Health Informatics

Degree Offered: M.S.H.I.
Program Director: Sue S. Feldman, RN, MEd, PhD
Phone: (205) 975-0809
E-mail: mshi@uab.edu
Website: www.uab.edu/hi

Master of Science in Health Informatics

Program Admission

Admission to the program is in the fall semester only. Application to the program may be made September through May 31, preceding the expected date of enrollment for the next fall term. Applications received after May 31 are considered on a space-available basis. Applications are evaluated against the Graduate School criteria and those criteria developed specifically for the HI program. The ideal size of each entering class is 30 to 35 students.

Admission Requirements

Admission to the program requires acceptance to the Graduate School of The University of Alabama at Birmingham. Applicants must have completed or anticipate completion of at least a baccalaureate degree from a regionally accredited college or university or from a recognized university abroad before entering the program. As a criterion for unconditional admission, applicants must have no less than a B GPA (3.0 on a 4.0 scale) for the last 60 semester hours of earned undergraduate credit or overall undergraduate credit hours. Official transcripts of all previous academic work beyond the secondary level should be submitted.  Before matriculation, entering students must have received a final transcript for each degree received.

The applicant should include a carefully drafted statement about his or her personal interests, career  goals, and relevant background experience and a professional resume. Three confidential letters of recommendation from individuals qualified to write concerning the applicant's potential for success in both a graduate program and in the Health Informatics field must be submitted.

Prior to entering the program, applicants should have completed three credit hours of undergraduate or graduate course work in statistics (taken within the last five years with a grade of B or better) and an SQL programming or a relevant continuing education course. 

Admission to the MSHI program is determined by an interview process and the consensus of the Admissions Committee. The decision is based on previous academic record, professional recommendations as evidence of ability to perform graduate-level work, and an interview with two faculty members.  The program director reserves the prerogative for final recommendation on admission status to the Graduate School.

Applicants accepted to the program may be asked to complete a criminal background check and drug screen at program admission and again prior to clinical placement as required by school policy.

To be considered for early admission, all application materials must be in the Graduate School Office by March 1.

Additional Information

Deadline for Entry Term(s): Fall
Deadline for All Application Materials to be in the Graduate School Office: May 31
Number of Evaluation Forms Required: Three Professional Letters of Recommendation
Entrance Tests: (TOEFL and TWE also required for international applicants whose native language is not English.)
Length of Study: 45 Credit Hours

Program Overview

Health Informatics is about optimizing technology to effectively capture and manage health information. Health Informatics is a rapidly evolving discipline that connects people, technology, and data to better improve healthcare outcomes. Health Informatics professionals work with the processes and tools used to implement, maintain, and evaluate health informatics systems and applications. The Health Informatics professional is a cross-cutting leader who drives analytics and usability.

Our students graduate with a solid understanding of how clinicians and administrators use data, information, and technology in making decisions. With courses in the effective design and use of information systems, databases and software, students also learn how to successfully manage the flow of information throughout a healthcare organization and the value of building a solid business case for the purchase, implementation, and use of technology in a healthcare setting. Graduates are prepared to become senior and executive level leaders in the healthcare IT industry. Students are exposed to a variety of academic disciplines and gain a broad education that serves as a foundation for them throughout their careers as information and health informatics executives.

The program includes a core curriculum plus one track of the student’s choosing.  The first year of the MSHI core curriculum includes HI 611-Introduction to Health Informatics and Healthcare Delivery, HI 613-Analysis & Design of Health Information Systems, HI 614-Clinical & Administrative Systems, HI 617 Principles of Health Informatics,HI 618 Research Methods in Health Informatics,  HI 619-Databases and Data Modeling, HI 620-Security and Privacy in Healthcare, and HI 621-Strategic Planning, Project Management,  and Contracting .  During the second year, students complete the MSHI core by taking HI 624-Leadership Theory and Development and completing a capstone project. 

Data Analytics Track

The proliferation of information technology to support workers in the healthcare industry has resulted in a massive amount of healthcare data being generated. While the data are seen as an organizational asset that can both help determine trends and patterns in patient care delivery and increase organizational efficiency, there are very few individuals trained to extract, combine, organize, interpret, and display these data in meaningful ways.  This track produces graduates who help healthcare organizations institute data-driven decision-making processes through data science approaches. Beyond that, graduates of this track in the MSHI program are trained to assist organizations with developing data governance strategies, which help them define the way they think about quality, security, access to data, and policies surrounding data.   

Courses in the Data Analytics Track include HI 599 Professional Development,  HI 641-Healthcare Data Analytics Challenges, Methods, and Tools, HI 642-Advanced Data Management & Analytics for Healthcare, HI 643-Business Intelligence for Healthcare, HI 646-Advanced Quantitative Methods for Health Informatics, HI 671-Data Analytics Capstone Project I, HI 673 - Data Analytics Capstone Project II, and HI 675 - Data Analytics Capstone Project III.

Entry into this track requires admission to the MSHI Program and completion of the first year MSHI core curriculum.  Declaration for this track occurs in the summer semester of the student’s first year in the program. 

User Experience Track

Information technology has facilitated many significant improvements to the way we deliver patient care.  But, most IT solutions currently in use by healthcare organizations were not designed to enable new models of healthcare delivery and will require development of more intuitive interfaces that model the behaviors and needs of patients and clinical end users.  New products and software cannot be perceived as too difficult to use, nor can they compromise clinicians’ ability to interact meaningfully with their patients. Graduates of the Healthcare User Experience Track bring an in-depth understanding of human factors engineering to a complex healthcare delivery system, the technologies that are required to support patient care delivery, and the understanding of best practices in designing safe, effective, and user-friendly products and software in a healthcare setting.

Courses in the User Experience Track include HI 599 Professional Development,  HI 656-Human Factors in Healthcare IT Systems, HI 657 Human-centered Research Design, Methods for Healthcare, HI 658-Foundations of Healthcare User-Based Design, HI 659-Qualitative Synthesis for Healthcare Insights, and HI 672- Healthcare User Experience Capstone Project I, HI 674 - Healthcare User Experience Capstone Project II, and HI 676 - Healthcare User Experience Capstone III.

Entry into this track requires admission to the MSHI Program and completion of the first year MSHI Core.  Declaration for this track occurs in the summer semester of the student’s first year in the program. 

Research Track

Health informaticians are being called on to participate in and contribute to scientific studies and translate bioinformatics into practice. Additionally, for those who are post-docs, we offer the Research Track in collaboration with the Informatics Institute in the Heersink School of Medicine.  This track includes two elective courses.

Courses in the Research Track include: HI 599 Professional Development, INFO 696 Biomedical Informatics Methods I, INFO 697, Biomedical Informatics II, 2 Electives, HI 677 Research Capstone Project I,  HI 678 Research Capstone Project II, and HI 679 Research Capstone Project III

Entry into the track requires admission to the MSHI Program and completion of the first year MSHI Core.  Declaration for this track occurs in the summer semester of the student's first year in the program.  Students must discuss electives with the program director prior to course registration. 

Clinical Informatics Graduate Certificate

The Clinical Informatics Graduate Certificate is designed as a high-quality, rigorous educational forum for practicing clinicians interested in advancing their informatics skills.   Students will develop a broad understanding of the strategic application of clinical and administrative information systems, the data contained in these systems, and the people and processes required for effective information systems deployment.  Expanding the number of clinical professionals who can act as health informatics champions in healthcare organizations is needed to enable high quality health care, improved population health, and efficient use of healthcare resources.

The curriculum is delivered completely online and consists of 15 credit hours (4 courses) that may be completed in two academic terms.  Applicants must be admitted to the UAB Graduate School and to the Clinical Informatics Graduate Certificate program. Upon application and admission to the MSHI Program, these 15 credits can be applied toward degree requirements for the MSHI degree.

Additional Information

Requirement Fulfilled By:
Deadline for Entry Term(s): Fall
Deadline for All Application Materials to be in the Graduate School Office: May 31
Length of Study: 15 Credit Hours

Contact Information

For detailed information, contact the Program Manager, Graduate Programs in Health Informatics, UAB School of Health Professions, SHPB 590F. Physical address: 1716 9th Avenue South, Birmingham, AL 35294.  Mailing address: 1720 2nd Avenue South, Birmingham, AL 35294
Telephone 205-996=2215
Fax 205-975-6608
E-mail mshi@uab.edu

Graduate Certificate in Clinical Informatics

RequirementsHours
HI 611Introduction to Health Informatics and Healthcare Delivery4
HI 613Analysis and Design of Health Information Systems4
HI 614Clinical and Administrative Systems3
HI 617Principles in Health Informatics4
Total Hours15

Master of Science in Health Informatics

The MSHI Program follows a Core/Track model which consists of a total of 45 semester hours. 28 semester hours are taken in the core Informatics courses. The remaining 17 semester hours are taken in one of three specialty tracks (Healthcare Data Analytics, Healthcare User Experience, or Research).

The MSHI Program allows students to earn only two grades of "C" during their time in the program. Upon earning a third grade of "C," the student may be dismissed from the program, depending on the final GPA. In all cases, if the program GPA is lower than 3.0, the student is placed on academic probation or dismissed from the program. Any final grade of "F" or below in any course will result in dismissal from the program.

RequirementsHours
HI 599Professional Development0
HI 611Introduction to Health Informatics and Healthcare Delivery4
HI 613Analysis and Design of Health Information Systems4
HI 614Clinical and Administrative Systems3
HI 617Principles in Health Informatics3
HI 618Research Methods in Health Informatics3
HI 619Databases and Data Modeling3
HI 620Security and Privacy in Health Care3
HI 621Strategic Planning Project Management and Contracting3
HI 624Leadership Theory and Development2
Total Hours28

Healthcare Data Analytics Track

RequirementsHours
HI 599Professional Development0
HI 641Healthcare Data Analytics Challenges, Methods, and Tools3
HI 642Advanced Data Management and Analytics for Healthcare3
HI 643Business Intelligence for Healthcare3
HI 646Advanced Quantitative Methods for Health Informatics3
HI 671Data Analytics Capstone Project I1
HI 673Data Analytics Capstone Project II1
HI 675Data Analytics Capstone Project III3
Total Hours17

Healthcare User Experience Track

RequirementsHours
HI 599Professional Development0
HI 656Human Factors in Healthcare IT Systems3
HI 657Human-centered Research Design Methods for Healthcare3
HI 658Development of User Centered Health Information Systems3
HI 659Qualitative Synthesis for Healthcare Insights3
HI 672User Experience Capstone Project I1
HI 674User Experience Capstone Project II1
HI 676User Experience Capstone Project III3
Total Hours17

 Research Track 

RequirementsHours
HI 599Professional Development0
INFO 696Introduction to Biomedical Informatics Research3
INFO 697Biomedical Informatics Methods3
HI 677Research Capstone Project I1
HI 678Research Capstone Project II1
HI 679Research Capstone Project III3
Elective 13
Elective 23
Total Hours17

Courses

HI 598. Professional Activity. 0 Hours.

Professional Development experiences associated with the MSHI degree program.

HI 599. Professional Development. 0 Hours.

Professional development experiences associated with the MSHI degree program.

HI 611. Introduction to Health Informatics and Healthcare Delivery. 3-4 Hours.

Overview of history and current status of health information technology (health IT) and health informatics within the US health care system, including approaches for planning, implementing and evaluating health IT and the legal and ethical issues involved in the use of health IT.

HI 613. Analysis and Design of Health Information Systems. 4 Hours.

Concepts, methods, approaches, standards, and tools in analyzing, modeling, designing, and implementing user centered health information systems.

HI 614. Clinical and Administrative Systems. 3 Hours.

Clinical and administrative systems with an emphasis on clinical decision support methods, tools, and systems. Types of methods, tools, and systems used in inpatient and outpatient settings, information flow across systems within healthcare settings, strategies for user centered design, implementation and evaluation of systems.

HI 617. Principles in Health Informatics. 3-4 Hours.

Underpinnings in Health Informatics policies, practices, and principles; Inter-and intra-organizational application of socio-technical information systems and data to enhance research and practice in healthcare.

HI 618. Research Methods in Health Informatics. 3 Hours.

Fundamental concepts, methods, and approaches of qualitative and quantitative data analysis, including statistical analysis and measurement techniques, for clinical and health informatics.

HI 619. Databases and Data Modeling. 3 Hours.

Concepts of data modeling, database design and administration, data architectures, and data querying for transactional and analytical data systems. Study of various data models with application to health information projects using SQL in current database management systems.

HI 620. Security and Privacy in Health Care. 3 Hours.

Security and privacy issues, legislation, regulations, and accreditation standards unique to the health care domain and relative to various group layers (individual, social, and society). Concepts, theories, methods, models, and tools related to technical security of data across networks, systems, databases and storage, audit mechanisms and controls.

HI 621. Strategic Planning Project Management and Contracting. 3 Hours.

Theory, practice, and processes needed for strategic planning of integrated health information systems. Assessing benefits of enterprise-wide information integration and tactics needed to realize these benefits. Steps needed for developing strategic plans and understanding drivers of information systems - corporate business alignment. Understanding key concepts of project management. Exposure to skills needed to negotiate contracts with vendors.

HI 624. Leadership Theory and Development. 2 Hours.

Exploration of leadership theory and development, and the role of leadership in internal and external advocacy. The emphasis is on the application of leadership theories to individuals and groups in healthcare settings.

HI 641. Healthcare Data Analytics Challenges, Methods, and Tools. 3 Hours.

Current factors, methods, and tools affecting data collection, management, analytics, integration, and reporting in healthcare, including use of various ontologies and standards, and healthcare challenges affecting data analytics.

HI 642. Advanced Data Management and Analytics for Healthcare. 3 Hours.

Automation of database management and basic Extract-Transform-Load (ETL) and data analytics tasks using advanced SQL. Creation and optimization of relational databases. Current data modeling and database architecture approaches and their uses in healthcare. Integration of data mining and analytics into database management platforms.
Prerequisites: HI 619 [Min Grade: C]

HI 643. Business Intelligence for Healthcare. 3 Hours.

Current concepts, methods and tools in Business Intelligence for healthcare. Approaches for data modeling for data warehouses, Extract-Transform-Load (ETL) processes, data marts, data integration, and data visualization.
Prerequisites: HI 619 [Min Grade: C] and HI 642 [Min Grade: C]

HI 646. Advanced Quantitative Methods for Health Informatics. 3 Hours.

Concepts, methods, and tools used in advanced quantitative data analytics to address a range of problems in health informatics, including prediction, classification, and pattern recognition across a variety of levels (individual, social group, and society).
Prerequisites: HI 618 [Min Grade: C]

HI 656. Human Factors in Healthcare IT Systems. 3 Hours.

Overview of the importance of human factors engineering in the function of healthcare IT systems and specialized challenges to user experience (UX) research in the context of the healthcare system. Application of user-centered theory, principles, data, and methods to the design of healthcare IT systems. Implementation of UX research methods to evaluate and understand the interactions between healthcare IT systems and their users.

HI 657. Human-centered Research Design Methods for Healthcare. 3 Hours.

Design Thinking methodology intensive. Discussion of the importance of qualitative user research. Understanding of discovery to enable Identification of proper user research approaches and establishing research goals. Overview tools and processes for deep research discovery. Students will select a healthcare context for the application of research methods.

HI 658. Development of User Centered Health Information Systems. 3 Hours.

Development approaches involving principles of human-centered design, leading to high fidelity health information system prototypes.

HI 659. Qualitative Synthesis for Healthcare Insights. 3 Hours.

Overview and execution of qualitative research methods and data gathering within the healthcare context to enable the delivery of solutions. Focus on the application of research theories, methods, and tools to deliver insights and qualitative and quantitative outputs. Understanding socio-technical factors relative to fundamental interface design elements and interface layouts across modalities. Journey mapping, concepting, user flows, and wireframing will be generated.

HI 660. Healthcare Requirements Analysis. 3 Hours.

Approach to, identification, documentation and presentation of common health informatics problems. A focus on identifying root problems and unambiguous metrics for post-evaluation to ensure final deliverable meets intended need. Exposure to project management methodologies and six sigma processes to facilitate the logic needed for troubleshooting data problems in healthcare.

HI 661. Advanced Database Design and SQL for Healthcare. 3 Hours.

Study of common healthcare data structures and environments. Creation of database components; in-depth SQL coding; data warehouse designs; tools such as TOAD, SQL Explorer, Management Studio.

HI 662. Healthcare Business Intelligence. 3 Hours.

Exposure to typical business intelligence (BI) tool sets and identification of business objects. Building of the metalayer involved in a business intelligence system and exposure to Business Objects, Crystal Reports, SSRS.

HI 664. Data Analytics Capstone Project. 1-5 Hour.

Rigorous project that provides opportunity for focused investigation of healthcare data problems in real-world settings and for application of problem-solving methodologies for development and execution of solutions. Investigation and application of theory through practical implementation project.

HI 671. Data Analytics Capstone Project I. 1 Hour.

Initiation of first steps in identifying and developing the HI Capstone Project; the Capstone project is a focused investigation of a health informatics problem in a real-world setting and application of problem solving methodologies for development and execution of solutions.

HI 672. User Experience Capstone Project I. 1 Hour.

Initiation of first steps in identifying and developing the HI Capstone Project; the Capstone project is a focused investigation of a health informatics problem in a real-world setting and application of problem solving methodologies for development and execution of solutions.

HI 673. Data Analytics Capstone Project II. 1 Hour.

Continuation course of the HI Capstone Project involving project execution, management, and dissemination; the Capstone project is a focused investigation of a health informatics problem in a real-world setting and application of problems solving methodologies for development and execution of solutions.

HI 674. User Experience Capstone Project II. 1 Hour.

Continuation course for the HI Capstone Project involving project proposal development; the Capstone project is a focused investigation of a health informatics problem in a real-world setting and application of problems solving methodologies for development and execution of solutions.

HI 675. Data Analytics Capstone Project III. 3 Hours.

Final course for the HI Capstone Project involving project execution, management, and dissemination; the Capstone project is a focused investigation of a health informatics problem in a real-world setting and application of problems solving methodologies for development and execution of solutions.

HI 676. User Experience Capstone Project III. 3 Hours.

Final course for the HI Capstone Project involving project execution, management, and dissemination; the Capstone project is a focused investigation of a health informatics problem in a real-world setting and application of problems solving methodologies for development and execution of solutions.

HI 677. Research Capstone Project I. 1 Hour.

Initiation of first steps in identifying and developing the HI Capstone Project: the capstone project is a focused investigation of health informatics problem in a real-world setting and application of problem solving methodologies for development and execution of solutions.

HI 678. Research Capstone Project II. 1 Hour.

Continuation course of the HI Capstone Project involving project execution, management, and dissemination; the Capstone project is a focused investigation of a health informatics problem in a real-world setting and application of problems solving methodologies for development and execution of solutions.

HI 679. Research Capstone Project III. 3 Hours.

Final course for the HI Capstone Project involving project execution, management, and dissemination; the Capstone project is a focused investigation of a health informatics problem in a real-world setting and application of problems solving methodologies for development and execution of solutions.

HI 685. Principles in Health Informatics. 3-4 Hours.

Underpinnings in health informatics policies, practices, and principles. Inter-and intra-organizational application of information systems and data to enhance research and practice in healthcare.

HI 690. Administrative Internship. 4-8 Hours.

Structured field experiences in health care or other enterprises associated with health care industry. Includes a mentoring relationship with a preceptor and an opportunity for application of information resource management theory and strategies. Foundation for professional development and assists in refining skills and behaviors necessary for successful practice in a complex professional, social, political, and technological environment.

HI 694. Special Topics in Health Informatics. 1-4 Hour.

Study of selected topics in health informatics. May be repeated for credit.

HI 698. Simulation Capstone/Non-thesis Research. 1-8 Hour.

Rigorous culminating project that provides the opportunity for focused investigation of simulation applications in a real-world setting. Investigation and application of theory through a practical project.

HI 699. Master's Level Thesis Research. 4-8 Hours.

Original research in health informatics and interpretation of results. Demonstrates student's acquaintance with literature of field and competency in proper selection and execution of research methodology. Recommended for students planning to pursue a doctoral degree. May be repeated for credit (8 hours maximum credit allowed).
Prerequisites: GAC M

HI 725. Information Systems Theory and Practice. 3 Hours.

Investigation of appropriate research methods to assess theoretical models involving interdependencies and relationships between Information technology, human behavior, and organizational and socio-technical contexts; review of qualitative and quantitative research methods using IS journal article exemplars.

HI 777. Mixed Methods Research I. 3 Hours.

Provide introduction to the field of mixed methods research: essence of mixed methods research, rationale for using it, its fundamental principles and key characteristics, major design applications, and means of assessing the quality of mixed methods inferences. Learn how the mixed methods research process is shaped by personal, interpersonal, and social contexts and how mixed methods intersects with other quantitative and qualitative research approaches and designs.

Faculty

Ahmed, Abdulaziz, Assistant Professor, 2021, Ph.D. (Binghamton University)
Berner, Eta, Professor, 1996, EdD (Harvard)
Dorsey, Amanda D., Assistant Professor, 2014, MSHI (UAB)
Feldman, Sue, Professor and Director, Graduate Programs in Health Informatics Program, 2016, PhD (Claremont Graduate University)
Houser, Shannon, Professor, 2004, Ph.D. (UAB)
Meese, Katherine A., Assistant Professor, 2020, PhD (UAB)
Ozaydin, Bunyamin, Assistant Professor, 2015, PhD (UAB)
Pierce, Larissa, Clinical Assistant Professor, 2022, MD (American University of the Caribbean)