Master of Science Health Informatics
The master's in Health Informatics provides students with the skills and knowledge needed to implement and support information technology solutions for health sector organizations. Graduates will obtain technical knowledge and management skills for the design and support of IT systems and will develop a deep understanding of health IT processes to support health care delivery and management. Graduates will also gain knowledge in the areas of health information management including health information processing and exchange, health care analytics, enterprise management and information storage and security management.
Learning Outcomes
Students will be able to:
- Identify and analyze elements of a sociotechnical health system.
- Define and evaluate the quality and effectiveness of a health informatics technology.
- Accurately identify and analyze elements of the U.S. health care financial system.
- Conduct a systems analysis for a healthcare problem.
- Identify errors that affect patient safety and develop solutions to promote safer systems.
- Identify features of a functioning health information exchange.
Career Outcomes
93%of reporting graduates were employed, continuing education, or not seeking employment within six months of graduation
Common positions for Health Informatics graduates include:
- Applications Analyst
- Auditor
- Client Analytic Services Analyst
- Client Success Manager
- Clinical Data Abstractor
- Clinical Project Coordinator
- Data Analyst
- Eligibility Consultant
- IT Analyst
- Intake Coordinator
- Medical Billing Specialist
- Quality Management Specialist
Curriculum Requirements
Introductory Courses
No Introductory Course may be substituted for any other course at any level.
Introductory courses may be waived for any of the following conditions based on faculty review:
- The student has the appropriate course work to satisfy an Introductory Course based on an official transcript review by faculty and successful grades, typically B or better.
- The student has appropriate and verified professional experience to satisfy an Introductory Course which is demonstrated through successful completion of a GAE exam.
- If a Graduate Assessment Examination (GAE) is available for the Introductory Courses, upon successfully completion of a GAE, a waiver will be issued.
- IT 403 Statistics and Data Analysis
Foundation Courses
- HIT 421 Health Informatics
- MGT 559 Health Sector Management
- HIT 451 Accounting and Financial Management in Healthcare
- IS 421 Systems Analysis and Design
- IS 451 Database Design for Information Systems (Formerly CSC 451)
- HIT 422 System Design for Health Care
- HIT 440 Health Information Exchange and Networking
Major Elective Courses
Students must take 24 credit hours from courses selected among a list of selected graduate area elective lists that is included below. There is no restriction on the number of areas from which electives may be selected. Students may choose to take advanced elective courses from a single area or from multiple areas, depending on their career interests.
Database Processing
- CSC 452 Database Programming*
- DSC 450 Database Processing for Large-Scale Analytics*
- IPD 451 Big Data and NoSQL Program
- IS 549 Data Warehousing
*Note: Courses require programming experience in Python.
Analytics
- DSC 423 Data Analysis and Regression
- DSC 424 Advanced Data Analysis
- DSC 465 Data Visualization
- CSC 575 Intelligent Information Retrieval
- DSC 480 Social Network Analysis
- MKT 798 Topic: Health Care Data Analysis**
- MKT 798 Topic: Service Design & Patient Experience**
- DSC 441 Fundamentals of Data Science
** Student must take only sections of MKT 798 with the topics specified above.
Enterprise Management
- ECT 424 Enterprise Infrastructure
- HIT 511 Healthcare Management in Non-Hospital Settings
- HTHC 515 Intro to Health Communication
- IS 430 Fundamentals of IT Project Management
- IS 505 Business Continuity/Disaster Recovery Theories and Strategies
- IS 560 Enterprise Systems
- MGT 798 Topic: Managerial & Marketing Epidemiology**
- NET 478 Information Storage and Management (Formerly TDC 478)
** Student must take only sections of MGT 798 with the topic specified above.
Innovations in Health Care
- HIT 430 Electronic Health Records
- HCI 440 Introduction to User-Centered Design
- HCI 512 Information Visualization and Infographics
- HIT 590 Topics in Health Informatics
- MGT 590 Management of Innovation and Technological Change
Practicum Courses
*Note: CSC 599 should be taken in two consecutive quarters, 2 credit hours each quarter.
Security Management
Degree Requirements
Students in this degree program must meet the following requirements:
- Complete a minimum of 52 graduate credit hours in addition to any required introductory courses of the designated degree program.
- Complete all graduate courses and requirements listed in the designated degree program.
- Earn a grade of C- or better in all courses of the designated degree program.
- Maintain a cumulative GPA of 2.5 or higher.
- Students pursuing a second (or more) graduate degree may not double count or retake any course that applied toward the completion of a prior graduate degree. If a required course in the second degree was already completed and applied toward a previous degree, the student must meet with a faculty advisor to discuss a new course to be completed and substituted in the new degree. This rule also applies to cross-listed courses, which are considered to be the same course but offered under different subjects.
- Students pursuing a second master's degree must complete a minimum of 52 graduate credit hours beyond their first designated degree program in addition to any required introductory courses in their second designated degree program.
Students with a GPA of 3.9 or higher will graduate with distinction.
For DePaul's policy on repeat graduate courses and a complete list of academic policies see the DePaul Graduate Handbook in the Course Catalog.
