Five Organizational Practices to Improve Data Quality

1. Data Governance

Limiting access supports data quality by restricting who can add and edit information in an individual’s record. These employees are already aware of the best practices for maintaining this data and will help promote good data hygiene. CaseWorthy offers robust user role permissions that allow organizations to restrict employee access to specific data and limit write access to records on an as-needed basis.

2. Data Standardization and Documentation

With a clear ‘why’ in mind, organizations should have data standardization and documentation policies that clearly instruct employees on how to enter specific data points, such as phone numbers, unique identifiers, addresses, etc. When standards are established and enforced, this greatly reduces the amount of time needed to analyze records. CaseWorthy’s form apBuilder facilitates this process by allowing users to customize forms for data collection and entry. Users can design their own form layout, add and modify data fields, establish validation rules and default values, and configure form actions and triggers to streamline data management.

3. Data Stewardship and Responsibility

Maintaining data accuracy is a team sport that requires everyone to be on guard for inaccuracies and inconsistencies. If you see (or hear) something, say something! Did one of your clients move to a new home? Update their address. Did they provide a new cell phone number? Add it to their record! Your Care Management staff is already responsible for a lot, so having a dedicated team of Data Stewards is of great benefit to your organization. Consistent investment in keeping data current, accurate and clean will save time and frustration in the long term.

4. Training and Awareness

Very little is more effective than proper training and awareness of staff around the importance of data integrity. Entering an incorrect address, or not updating a phone number can have costly consequences for your organization and the well-being of the individuals you support. Frequent communication of the ‘why’ will help reinforce the necessity of maintaining good data.

5. Regular Data Audits and Quality Checks

While your staff are on the front lines of maintaining contact with their caseloads and ensuring that information is up to date, you should also have policies and procedures in place to regularly review your data. Having staff review addresses once or twice a year, or reviewing the linked contacts to make sure they are still current are all steps that you can take to keep your data from getting stale.