Health data access, quality, and use: Factors impacting physician performance

High-performing physicians are an essential attribute of quality health services and public safety. Inaccessibility to quality health data by health providers can lead to individual, population, or health system harm suggesting a relationship between health data and the delivery of high-performing health programs and services. Yet the characteristics of health data have not been considered as a factor that may impact physician performance. There is evidence that limitations in health data access, quality, and effective and appropriate use can impair the capacity of physicians to provide high-quality clinical health services and use secondary health data to generate beneficial insights. Failure to acknowledge and mitigate health data factors can potentially hinder efforts to promote patient safety, reduce physician burnout, and address broader healthcare inefficiencies including a lack of interoperability. Efforts to enhance physician performance and safeguard public well-being must include a proactive approach to improving health data access, quality, and user literacy.