William Miller, PhD, MHA
Program Director
william.miller2@scranton.edu
570-941-4527
Program Description
The Master of Science in Health Informatics at The University of Scranton will provide graduates with an innovative and forward-looking understanding of an ever-evolving discipline located at the intersection of information science, computer science, and health care. This interdisciplinary focus is used to explore the resources, devices, and methods required to optimize the acquisition, storage, retrieval, and use of information in health care. The program explores a number of health informatics tools that include not only information and communication systems, but also emerging and innovative technologies. Graduates will understand how health informatics is applied across the broad-spectrum of health care and learn how to work collaboratively in multidisciplinary teams to achieve goals in person-centered environments.
Program of Study
This program of study consists of ten, 3-credit hour and two 1.5 credit hour online courses for a total of 33 credits. Each course is offered online in a seven-week format. The capstone course, which is split into two 1.5-credit hour courses at the end of the program provides the opportunity to use learning from previous courses for a precepted experience to complete an applied health informatics project.
Admission Requirements
An applicant for the program must possess a baccalaureate degree from a regionally accredited college or university and have an undergraduate GPA of at least 3.00 on a grading scale of 4.00. Applicants falling below this level may submit other evidence of their ability to complete graduate work such as grades in other graduate level courses, scores on the Graduate Record Examination, and/or a record of progressively higher work responsibilities. A completed application, together with official transcripts of undergraduate and graduate work taken elsewhere, letters of recommendation, and other supporting documents, should be received at least ten days before the term in which the student wishes to begin graduate study. International students, whose native language is not English, must demonstrate their proficiency in English by meeting criteria established for admission to the University.
Accelerated MS in Health Informatics
As the students accepted through this option will be taking the same curriculum in the same terms as other MSHI students, the addition of this option does not affect the program curriculum. These students are, however, limited to taking up to the first four courses of the program prior to ompleting their undergraduate degree. These courses are HINF 520 –Introduction to Health Informatics; HINF 530 – Healthcare Knowledge for Health Informatics; HINF 535 – Principles of Computer Science and Software Development; and HINF 540 –Information Technology for Health Informatics, and are ideally taken in the order presented here.
Health Informatics with Data Analytics Specialization
This specialization provides students with additional competencies beyond the health informatics program to meet the growing demand for individuals who can help healthcare organizations to turn health data into actionable information. Students will have an overview of descriptive, predictive and prescriptive analytics, and will be able to use data mining and data visualization techniques. The Data Analytics Specialization consists of three 3-credit courses: BUAN 571 , BUAN 572 and BUAN 577 . HAD 522 is not required for the specialization. Prerequisites to BUAN 571 are MBA 501A and MBA 501B . These may be waived depending on the student’s background. The MBA 501C Information Management module prerequisite for BUAN 571 is waived for students in the health informatics program. The MS in Health Informatics degree with this specialization requires 39-41 credits for completion.
Health Informatics with Health Administration Specialization
This is a nine-credit specialization consisting of three courses from the MHA program: HAD 500 – Health Care Organization and Administration; HAD 501 – Health Care Financial Management I; and HAD 522 – Health Care Operations and Quality. Students are able to complete this specialization using only six additional credits as HAD 522 is currently part of the informatics curriculum.
Health Informatics Curriculum
Total Program Credits: 33-41
| Course |
Course Title |
Credits |
| *HINF 520 |
Introduction to Health Informatics |
3 |
| *HINF 530 |
Healthcare Knowledge for Health Informatics |
3 |
| *HINF 535 |
Principles of Computer Science and Software Development |
3 |
| *HINF 540 |
Information Technology for Health Informatics |
3 |
| HINF 545 |
Database Principles and Applications |
3 |
| HINF 550 |
Population Health for Health Informatics |
3 |
| HINF 560 |
Business Management and Communication for Health Informatics |
3 |
| HINF 570 |
Health Information Policy Governance |
3 |
| HINF 580 |
Current Trends in Health Informatics |
3 |
| Additional Courses Required for Data Analytics Specialization |
|
| **MBA 501A |
Statistics Module |
3 |
| **MBA 501B |
Management Science Module |
3 |
| BUAN 571 |
Introduction to Business Analytics |
3 |
| BUAN 572 |
Data Mining |
3 |
| BUAN 577 |
Data Visualization |
3 |
| Additional Courses Required for Health Administration Specialization |
|
| HAD 500 |
Health Care Organization and Administration |
3 |
| HAD 501 |
Health Care Financial Management I |
3 |
| HAD 522 |
Health Care Operations and Quality |
3 |
| |
|
|
| HINF 591 |
Health Informatics Capstone I |
1.5 |
| HINF 592 |
Health Informatics Capstone II |
1.5 |
| Total Program Credits |
33-41 credits |
*All students must take these courses, however, these are the only ones in which Accelerated students can enroll prior to earning their undergraduate degree.
**MBA 501A and MBA 501B are pre-requisites to BUAN 571, however it is possible that some students will have met this requirement
Clearances: Students are required to comply with clearance and other requirements for the healthcare organization or agency for the capstone course. These clearances generally include a criminal background check and may include FBI fingerprinting, two-step tuberculosis testing, hepatitis B vaccination, flu vaccination and/or drug screening as well as other requirements. These clearances may require additional fees at the student’s own expense. Delays in completion of these requirements may delay enrollment and/or completion of capstone course requirements.
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