ABSTRACT
This chapter explores issues related to data management practices within healthcare organizations. It examines the legal requirements for healthcare information retention and the appropriate methods for its destruction at the end of the life cycle. The chapter provides a brief look at emerging trends in information governance and the impact they can have on healthcare organizations. In December 2006, the United States Federal Rules of Civil Procedure were amended to address the difficulties in producing electronically stored information during discovery in litigation. A litigation hold is the suspension of an organization’s document retention/destruction policies for documents that may be relevant to a lawsuit. The lawsuit may have been filed or a lawsuit is “reasonably anticipated.” Current healthcare trends, business models, and quality and performance improvement processes all demand statistical analysis of healthcare data. Many organizations focus on keeping external sources away from their internal data.
