ABSTRACT
Healthcare professionals clearly realize there are opportunities in applying advanced analytics to the mountains of data they are accumulating. Legal, regulatory, and information security demands are often key drivers for establishing information governance (IG) programs in all industries, but in healthcare, information quality and control is paramount to improved patient care and outcomes. The practice of IG in healthcare began in the UK in 2002. This chapter presents three examples of IG failures, which were very public. These instances bring IG weaknesses fully into view, and demonstrate the critical need for IG programs in healthcare organizations. With accurate and trusted information, healthcare professionals can do the job they were trained to do, and drastically reduce medical mistakes. Strong, ongoing IG programs can help harness the power of all the investments in clinical and financial systems that have been made, and improve results for patients and other healthcare stakeholders.
