Healthcare data comes in many forms and may be managed by individuals from many departments. Data stewardship is governed by the philosophy that data collection, viewing, storage, exchange, aggregation, and analysis is done within a system of accountability. This system is usually part of a more extensive quality management program. For this discussion, you can assume the role of a data steward for a large healthcare facility with multiple departments. In your initial post, Define and describe health data stewardship. Identify who should practice data stewardship in an acute hospital or an extensive provider practice and why. Describe specific practices suggested for data stewardship. Include a minimum of three best practices explained in detail.

• Explain the importance of health data stewardship.
• Describe what you will do as the health data steward to ensure that personal health information (PHI) is put to appropriate uses and misuses are prevented.
• Reflect on how data stewardship has changed as the healthcare industry progresses to the electronic health record.