By Lydia Washington, MS, RHIA, CPHIMS
At AHIMA’s Annual Convention and Exhibit in New Orleans, LA this year, AHIMA rolled out the first of a suite of new products and services designed to support organizations and professionals who are starting the information governance (IG) journey. IG PulseRate™ is a free 25-question mini-assessment that gives a high level snapshot of current IG capabilities. Initially, respondents receive baseline information for important indicators of the level of IG adoption in their organization. They will then be given the opportunity to measure IG progress through a five point scale that will be sent to them quarterly.
Derived from AHIMA’s Information Governance Adoption Model, IG PulseRate™ is designed to provide first insight into the organization’s IG performance and promote understanding of key IG concepts. PulseRate is also designed to engage, inform, and enable effective communication among diverse stakeholders as they seek to establish and achieve organizational information governance goals. Used effectively, the assessment tool can also assist with developing a road map for organizations pursuing excellence in information governance.
Over 300 convention attendees took their IG PulseRate at computer stations set up in the AHIMA exhibit hall and many reported that the tool accurately reflected the current state of IG and its adoption in their organization. IG PulseRate is the precursor to a more comprehensive assessment tool that AHIMA plans to roll out in the first quarter of 2016, IG HealthRateTM. Both are based on a set of ten organizational competencies that are critical to IG performance and adoption. The ten competencies that are evaluated include:
- Organizational IG structure
- Alignment with organizational s strategy
- Data governance
- Performance management
- Workforce awareness and adherence
- Standard operating policies
- Security and privacy safeguards
- Legal and regulatory compliance
- Information lifecycle management
- Information trustworthiness
If you did not attend convention, you can take the IG PulseRate assessment at www.IGIQ.org. Simply set up an account and begin the questionnaire, which takes between 10 and 15 minutes to complete. Remember to share the tool with others in your organization and take the assessment quarterly to measure improvement in your IG capabilities.
Lydia Washington (lydia.washington@ahima.org) is a senior director of HIM practice excellence at AHIMA.