Program Overview

Introduction to the Healthcare Informatics Program

The mission of the Healthcare Informatics degree program is to provide students with the knowledge they need to enter the healthcare industry to enhance quality and operations through the application and assessment of healthcare data.

Program Objectives

1. Students will be able to analyze and interpret healthcare data and how it relates to patient care and operational effectiveness.
2. Students will be able to apply policies, standards, and regulatory requirements to the collection, storage, classification, access, and transmission of healthcare data.
3. Students will use healthcare information technology for decision support, knowledge management, strategic planning, and outcomes assessment.

Program of Study

The total number of credits for the MS degree is 36; 24 core credits and 12 elective credits.

• First Year:
  • Fall:
    • HCI 601: Foundations of Healthcare Informatics (3 Credits)
    • HCI 610: Statistical Computing for Healthcare Informatics (3 Credits)
    • HCI Elective (3 Credits)
  • Spring:
    • HCI 618: Clinical Information Systems (3 Credits)
    • HCI 620: Principles & Applications for Databases (3 Credits)
    • HCI Elective (3 Credits)
  • Summer:
    • HCI 630: Project Design & Management for Healthcare Systems (3 Credits)
    • HCI 632: Legal, Regulatory, & Ethical Aspects of Healthcare Informatics (3 Credits)
    • HCI Elective (3 Credits)
• Second Year:
  • Fall:
    • HCI 690: Healthcare Informatics Capstone Consulting I (3 Credits)
    • HCI 691: Healthcare Informatics Capstone Consulting II (3 Credits)
    • HCI Elective (3 Credits)

Courses

Foundations of Healthcare Informatics

HCI 601: Foundations of Healthcare Informatics (3 Credits) This course will provide students with an overview of hospital organization, structure, and the team members and their roles. The technical infrastructure of hospital systems, including informatics methods, policies, and laws, implementation, and operations, will also be discussed.

Statistical Computing for Healthcare Informatics

HCI 610: Statistical Computing for Healthcare Informatics (3 Credits) This course will provide students with the necessary skills to perform statistical analysis of healthcare data. Students will obtain a basic understanding of descriptive statistics, sampling, distributions, probability concepts, and inferential statistical methods.

Clinical Information Systems

HCI 618: Clinical Information Systems (3 Credits) This course will introduce theory and applied practice of clinical documentation systems, including the Electronic Health Record. Students will learn how to implement, design, and support data acquisition in the medical record system.

Principles & Applications for Databases

HCI 620: Principles & Applications for Databases (3 Credits) Principles of database theory, modeling, design, and manipulation of databases will be introduced, taught with a healthcare applications emphasis. Students will gain experience using a relational database management system and the application of databases through database manipulation to compose and execute queries.

Project Design & Management for Healthcare Systems

HCI 630: Project Design & Management for Healthcare Systems (3 Credits) This course serves as an introduction to managing healthcare information projects, including the development of the project charter and scope with emphasis on developing the competencies and skills required to successfully lead teams of technical, clinical, and professional specialists through workflow and work process redesign activities within a healthcare organization or system.

Legal, Regulatory, & Ethical Aspects of Healthcare Informatics

HCI 632: Legal, Regulatory, & Ethical Aspects of Healthcare Informatics (3 Credits) This course will provide students with knowledge of laws and regulations that are encountered by healthcare professionals with a focus on strategies to mitigate risk and increase data security potential.

Additional Courses

• HCI 640: Evidence Based Patient Care (3 Credits)
• HCI 650: Fundamentals of Programming (3 Credits)
• HCI 651: Data Mining & Machine Learning in Healthcare (3 Credits)
• HCI 680: Emerging Technologies in Healthcare Informatics (3 Credits)
• HCI 685: Data Security & Privacy (3 Credits)
• HCI 690: Healthcare Informatics Capstone Consulting I (3 Credits)
• HCI 691: Healthcare Informatics Capstone Consulting II (3 Credits)