Is IG Getting Traction in Healthcare?

By Deborah Green, MBA, RHIA

The results of the AHIMA-Cohasset Associates second survey on IG in Healthcare are showing definite traction for information governance (IG) in healthcare. While the focus was professional readiness, we heard from 1,260 professionals working in healthcare and learned from them about the advances being made.

Here is what they told us:

• 44 percent had established oversight bodies for IG
• 44 percent were seeing modest to significant progress in IG adoption
• 38 percent had included IG in their strategic plan objectives
• 36 percent had designated senior leader sponsors of their IG efforts

During a recent webinar that AHIMA sponsored during health IT week, I asked how many participants had senior leader sponsors for their IG efforts. The results were 35.1 percent—very close to this survey’s results of 36 percent. I also asked whether IG oversight bodies had been established and 37.5 percent responded positively. Again, this response is close to the survey results of 44 percent.

This IS traction; these are strong signs of increasing interest in IG. Establishing senior-level sponsorship is a “textbook” starting point and appears consistently in recommendations for implementing IG, as is the establishment of a body to steer implementation and oversee IG for the organization.

The most remarkable and exciting finding in this list is that 38 percent had IG objectives included in the organization’s strategy. This is not only a sign of clear commitment to IG, and clear recognition by the organization that information is valued as a strategic asset, but it is a clear indication that IG is seen as a driver for the business. Moreover, this is a sign of adoption maturity. One of the ten organizational competencies of information governance is strategic alignment. A marker of maturity on that alignment is whether objectives on information governance, geared toward support for the organization’s strategy, have been incorporated into its strategic plan. Thirty-eight percent of the 1,260 respondents are saying that this is happening.

Please stay tuned to our IGIQ Blog for continued discussions and perspectives on gaining IG traction and on building organizational competence in IG.

Reference

Cohasset Associates and AHIMA. “2015 Information Governance in Healthcare 2015 White Paper: Professional Readiness and Opportunity.” 2015. http://research.zarca.com/survey.aspx?k=RQsURPPsUTUsPsPsP&lang=0&data

Deborah Green (deborah.green@ahima.org) is EVP/Chief Innovation and Global Services Officer at AHIMA.