Policies and procedures to inform data-related activities were developed by the NACHC Clinical Affairs team in partnership with other NACHC teams and external partners. These policies and procedures can be applied to any activities where data of any kind is received, collected, or generated, referred to as 'informatics work' hereinafter.
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There are many definitions of data governance. NACHC defines data governance as “a system for defining who within an organization has authority and control over data assets and how those data assets may be used.” Data governance can encompass:
- organizational or decision-making bodies
- rules (policies, standards, guidelines, business rules)
- decision rights (how we “decide how to decide”)
- accountabilities
- enforcement methods for people and information systems as they perform information-related processes.
Our data governance infrastructure focuses on how NACHC uses processes, policies, procedures, and communication tools that ensure that data received from outside organizations and collected by NACHC is used to improve the health of individual patients and tell the health center story.
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NACHC's use of data is overseen by a Governance Council ('GC'). The GC does not provide direct informatics project oversight, but does make recommendations and decisions about project participation, implementation, and the informatics architecture used to carry out informatics projects. A description of the NACHC data and informatics architecture is available here.
The GC meets quarterly monthly and includes up to seven nine members who represent 1) NACHC leadership, regulatory, and analytic staff, and 2) external data partners and project partners who represent a range of perspectives and collective expertise in clinical care, informatics, data science, and population health. Details of the GC membership, scope, and operations (e.g., scope, voting) are defined in a charter (need to link this).
Governance Domains and Guiding Principles
There are four domains of governance that are relevant to NACHC's informatics work: data governance, information governance, software governance, and partnership governance. While these policies and procedures are focused on data governance, some aspects of information governance, software governance, and partnership governance may be relevant.
Within those domains, NACHC adheres to eight governance principles: accountability, transparency, integrity, protection, compliance, availability, retention, and disposition as identified by the American Health Information and Management Association (AHIMA). Definitions of each are available on a related site. Relevant topics within each governance domain are addressed below.
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