Healthcare systems are now understanding the importance of a data governance strategy as data is getting more prominent as a top strategic asset in healthcare. But there’s a huge leap between knowing the importance of data governance and implementing a strategy.
Five Steps to Healthcare Data Governance
Here are five steps healthcare organizations can take to navigate the complexity of data governance setup.
Identify the priorities of the organization
It may be easy to identify the data problems but deciding on where to focus the governance based on this alone is not the answer. The data and analytics need to serve the strategic goals of the organization. Therefore, the first step to developing a strategy is to identify the priorities of the organization. For this, you need to understand the targets that the teams need to deliver in the future. These could be general goals like increasing patient engagement or specific goals like increasing the use of telehealth by patients by 9%. Along with having a list of the goals, the rationale behind these goals should also be clear and understood.
Identify the priorities for Data Governance
The second step is to identify the data governance opportunities that can go along with the organizational priorities. Analytics depends on reliable and timely data so it may not be very difficult to determine the data governance opportunities for the priorities. Choose the data governance opportunities that stay relevant beyond the initial focus.
Recruit the early adopters
Find out the accountable leaders for each of the intersecting priorities and determine which leaders can be the early adopters of data governance. The leaders should be energetic and enthusiastic. The chosen leaders must understand the governance objectives and become the champions of the new program. Here are some qualities an effective early adopter must possess:
- A deep and thorough understanding of data governance and awareness of challenges and benefits.
- Enthusiasm to motivate others and excitement to get the work done.
- Connections with the right resources.
Figure out the scope of the opportunity
It is important to work smartly and not try to get too much done too soon. Understand the scope of opportunity and start with a small pilot team to test the strategy and redesign and improve processes on the way. It is best to focus on a specific opportunity within a specific area to target the effort on a manageable scale. By focusing on the team’s immediate domain, you can understand the problem better before applying the strategy on a larger level.
Make the early adopters the enterprise data governance leaders and mentors
When the first teams achieve their objectives, you can move on to generalize the processes for larger adoption. The early adopters have the best understanding of the problems and strategies as they have experienced them first-hand. This makes them the best leaders to recruit and mentor others.