Survey SaysPolling Results on the Role of HIM in the New World of Information Governance by Karen Snyder

Last week I had the distinct pleasure of speaking on a web seminar sponsored by Iron Mountain, and hosted by Health Data Management titled, Redefining the Role of Health Information Management in the New World of Information Governance . Joining me as a featured presenter was Linda Kloss, president of Kloss Strategic Advisors and former CEO of the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA). The event examined a new paradigm for Health Information and Records Management (HIRM) and provided practical guidance for HIM professionals as they unwind paper record processes, offload the burden of low-value production work and lead the transition from traditional records management to an optimized HIRM model. If you didn't get a chance to listen in on the live webinar, the recorded session is available on demand at http://bit.ly/1imoiha.

Measuring the success of a webinar usually involves more art than science. Sure, the email accolades from colleagues are a nice feather in one's cap, but the real proof in the pudding is what the audience thought about the topic, content and delivery. Typically I look at a number of factors- things like how many people registered for the webinar, how many people joined the event, how long did participants stay on the call, and were their questions thoughtful and indicative that they were listening and engaged. After evaluating our session across these dimensions, I'm proud to declare it a success.

While the intent of a webinar is typically to educate the audience or raise awareness of an issue, an added bonus during our session were live polling questions that we sprinkling into our presentation. We learned a thing or two from our audience and I'd like to share these results with you. Some you may find surprising.

Today's Challenges:

When asked what challenges were most predominant in their health system today, an overwhelming majority, 85%, cited complexity of integrating and standardizing information from various facilities, systems and departments as the top challenge, with reliance on paper and explosive data growth running a distant second and third (refer to Figure 1 below).

The Phases of Information Governance

After reviewing the building blocks for Information Governance, participants were led through a five-phased roadmap for an enterprise-wide Health Information and Records Management model. Based on what they learned, they identified all of the phases they had made significant progress in. As Figure 2 below shows, nearly half of the participants (42%) had made great progress on Phase 1: Shifting Resources to Higher Value Work. Roughly one quarter to one third identified Phase 2: Identifying Short-Term Enterprise Information Management (EIM) Priorities (32%), Phase 3: Organizing for Governance (32%), and Phase 5: Developing a Unified Policy Framework (25%) as areas of substantial progress. Falling well behind the pack at 7% was Phase 4: Extending Work on EIM Priorities. And finally, it's worth noting that a quarter of the participants hadn't made significant progress on any of the phases.

As we honor and celebrate health information professionals during the 25th annual #HIPWeek, set your sights on Enterprise Information Management as a discipline to be built out and improved upon over time. Like any journey, your first steps may be hard, but by raising awareness and initiating a dialogue about how to manage high-value information assets within our organization, you can lower costs, improve operational efficiencies and reduce risk each step along the way. For more information on this topic, refer to the white paper co-authored by Linda with the same title as our web seminar, Redefining the Role of Health Information in the New World of Information Governance or check out The Journal of AHIMA's IG 101 series .

LINK:	http://blogs.ironmountain.com/2014/industry/healthcare-information-man...
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