health Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) has also provided a policy which has insisted that every health institution should embrace the new technology and use the best data possible to obtain good medical background checks of all patients so as to sustain their lives for long and obtain treatments for diseases such as Cancer and AIDS which are the current dangerous diseases with a short life span.

Literature review

In this era, technology is widely used in many companies and the healthcare industry is no exception. Health institutions use health information in many ways which include operational efficiency, costs reduction, and enhancing the safety and quality of patient care. This is the reason why information governance is an extremely important asset in the development of a health system portfolio and for this reason, health practitioners are encouraged to know more about data governance in their health systems (Silic and Back, 2015). Information from Data governance should be regularly monitored as the policy framework contains important information for the health systems and which require a lot of confidentiality such as patient information and financial records of health firms. Information governance also provides a formal structure for data management where health institutions can extract clinical information when the need arises especially on patient's admissions and discharges periods. Healthcare is one of the fastest-growing and changing industries in the world and this is the reason why it requires new information to take the right action in governance and leadership in health companies. AHIMA has contributed to medical research to provide information governance within health institutions resulting in health care improvement through the provision of best practices and standards for information management.

AHIMA has provided an information governance framework that has provided the best healthcare strategies that promotes patient engagement and quality healthcare. The main goals of information governance in healthcare companies are: improve on communication regarding principals and processes, improve on patient trust, provision of high data security, provide the best healthcare performance and accurate procedures, and implement programs by following the information analytics (Smallwood, 2014). The challenges in promoting information governance in some countries are high levels of illiteracy, lack of proper training, resistance to change, lack of financial resources and lack of co-operation in implementing the IG program. The benefits of Information Governance include better quality services in health institutions, minimal costs on healthcare, improved employee participation and productivity, increased patient-doctor trust and improved compliance through vital legislative procedures.

Research Method

A current study by World Health Organization has indicated that most health centers, that is about 75% of health centers in the world have fully embraced Information Governance programs in the health centers but there is still an opportunity to increase the number of participants in this program. The application of these programs by health practitioners will not only boost their skills but will also improve their performance in the health sector leading to the provision of efficient health service in health institutions. Another survey was conducted in the year 2015 by Cohasset Associates and AHIMA which established that only 38% of the 2500 participants had undertaken the information governance programs and were capable of training other technologists on the information governance principles of health institutions (University of Wisconsin, 2017). The survey also established that most of the participants were more informed in information governance-related topics such as data quality management, regulatory compliance, auditing, leadership, analytics, performance management, and information technology management. The following questionnaires were also used for the study of Information Governance in hospitals within the state: Provide all the procedures used to gather personal information of the out-patient?, Provide the retention policy of physical copies filled by patients?, How do doctors and pharmacy access the out-patient medical/ health record?, List all the users or departments that have access to the portal used to enter and access the patient data?, For each department above provide the access management processes and principles?, Please provide the payment procedures accepted for any payment required?, What is the policy to avoid multiple accounts for the same patient?, List the data storage forms of the all-electronic health records of the out-patient., What is the frequency of internal audits to verify the data storage follows HIPAA compliance?

Results

The results from the questionnaires have indicated that the information governance program is important for the record-keeping department in health institutions as it provides the required responsibility for information management to the right individuals. The management of health institutions is usually accountable for the application of information governance practices and requires regular reporting procedures to the directors or any member in the senior leadership section (Thornton, 2014). The healthcare systems should adopt the necessary procedures and policies that will ultimately guide its workforce to ensure that the programs are fully audited and improved continuously to help in the achievement of organizational goals and objectives. The main purpose of an information governance program is as follows: i. Use an accountable person to implement and develop the program ii. Provide solutions for health issues iii. establish a well-defined information governance structure for the implementation and development of the program iv. Auditing of the firm to meet its financial objectives v. Documentation and approval of policies and procedures in the IG implementation. Sound information governance is normally implemented within an organization by a senior leader who is formally required to be responsible for the IG program development and implementation. This senior leader is also accountable for making sure that the information governance program matches the goals and strategies of an organization (Gordon, 2014). The leader is also responsible for ensuring that financial resources are allocated in the program to enable its completion. Information governance should then be implemented and established throughout the healthcare company and stakeholders should also be made aware of the program as well as health practitioners, employees, and other important staff. This should be accompanied by ensuring that the roles and responsibilities of every employee are well defined. These responsibilities should be extremely clear up to the level of the chain of command which builds, updates and implements the information governance program. The sub-committees should also be involved through designating them to help in building the policies, define new technology, implement new technology and improve the information governance program through the use of efficient and effective strategies. To assist the workforce in fully understanding the procedures of implementing information governance practices, policies and procedures need to be well documented, approved formally and communicated to the target audience. The workforce should always be trained on an annual basis to ensure that they fully understand the policy programs and be up to date with any standardized information governance practices within the healthcare organization. This will ultimately lead to the reinforcement of compliance with and the standardization of healthcare practices. The person who will be in charge of the program and who will oversee its operations regularly will be a designated senior leader who is at an appropriate level of authority and shall fully monitor and audit the program for future changes and improvements. The audit of information governance should be conducted to achieve the following: i. Workforce awareness on Information Governance programs ii. Information is well protected, stored and accessed when the need arises by the appropriate authority iii. Ensure information is available when and where it is needed iv. Training of workforce on Information Governance responsibilities, practices, policies and procedures v. Policies are updated regularly and cover all types of media depending on what has been updated vi. Information is stored for the required time frame and released with a well-documented audit trail. A health care information governance audit should be reported to its board of directors, trustees, audit committee, or other appropriate governing bodies, committee, or individual to show adherence by following its program requirements and the organization's goals.

Discussion

Information Governance in healthcare organizations has been observed to be beneficial for the healthcare provision for patients. The benefits that IG has brought on board to health companies since its inception are reduced risk occurrences, eradication of medical errors, improved goals and objectives for health firms, increased co-operation by health practitioners in the development of an IG framework, increased training facilities for the IG programs and the acceptance of these programs in healthcare practice and healthcare procedures. The IG program has been integrated into health systems due to a proper planning procedure by performance management which has been done by the top management level. The plan has assisted in the review of policies and procedures that are needed to be used in health care systems to foster governance, management, legislation, ethics and cultural value (Health Informatics, 2018). There are also different aspects of data governance that are used to develop and protect vital information in health care companies. The policies formulated usually constitute the following factors of information governance: Data governance structure, Analytics, IT governance, Data governance, Strategic alignment, Privacy and security, Awareness and adherence, legal and regulatory, information governance performance and Enterprise information management. The person in charge of ensuring that the Information Governance programs have been undertaken by healthcare employees such as nurses and technologists are called supervisor’s (Thornton, 2014). The main roles of a supervisor are: to communicate on the healthcare organizational needs, identify the development needs, oversee employee’s performance, provide guidance and support, manage the relationship between employees and the healthcare system to ensure that the feeling is mutual for a better future success of the organization. The following is an example of a supervision framework that is normally used by health institutions:

PERFORMANCE REVIEW	EXPECTATION SETTING	REGULAR COMMUNICATION
· Setting Annual Goals · Creating development plans · Annual Performance Reviews · Quarterly and biannual performance reviews	· Setting Annual Goals · Creating development plans · New Staff Orientation · Revising work plans · Delegating · Assigning projects · Reviewing job descriptions	· Coaching and supporting · Giving timely feedback · Identifying and solving problems · Discussing current projects · Meeting deadlines

Conclusion

Information governance is a new term but not a new concept in healthcare. Information governance has been the backbone of what Health Information Management (HIM) does daily; which is to protect vital health information such as data on patient records, improve data accuracy and protect the privacy and security of data (McWay, 2013). Currently, the large healthcare volume of data is now managed by electronic health records which have helped health centers to analyze data within a short time frame. Access of data has also increased with the efficient use of encrypted passwords for specific health center employees. As information technology in healthcare improves, patients, employees, and other stakeholders should also ensure that information is accurate, reliable and well updated to its current standards to keep up with the best provision of healthcare by the staff and knowledge of hospital technological advancements by patients. There is also the emergence of new privacy and security risks due to the continuous use of electronic data leading to healthcare organizations establishing ways to mitigate these risks. All the procedures involved require an organization's top-down approach to formulate policies that align with organizational strategic goals to ensure that accurate information is available when the need arises.

References

Clark S. and Weale. A (2011). Information governance in health. Research report. University College London.

Dong L., and Keshavjee K. (2016). Why is information governance important for electronic healthcare systems? A Canadian experience. JAHSS; 2(5): 250-260.

Gordon, Thomas, and Lynne (2014). Information Governance for the Health Care Industry – Now Is the Time. iHealthBeat. https://www.healthitoutcomes.com/doc/time-is-now-for-information-governance-in-healthcare-0001

Health Informatics (2018). : https://healthinformatics.uic.edu/blog/what-is-information-governance/

McWay, Dana C. (2013). Today's Health Information Management: An Integrated Approach. Cengage Learning. P. 32. ISBN 1285692314.

Silic M, and Back A. (2015) Factors impacting information governance in the mobile device dual-use context. Records Management Journal. www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/abs/10.1108/RMJ -11-2012-0033.

Smallwood R F. (2014). Information Governance Concepts, Definitions, and Principles. [book online]. USA: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Thornton A. (2014) The Time Is Now for Information Governance. But Do You Even Know What It Is? http://www.cio.com/article.

University of Wisconsin (2017): https://himt.wisconsin.edu/experience-uw-himt/data-governance-in-healthcare/