3 Phases of Healthcare Data Governance 
in Analytics 
By Mike Doyle 
© 2014 Health Catalyst 
www.healthcatalyst.com Proprietary. Feel free to share but we would appreciate a Health Catalyst citation. 
© 2014 Health Catalyst 
www.healthcatalyst.com 
Proprietary. Feel free to share but we would appreciate a Health Catalyst citation.
Show the challenges involved with adaptive healthcare data governance 
Show the challenges involved with adaptive healthcare data governance 
© 2014 Health Catalyst 
www.healthcatalyst.com 
Healthcare Data Governance 
Healthcare data governance. It 
sounds like it could be a dry topic, 
right? 
The truth is that data governance 
is a very exciting and complicated 
challenge in healthcare analytics. 
The purpose of this commentary is to: 
Demonstrate how effective data governance evolves throughout the 
lifecycle of a health system’s analytics program 
Proprietary. Feel free to share but we would appreciate a Health Catalyst citation.
The specification of decision rights and an accountability 
framework to ensure appropriate behavior in the valuation, 
creation, storage, use, archiving, and deletion of information. It 
includes the processes, roles and policies, standards, and 
metrics that ensure the effective and efficient use of information 
in enabling an organization to achieve its goals.” 
© 2014 Health Catalyst 
www.healthcatalyst.com 
What Data Governance Is 
Data governance is: 
The scope of data governance includes 
data stewardship, storage, and 
technical roles and responsibilities. 
It also requires leadership and 
processes to get the most out of an 
investment in analytics. 
Proprietary. Feel free to share but we would appreciate a Health Catalyst citation.
© 2014 Health Catalyst 
www.healthcatalyst.com 
What Data Governance Is 
Because leadership buy-in is 
so important, the focus here 
will be on the important role a 
core group of leaders — the 
key stakeholders who form 
the healthcare data 
governance committee — will 
play in setting, growing, and 
sustaining a successful 
analytics program. 
Proprietary. Feel free to share but we would appreciate a Health Catalyst citation.
Stakeholders must understand 
how important it is to ensure 
the right group of leaders is 
engaged in the governance of 
the BI program as a whole. 
© 2014 Health Catalyst 
www.healthcatalyst.com 
What Data Governance Is 
The best data governance 
committees drive efficient, 
equitable use of a health 
system’s information, and 
enable the organization to 
achieve its goals of higher-quality, 
lower-cost care. 
Proprietary. Feel free to share but we would appreciate a Health Catalyst citation.
Few health systems claim to have 
figured out effective healthcare data 
governance. 
One difficulty is that no single 
template for data governance can be 
applied to every organization. 
Data governance approached as a 
rigid, idealized plan often ends up 
being scrapped. 
© 2014 Health Catalyst 
www.healthcatalyst.com 
Effective Healthcare Data 
Governance Is Adaptive 
Proprietary. Feel free to share but we would appreciate a Health Catalyst citation.
In General there are three phases 
of adaptive data governance that 
characterize successful analytics 
implementations. 
1. The Early Stage of Healthcare Data 
2. The Mid-Term Stage of Healthcare 
© 2014 Health Catalyst 
www.healthcatalyst.com 
Effective Healthcare Data 
Governance Is Adaptive 
Governance 
Data Governance 
3. The Steady State of Healthcare 
Data Governance 
Proprietary. Feel free to share but we would appreciate a Health Catalyst citation.
1 
Committee Makeup 
In the early stages of planning sponsors of the health system’s data 
governance initiative must have some decision-making authority. 
© 2014 Health Catalyst 
www.healthcatalyst.com 
The Early Stage of Healthcare 
Data Governance 
Proprietary. Feel free to share but we would appreciate a Health Catalyst citation. 
THREE PHASES 
DATA 
GOVERNANCE 
Ideally, these leaders have a 
passion for using data, and are 
generally described as being 
both exciting and decisive. 
They may be executives, 
directors, influential managers 
in the quality department, 
nurses, or physicians.
1 
Committee Focus 
Some of the most important questions this group will address are: 
© 2014 Health Catalyst 
www.healthcatalyst.com 
The Early Stage of Healthcare 
Data Governance 
Proprietary. Feel free to share but we would appreciate a Health Catalyst citation. 
THREE PHASES 
DATA 
GOVERNANCE 
Where should the initiative begin? 
Where should resources focus? 
The committee’s first role will be to 
keep the peace, and ensure everyone 
impacted understands the priority. 
They must protect the integrity of the 
initiative to drive real quality and cost 
improvement.
© 2014 Health Catalyst 
www.healthcatalyst.com 
The Mid-Term Stage of 
Healthcare Data Governance 
2 
Committee Makeup 
As your implementation of analytics continues, the nature of the 
decisions made by the data governance committee will change. 
Proprietary. Feel free to share but we would appreciate a Health Catalyst citation. 
THREE PHASES 
DATA 
GOVERNANCE 
It’s possible some of the initial 
committee members will lose interest 
at this stage, and miss meetings. 
They may view program maintenance 
as more of an operational problem. It’s 
okay to let them walk away. 
Their replacements may bring new 
energy to the initiative.
2 
Committee Focus 
At this phase the committee will begin to implement the solution in 
new areas of the enterprise. You may take the lessons learned in 
Cardiology to branch out and serve Labor and Delivery. 
© 2014 Health Catalyst 
www.healthcatalyst.com 
The Mid-Term Stage of 
Healthcare Data Governance 
Proprietary. Feel free to share but we would appreciate a Health Catalyst citation. 
THREE PHASES 
DATA 
GOVERNANCE 
The group will also be responsible for 
monitoring the progress of existing 
initiatives. They will ask questions like: 
• How are things going? 
• Who is using the system? 
• What additional training or tools are 
needed to increase utilization? 
• What should we keep doing/stop 
doing/do more of?
3 
Council Makeup 
In this stage, the data governance committee may want to start 
calling itself something more interesting, like a governance council. 
Let it happen. Only a few of the initial leaders will still be involved, 
but the council itself will continue to evolve. 
© 2014 Health Catalyst 
www.healthcatalyst.com 
The Steady State of Healthcare 
Data Governance 
Proprietary. Feel free to share but we would appreciate a Health Catalyst citation. 
THREE PHASES 
DATA 
GOVERNANCE
© 2014 Health Catalyst 
www.healthcatalyst.com 
The Steady State of Healthcare 
Data Governance 
3 
Council Makeup 
The most effective agents of governance 
at this point are those who are the 
“ethical politicians” and have a talent for 
peacekeeping and consensus building. 
They will have a natural, one-on-one 
leadership style that fosters team 
communication, in or out of the meeting. 
They won’t be solving big problems in 
real time; rather, they’ll be addressing 
frequently heard common concerns. 
Proprietary. Feel free to share but we would appreciate a Health Catalyst citation. 
THREE PHASES 
DATA 
GOVERNANCE
© 2014 Health Catalyst 
www.healthcatalyst.com 
The Steady State of Healthcare 
Data Governance 
3 
Council Focus 
If the analytics effort is going well, there 
will be dissatisfied customers. Some will 
believe they haven’t received as much 
support as other areas. 
Leaders’ role will be to hear these 
customers’ concerns, make their voices 
heard, help them feel there’s hope for 
improvement, and then keep them in the 
loop until their concerns are addressed. 
Proprietary. Feel free to share but we would appreciate a Health Catalyst citation. 
THREE PHASES 
DATA 
GOVERNANCE
© 2014 Health Catalyst 
www.healthcatalyst.com 
The Steady State of Healthcare 
Data Governance 
3 
Council Focus 
At this point the group must stay the 
course in spite of vocal resistance from 
other departments. 
If the initiative is working for most of the 
organization, the council will have to 
actively engage the disenfranchised and 
bring them around. 
Finally the team will continue to be 
responsible for monitoring the success 
of the initiative and prioritizing efforts. 
Proprietary. Feel free to share but we would appreciate a Health Catalyst citation. 
THREE PHASES 
DATA 
GOVERNANCE
These metrics should stay solid, or trend 
upwards in rare cases: 
• Technology/analytics team satisfaction 
These metrics should hopefully trend down: 
• Time and resources it takes to answer 
common analytic questions 
© 2014 Health Catalyst 
www.healthcatalyst.com 
How to Know If Healthcare Data 
Governance is Working 
To know if data governance is working, explore using data to 
measure the effectiveness of your data governances if you can. 
Here are some of the key metrics to study: 
If governance is successful, 
these metrics will trend up: 
# of users 
# of requests 
# of queries, reports and page views 
# of success stories from your users! 
# of key stakeholders who are aware 
of your group and what you do 
• User/customer satisfaction. 
• # of requests you get to evaluate 
competing analytic systems 
Proprietary. Feel free to share but we would appreciate a Health Catalyst citation.
At various points in the lifecycle 
of the project, you may be 
tempted by the simplicity of a 
“one size fits all” framework for 
data governance. 
Healthcare data governance is 
most effective when it is allowed 
flexibility to adapt and change. 
If you are prepared to allow your 
data governance strategy to 
evolve as analytic maturity 
develops, your organization will 
be well positioned for success. 
© 2014 Health Catalyst 
www.healthcatalyst.com 
How to Know If Healthcare Data 
Governance is Working 
Proprietary. Feel free to share but we would appreciate a Health Catalyst citation.
© 2014 Health Catalyst 
www.healthcatalyst.com 
More about this topic 
7 Essential Practices for Data Governance in Healthcare 
Dale Sanders, Senior VP of Strategy 
Why a Data Governance Is One of the Six Reasons for Data Warehouse Failures 
Steve Barlow, Co-Founder and Senior VP of Client Ops 
The Best Organizational Structure for Healthcare Analytics 
John Wadsworth, VP of Client Technical Operations 
Keys to a Successful Analytics Implementation 
Jared Crapo, VP; Eric Just, VP of Technology; and Dan Lidgard, VP 
Demystifying Healthcare Data Governance 
Dale Sanders, Senior VP of Strategy 
Proprietary. Feel free to share but we would appreciate a Health Catalyst citation.
© 2014 Health Catalyst 
www.healthcatalyst.com 
For more information: 
Proprietary. Feel free to share but we would appreciate a Health Catalyst citation.
Other Clinical Quality Improvement Resources 
© 2013 Health Catalyst 
www.healthcatalyst.com 
Click to read additional information at www.healthcatalyst.com 
Mike Doyle joined Health Catalyst in May of 2013 as a Vice President. He has 
been connected with the Health Catalyst senior leadership team since 2006. 
Prior to Health Catalyst, Mike led the Enterprise Data Warehouse (EDW) 
program at Allina Health as Director of Healthcare Intelligence. He helped Allina grow 
its EDW program from a nascent clinical improvement initiative to an enterprise-wide 
strategic asset, in heavy demand by thousands of users across all of Allina’s 11 
hospitals and 100+ clinics. Prior to his work with Allina, Mike was employed on the 
Northwestern Medicine campus in Chicago, beginning as a Systems Administrator at 
the Medical School and eventually leading the Analytics and Systems Integration team 
at Northwestern Medical Faculty Foundation. In addition to his experience building 
strong technology teams, Mike has experience in technical roles such as database 
administrator, web programmer, data architect, and business intelligence developer. 
Mike holds a Master of Music degree from Northwestern University and a Bachelor of 
Fine Arts degree from Carnegie Mellon University.

3 Phases of Healthcare Data Governance in Analytics

  • 1.
    3 Phases ofHealthcare Data Governance in Analytics By Mike Doyle © 2014 Health Catalyst www.healthcatalyst.com Proprietary. Feel free to share but we would appreciate a Health Catalyst citation. © 2014 Health Catalyst www.healthcatalyst.com Proprietary. Feel free to share but we would appreciate a Health Catalyst citation.
  • 2.
    Show the challengesinvolved with adaptive healthcare data governance Show the challenges involved with adaptive healthcare data governance © 2014 Health Catalyst www.healthcatalyst.com Healthcare Data Governance Healthcare data governance. It sounds like it could be a dry topic, right? The truth is that data governance is a very exciting and complicated challenge in healthcare analytics. The purpose of this commentary is to: Demonstrate how effective data governance evolves throughout the lifecycle of a health system’s analytics program Proprietary. Feel free to share but we would appreciate a Health Catalyst citation.
  • 3.
    The specification ofdecision rights and an accountability framework to ensure appropriate behavior in the valuation, creation, storage, use, archiving, and deletion of information. It includes the processes, roles and policies, standards, and metrics that ensure the effective and efficient use of information in enabling an organization to achieve its goals.” © 2014 Health Catalyst www.healthcatalyst.com What Data Governance Is Data governance is: The scope of data governance includes data stewardship, storage, and technical roles and responsibilities. It also requires leadership and processes to get the most out of an investment in analytics. Proprietary. Feel free to share but we would appreciate a Health Catalyst citation.
  • 4.
    © 2014 HealthCatalyst www.healthcatalyst.com What Data Governance Is Because leadership buy-in is so important, the focus here will be on the important role a core group of leaders — the key stakeholders who form the healthcare data governance committee — will play in setting, growing, and sustaining a successful analytics program. Proprietary. Feel free to share but we would appreciate a Health Catalyst citation.
  • 5.
    Stakeholders must understand how important it is to ensure the right group of leaders is engaged in the governance of the BI program as a whole. © 2014 Health Catalyst www.healthcatalyst.com What Data Governance Is The best data governance committees drive efficient, equitable use of a health system’s information, and enable the organization to achieve its goals of higher-quality, lower-cost care. Proprietary. Feel free to share but we would appreciate a Health Catalyst citation.
  • 6.
    Few health systemsclaim to have figured out effective healthcare data governance. One difficulty is that no single template for data governance can be applied to every organization. Data governance approached as a rigid, idealized plan often ends up being scrapped. © 2014 Health Catalyst www.healthcatalyst.com Effective Healthcare Data Governance Is Adaptive Proprietary. Feel free to share but we would appreciate a Health Catalyst citation.
  • 7.
    In General thereare three phases of adaptive data governance that characterize successful analytics implementations. 1. The Early Stage of Healthcare Data 2. The Mid-Term Stage of Healthcare © 2014 Health Catalyst www.healthcatalyst.com Effective Healthcare Data Governance Is Adaptive Governance Data Governance 3. The Steady State of Healthcare Data Governance Proprietary. Feel free to share but we would appreciate a Health Catalyst citation.
  • 8.
    1 Committee Makeup In the early stages of planning sponsors of the health system’s data governance initiative must have some decision-making authority. © 2014 Health Catalyst www.healthcatalyst.com The Early Stage of Healthcare Data Governance Proprietary. Feel free to share but we would appreciate a Health Catalyst citation. THREE PHASES DATA GOVERNANCE Ideally, these leaders have a passion for using data, and are generally described as being both exciting and decisive. They may be executives, directors, influential managers in the quality department, nurses, or physicians.
  • 9.
    1 Committee Focus Some of the most important questions this group will address are: © 2014 Health Catalyst www.healthcatalyst.com The Early Stage of Healthcare Data Governance Proprietary. Feel free to share but we would appreciate a Health Catalyst citation. THREE PHASES DATA GOVERNANCE Where should the initiative begin? Where should resources focus? The committee’s first role will be to keep the peace, and ensure everyone impacted understands the priority. They must protect the integrity of the initiative to drive real quality and cost improvement.
  • 10.
    © 2014 HealthCatalyst www.healthcatalyst.com The Mid-Term Stage of Healthcare Data Governance 2 Committee Makeup As your implementation of analytics continues, the nature of the decisions made by the data governance committee will change. Proprietary. Feel free to share but we would appreciate a Health Catalyst citation. THREE PHASES DATA GOVERNANCE It’s possible some of the initial committee members will lose interest at this stage, and miss meetings. They may view program maintenance as more of an operational problem. It’s okay to let them walk away. Their replacements may bring new energy to the initiative.
  • 11.
    2 Committee Focus At this phase the committee will begin to implement the solution in new areas of the enterprise. You may take the lessons learned in Cardiology to branch out and serve Labor and Delivery. © 2014 Health Catalyst www.healthcatalyst.com The Mid-Term Stage of Healthcare Data Governance Proprietary. Feel free to share but we would appreciate a Health Catalyst citation. THREE PHASES DATA GOVERNANCE The group will also be responsible for monitoring the progress of existing initiatives. They will ask questions like: • How are things going? • Who is using the system? • What additional training or tools are needed to increase utilization? • What should we keep doing/stop doing/do more of?
  • 12.
    3 Council Makeup In this stage, the data governance committee may want to start calling itself something more interesting, like a governance council. Let it happen. Only a few of the initial leaders will still be involved, but the council itself will continue to evolve. © 2014 Health Catalyst www.healthcatalyst.com The Steady State of Healthcare Data Governance Proprietary. Feel free to share but we would appreciate a Health Catalyst citation. THREE PHASES DATA GOVERNANCE
  • 13.
    © 2014 HealthCatalyst www.healthcatalyst.com The Steady State of Healthcare Data Governance 3 Council Makeup The most effective agents of governance at this point are those who are the “ethical politicians” and have a talent for peacekeeping and consensus building. They will have a natural, one-on-one leadership style that fosters team communication, in or out of the meeting. They won’t be solving big problems in real time; rather, they’ll be addressing frequently heard common concerns. Proprietary. Feel free to share but we would appreciate a Health Catalyst citation. THREE PHASES DATA GOVERNANCE
  • 14.
    © 2014 HealthCatalyst www.healthcatalyst.com The Steady State of Healthcare Data Governance 3 Council Focus If the analytics effort is going well, there will be dissatisfied customers. Some will believe they haven’t received as much support as other areas. Leaders’ role will be to hear these customers’ concerns, make their voices heard, help them feel there’s hope for improvement, and then keep them in the loop until their concerns are addressed. Proprietary. Feel free to share but we would appreciate a Health Catalyst citation. THREE PHASES DATA GOVERNANCE
  • 15.
    © 2014 HealthCatalyst www.healthcatalyst.com The Steady State of Healthcare Data Governance 3 Council Focus At this point the group must stay the course in spite of vocal resistance from other departments. If the initiative is working for most of the organization, the council will have to actively engage the disenfranchised and bring them around. Finally the team will continue to be responsible for monitoring the success of the initiative and prioritizing efforts. Proprietary. Feel free to share but we would appreciate a Health Catalyst citation. THREE PHASES DATA GOVERNANCE
  • 16.
    These metrics shouldstay solid, or trend upwards in rare cases: • Technology/analytics team satisfaction These metrics should hopefully trend down: • Time and resources it takes to answer common analytic questions © 2014 Health Catalyst www.healthcatalyst.com How to Know If Healthcare Data Governance is Working To know if data governance is working, explore using data to measure the effectiveness of your data governances if you can. Here are some of the key metrics to study: If governance is successful, these metrics will trend up: # of users # of requests # of queries, reports and page views # of success stories from your users! # of key stakeholders who are aware of your group and what you do • User/customer satisfaction. • # of requests you get to evaluate competing analytic systems Proprietary. Feel free to share but we would appreciate a Health Catalyst citation.
  • 17.
    At various pointsin the lifecycle of the project, you may be tempted by the simplicity of a “one size fits all” framework for data governance. Healthcare data governance is most effective when it is allowed flexibility to adapt and change. If you are prepared to allow your data governance strategy to evolve as analytic maturity develops, your organization will be well positioned for success. © 2014 Health Catalyst www.healthcatalyst.com How to Know If Healthcare Data Governance is Working Proprietary. Feel free to share but we would appreciate a Health Catalyst citation.
  • 18.
    © 2014 HealthCatalyst www.healthcatalyst.com More about this topic 7 Essential Practices for Data Governance in Healthcare Dale Sanders, Senior VP of Strategy Why a Data Governance Is One of the Six Reasons for Data Warehouse Failures Steve Barlow, Co-Founder and Senior VP of Client Ops The Best Organizational Structure for Healthcare Analytics John Wadsworth, VP of Client Technical Operations Keys to a Successful Analytics Implementation Jared Crapo, VP; Eric Just, VP of Technology; and Dan Lidgard, VP Demystifying Healthcare Data Governance Dale Sanders, Senior VP of Strategy Proprietary. Feel free to share but we would appreciate a Health Catalyst citation.
  • 19.
    © 2014 HealthCatalyst www.healthcatalyst.com For more information: Proprietary. Feel free to share but we would appreciate a Health Catalyst citation.
  • 20.
    Other Clinical QualityImprovement Resources © 2013 Health Catalyst www.healthcatalyst.com Click to read additional information at www.healthcatalyst.com Mike Doyle joined Health Catalyst in May of 2013 as a Vice President. He has been connected with the Health Catalyst senior leadership team since 2006. Prior to Health Catalyst, Mike led the Enterprise Data Warehouse (EDW) program at Allina Health as Director of Healthcare Intelligence. He helped Allina grow its EDW program from a nascent clinical improvement initiative to an enterprise-wide strategic asset, in heavy demand by thousands of users across all of Allina’s 11 hospitals and 100+ clinics. Prior to his work with Allina, Mike was employed on the Northwestern Medicine campus in Chicago, beginning as a Systems Administrator at the Medical School and eventually leading the Analytics and Systems Integration team at Northwestern Medical Faculty Foundation. In addition to his experience building strong technology teams, Mike has experience in technical roles such as database administrator, web programmer, data architect, and business intelligence developer. Mike holds a Master of Music degree from Northwestern University and a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Carnegie Mellon University.