Fonteum Data GlossaryTech
Provenance: Definition and Healthcare Context
Full name: Data Provenance
Data provenance is the documented record of where a piece of data came from, how it was obtained, and how it has changed over time. For a single field on a provider record — a name, an address, an exclusion date — provenance can identify which source published it, when that source was captured, and what transformation produced the displayed value. When a response supplies that lineage, a downstream user can trace the fact to a named government file and reporting period.
- Source file
- Not reported
- Published
- Not reported
- Retrieved
- Not reported
- Snapshot
- Not retained for this reference page
- Data as of
- Not reported
Last updated: 2026-07-11Reviewed by: Dr. Jennifer Montecillo, MD — Gullas College of Medicine, 2019. Non-practicing medical reviewer.
How it’s used
- Rendered fields show source, capture-date, and limitation metadata where that source and surface provide it.
- Fonteum defines a nullable provenance schema whose populated fields vary by source and response.
- OIG LEIE (oig-leie), CMS NPPES, and other source families preserve source-specific metadata when it is available.
Frequently asked questions
- What is data provenance?
- Data provenance is the documented lineage of a value — which source published it, when it was captured, and how it was transformed — so a rendered fact with supplied lineage can be traced back to its origin.
- What is field-level provenance?
- Field-level provenance attaches lineage to individual facts rather than only to the dataset as a whole. Whether a specific address or exclusion date carries that metadata depends on the source and response.
- Why does provenance matter for healthcare data?
- Provider data drives credentialing and payment decisions, so a reader must be able to trace any claim to a named federal file and reporting period instead of trusting an unsourced number.
Explore in Fonteum
How Fonteum sources, resolves, and publishes data tied to this term.