Curriculum

Ready to lead the digital evolution of healthcare.

The Master of Science in Health Informatics and Analytics program (MSHIA) allows information systems professionals, physicians, nurses, other clinical personnel, and healthcare managers to increase their knowledge of health information technology, artificial intelligence in healthcare, and the management of complex social and organizational issues surrounding the increased emphasis on managing healthcare quality, efficiency, and outcomes through information systems.

Our innovative curriculum integrates the domains of information systems, such as data analytics, with the organizational domains of healthcare, including, the legal and policy environment, delivery processes, as well as leadership and management principles. The program educates effective developers, users, and managers of health information systems. Students explore the design and use of health information systems needed by hospital and system executives, government planners, public health officials, and other healthcare professionals. Courses have both an academic and practical perspective, exposing students to both theoretical approaches and real-world applications.

Required Core Courses (28 credits)

All Students complete 10 required core courses for completion of the MSHIA degree requirements.

• HIM 6267 Foundations of Health and Analytics Administration

  Health informatics and analytics is an interdisciplinary field that integrates health, the healthcare process, and information technology. It is most notably enacted in a multidisciplinary context where administrators, healthcare providers, technology workers, third-party payers, policymakers, and patients collectively engage to improve human health. This environment is conceptually and administratively complex, requiring a fundamental body of knowledge across these domains to communicate effectively, collaborate, and produce quality outcomes for related stakeholders.

  This course will address the foundational knowledge and skills needed for graduates to successfully contribute to and advance in the healthcare informatics and analytics community, including: a) an introduction to the landscape of health, healthcare, health informatics, and the healthcare industry; b) the basics of collaborative interdisciplinary administrative and managerial processes in a healthcare environment; c) core skills for preparing health IT-related reports and worksheets that are evidence-based, showcase key quantitative data and qualitative information, and are accessible to various stakeholders; and d) roles for aspiring health IT professionals.

  All course topics will reflect the culturally and disciplinarily diverse environment of healthcare and health informatics and analytics.

  Software: Microsoft Excel

• HIM 5065 Introduction to Health & Health Informatics

  This course introduces students to the concepts of health, the organization and delivery of health services, and the impact of health information technology and health informatics across the healthcare system. It covers population and medical models of health, the concepts of population health and population health management, and the role of policy, financing, and quality initiatives within the context of stakeholder analysis. A review of metrics, measures, and public sources of data underscores the evaluation and application of health IT, data analytics, artificial intelligence, and health informatics in improving health and healthcare delivery.

• HIM 6685 Clinical Information Systems

  This course introduces students to information systems used by providers and administrators in healthcare industry settings. It surveys a wide range of systems (e.g., electronic health records, clinical decision support systems, telemedicine, public health systems, and health information exchange), along with their associated terminology and factors for successful selection, implementation, and use in clinical settings. The course will also cover the potential value of these systems for care delivery and quality, as well as considerations related to strategy and return on investment. Students will explore aspects of system design and selection, implementation and maintenance of these systems (including costs, adoption, value proposition, integration into workflow, feasibility, and training), as well as legal and ethical issues (such as documentation, security, and regulatory requirements).

  Software: VLab, EHR Go

• HIM 6865 Healthcare Database Systems

  The significance of database applications in the healthcare domain cannot be overstated, as they play a crucial role in managing and utilizing vast amounts of data to improve patient care and operational efficiency. This course helps students think critically, conceptualize, and model databases, as well as use query languages to manage and extract useful information for decision-making. The course utilizes actual healthcare databases and takes a transaction-based (OLTP) data-oriented view embedded within a larger processing context, while also exploring the potential use of AI. Students will complete reading assignments, problem-solving exercises, and case studies, extending their learning to new domains and applications to effectively communicate their database knowledge.

  Software: SQL, Oracle Cloud, Lucidchart, Neo4j

• HIM 6124 Technical and Data Architectures and Standards for Healthcare

  This course serves as a survey of the technology landscape for interoperability in healthcare. Students will learn to: describe the main components of computer systems; describe how computer systems interface and interoperate with both people and other systems; identify the interdependency points between technology systems, workflows, and people; and use industry- defined interoperability standards and technologies such as FHIR by HL7, to address issues arising from these interdependencies within the healthcare ecosystem.

  Software: NetBeans Integrated Development Environment (IDE), HTTP Toolkit, Postman

• HIM 6019 Legal and Ethical Aspects of Healthcare

  This course covers the legal and ethical principles related to patient care, health information, and the emerging role of artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare. It includes legal terminology, procedures, court systems, and the liability of healthcare providers. Students will explore legal and regulatory requirements designed to safeguard health information, including issues specific to AI, such as data privacy, bias, and accountability.

• HIM 6527 Healthcare Information Security and Privacy

  This course explores the regulatory, technical, and organizational dimensions of privacy and security within healthcare environments, with a focus on the intersection of health informatics and artificial intelligence. Students will analyze how federal and state regulations, cybersecurity requirements, and executive decision-making shape healthcare information security. Emphasis is placed on understanding the challenges of managing risks in AI-driven systems, ensuring compliance, and implementing workforce training in security best practices. The course integrates these perspectives to demonstrate the critical role of privacy and security in safeguarding the health informatics systems.

• HIM 6517 Healthcare Project Management

  This course covers defining characteristics of healthcare information systems projects and introduces relevant project management techniques to facilitate scope, time, cost, and resource functions. The objectives of the course focus on developing proficiency in information systems analysis, design, implementation and management in healthcare. It identifies best practices in the structure, function and transfer of information,as well as the socio-technical aspects of health computing, and human-computer interaction.

  The course demonstrates how to understand the design and use of valuable project information key in taking decisions and managing knowledge in healthcare. It evaluates and reengineers current processes including discovering emerging technologies and best practices for implementing these processes using appropriate IT infrastructures.

  Software: Smartsheet, Lucidchart

• HIM 6628 Healthcare Data Visualization

  This course delves into the fundamental aspects of data visualization within healthcare analytics, using Tableau as the primary tool. It is structured around three core components: comprehending the structure and narratives of healthcare data, developing and interpreting research questions, and mastering key data visualization tools. Students will gain expertise in visualizing both numerical and non-numerical data, enabling precise and effective communication of complex insights to collaborators and target audiences, thereby enhancing decision-making processes in healthcare environments.

  Software: Tableau, PowerBI, Python, R

• HIM 6694 Consumer Health Informatics

  Consumer Health Informatics (CHI) aims to provide individual healthcare consumers, their families, and communities with the information and tools they need to become more involved in their health maintenance and care. This perspective also recognizes the changing expectations of healthcare consumers in managing their health status using new, technology-supported models of care (e.g., on-demand telemedicine), where the patient is a driving force in the care process. Students completing this course will be better able to:

  • Analyze consumers' needs for health support and information.
  • Study and implement methods for making information and supportive tools accessible to consumers.
  • Model and integrate consumers' preferences and capabilities into health information systems.

Optional Majors

Students complete additional credits for completion of the degree by pursuing one of two majors:

Health Informatics & Analytics Major (9 credits)

The Health Informatics and Analytics major provides students with the opportunity to acquire essential skills in analytical methods, information systems, change management, and leadership with an understanding of health, healthcare, and clinical processes. An integrative, multi-disciplinary program focus develops informatics professionals aligned with the growing need for analytics-driven, evidence-based decision-making in healthcare. Students are primed to make significant contributions to the improvements in healthcare quality, efficiency, and outcomes through interdisciplinary education, research, and service in the science and application of health informatics and analytics.

Required Major Courses

• QMB 6357 Business Statistical Analysis

  This course delves into a variety of statistical principles and methods, including qualitative and quantitative techniques, to evaluate healthcare-oriented research problems and make evidence-based decisions. Students will learn how to describe a healthcare-related research question, identify the population and sample of interest, write hypotheses, collect and analyze data, and present insights to a healthcare managerial audience.

  Software: Microsoft Excel, Python

• HIM 6682 Quality and Outcome Analytics

  We live in an exciting era where digitalization is touching, if not transforming industries. Informatics and analytics are augmenting provider effectiveness and improving patient experience. Healthcare providers and administrators are well-positioned to identify areas for improvement in our healthcare system. This course will provide an understanding of fundamental analytics concepts and techniques needed in healthcare today. These skills will help students understand and better leverage health data to optimize care quality.

  Software: Microsoft Excel, RapidMiner, Python, R

• HIM 6125 Healthcare Informatics & Analytics Capstone*

  This capstone course provides an integrative experience for students to apply system and critical thinking skills in mapping, analyzing and redesigning strategy, process, and technology in real-world Health Informatics and Analytics (HIA) contexts. It addresses the process of transforming data into information, knowledge, and practice within a healthcare setting. An operations management challenge that is amenable to IT intervention in a healthcare organization shall be identified and analyzed, allowing students to apply the knowledge and skills acquired in prior classes.

  The course emphasizes the individual engagement of each student while providing a team-based forum where each student can engage in identifying, analyzing, and solving a real-world health informatics challenge. As part of the learning process, students will explore IT options for resolving the challenge, then present a strategy for producing positive outcomes to address the challenge. A lifecycle framework will be used to guide students in integrating and applying the knowledge and skills acquired from prior classes as they conduct their analyses.

  The course aims to integrate perspectives and stimulate system and critical thinking, rather than focusing on memorization of concepts. It presents a balanced approach that considers strategic and operational perspectives, as well as business, clinical and technical domains, incorporating both conceptual and hands-on learning experiences.

  Software: Lucidchart, Microsoft Visio, Microsoft Project

  *Option to replace capstone course with HIM 6858 Health Informatics and Analytics Practicum

  HIM 6858 Health Informatics & Analytics Practicum

  This practicum course provides an integrative experience for students to apply the knowledge and skills they have obtained in prior classes of the program to an industry-led project. The course emphasizes individual engagement of each student with a preceptor from the industry, encouraging the student to identify, analyze, and solve a real-world health informatics challenge.