The role of information quality in healthcare organizations: A multi-disciplinary literature review

Abstract

The volume of data in healthcare repositories is growing exponentially, giving increased concerns on its organizational implications. The quality of data and information represents a considerable risk for organizations, particularly in healthcare, where consequences of poor quality may be fatal for patients. This research seeks to investigate the role of information quality in organizations, by reviewing multi-disciplinary research literature and provide a framework of the relations between IQ and its organizational implications. Findings suggest that research on information quality has focused on different aspects of organizational impact: organizational performance, process performance, process improvement, and decision-making. However, since the research is fragmented and scarce, this paper suggests a shift in research focus from defining, measuring and improving information quality, to understanding the implications and applications of information quality towards better and safer health services.