The Master of Science in Health Care Informatics degree focuses on the use of information technologies, data analytics and automation to improve health care. Professional expertise in health care informatics is needed by hospitals and other health care providers, medical centers and facilities, medical software companies, pharmaceutical companies, public health organizations, health insurance companies and medical research institutions. The master's program is designed to meet the demand for highly trained health care informatics professionals. The curriculum covers several areas including: systems analysis and design, database design and management, clinical decision support and computer programming. Students also get exposed to cutting-edge research in areas such as big data, predictive analytics, natural language processing, medical knowledge representation and information retrieval, which are rapidly becoming indispensable for improving health care.
The program is designed for both full-time and part-time students. Courses are offered both face-to-face and online. Mid-career professionals can use the fully online option for completing the degree.
Admission Requirements
Application Deadlines
Application deadlines vary by program, please review the application deadline chart for specific programs. Other important dates and deadlines can be found by using the One Stop calendars.
Admission
An applicant must meet Graduate School requirements. A GRE score is not required for application unless an applicant's GPA is below 3.0 (on a 4.0 scale or equivalent). If GPA is below this threshold, a GRE score is required to demonstrate qualifications for the program. A reason statement is needed for application. No specific undergraduate major is necessary for admission. A typical applicant will have a background in a health-related field or in an information/computer-related field, but applicants from other academic or professional backgrounds are welcome to apply. Application will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
Credits and Courses
The Master of Science in Health Care Informatics degree will be awarded upon completion of appropriate 33 credits (non-thesis option) or 36 credits (thesis option) of prescribed graduate study; 24 credits of core courses and 6 credits of electives are required, plus either 3-credit HI 891 or 6-credit HI 890.
| Code | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Core | ||
| HI 700 | Introduction to Health Care Informatics | 3 |
| HI 741 | Essential Programming for Health Informatics | 3 |
| HI 723 | Health Care Systems Applications - Administrative and Clinical | 3 |
| HI 722 | Legal, Ethical and Social Issues in Health Care Informatics | 3 |
| HI 740 | Introduction to Biomedical Database Applications | 3 |
| HI 742 | Computational Intelligence in Health Informatics | 3 |
| HI 745 | Health Big Data Processing Platforms | 3 |
| PH 701 | Public Health Principles and Practice | 3 |
| Electives | ||
| Select two of the following: 1 | 6 | |
| Healthcare Information Systems Analysis and Design | ||
| Biomedical and Healthcare Terminology and Ontology | ||
| Introduction to Biostatistics | ||
| Predictive Analytics in Healthcare | ||
| Text Retrieval and Its Applications in Biomedicine | ||
| Biomedical Natural Language Processing | ||
| Biomedical Information Extraction | ||
| Seminar in Health Outcomes Assessment | ||
| Project or Thesis | ||
| HI 890 | Health Care Informatics Research and Thesis | 3-6 |
| or HI 891 | Health Care Informatics Professional Project | |
| Total Credits | 33-36 | |
- 1
Electives other than those listed below are to be approved by the student’s major professor.
Thesis/Project Options
Option A: Project Option
The Project option requires students to apply health informatics research and theory to a professional situation. The project must be undertaken in compliance with program requirements under the supervision of a HCI major professor. Students who choose this option count 3 credits of HI 891 toward the required 33-graduate-credit minimum.
Option B: Thesis Option
The thesis option requires students to plan, design, execute and report results of original applied or basic research. Students who choose the thesis option are responsible for identifying a HCI major professor and a thesis committee. The thesis committee should consist of the major professor and at least two other graduate faculty. The student must pass a comprehensive oral examination in defense of the completed thesis. Students who choose this option count 6 credits of HI 890 toward the required 36-graduate-credit minimum.
Additional Requirements
Major Professor as Advisor
A student must have a major professor to advise and supervise the student’s studies as specified in Graduate School regulations. Initially the director of the HCI Program advises and supervises newly admitted students. Students are then assigned faculty advisors according to faculty advising loads.
Program Completion Time Limit
The student must complete all degree requirements within five years of initial enrollment.
Health Care Informatics MS Learning Outcomes
Master of Science students in Health Care Informatics can expect to:
- Perform responsibilities as a health informatician in biomedical research.
- Apply programming and database management methods to create software solutions in a healthcare context.
- Create and customize intelligence analytic pipelines to organize, analyze and visualize data.
- Evaluate informatics applications used in modern biomedical industries, using real world cases and industry reports.
- Examine needed resources and potential challenges for designing and building a health informatics system in clinical environments.