Health Informatics is a developing specialization that combines information technology, communications and healthcare with a goal to improve the quality and safety of patient care. Health informatics involves use of electronic health records (EHR), health information exchange standards (HIE) and portable medical data collection devices. Healthcare informatics specialists combine skills in healthcare, business intelligence (BI), information technology (IT)/ information systems (IS), and data analytics.
What Kind of Demand is There for Master’s Level Healthcare Informatics Graduates?
Demand for Health Informatics (HI) Professionals is very high. We are living in an information age and doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals will increase dependency on those trained in healthcare informatics to store, retrieve, and process medical data. With a mandate by the US government effective in 2015 to convert all Healthcare Facilities to be paperless, Healthcare Informatics professionals will handle all medical data. Because of this mandate, the Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates jobs in healthcare informatics will increase by more than 20 percent from 2013 to 2020.
Will a Masters in Healthcare Informatics help me to earn a higher Salary?
A 2012 study by the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) found that those with a Master’s Degree in Healthcare Informatics make, on average, $20,000 a year more than those with only a Bachelor’s Degree. Healthcare Informatics Professionals have the ability to make relatively high salaries with the median salary range from $64,000 for clinical analysts to about $91,000 for clinical informatics managers. Professionals who reach executive positions can make more than $100,000 yearly, according to PayScale, an online salary database.
What Skills Will I Gain From a Master’s Degree in Healthcare Informatics Program?
A Master’s Degree in Healthcare Informatics program helps to prepare graduates for careers in health and medical informatics in academic, healthcare or industrial settings. Students in MHI Master’s Degree Programs often take core classes with a focus on technical, business and health care topics, such as database modeling and design, project management and the U.S. health care system. Generally, curriculum for the MHI program will allow students the skills and knowledge to use information technology for efficient, accurate healthcare delivery and management. Most programs have coursework in the following areas of study:
- American health care systems
- Management theory
- Organizational behavior
- Information systems
- Databases
- System security
- Data analysis
- Clinical decision support
What Careers Will I be Prepared to Enter with a Master of Healthcare Informatics?
Health Informatics includes use of computers for managing and maintaining of various electronic devices and procedures to acquire, store, retrieve and process information in the healthcare field. In the past Healthcare Informatics has been limited to major hospitals but has now become an essential part of Nursing, the Pharmaceutical Industry, Dentistry, Clinical medicine, Laboratories, Healthcare Administration, Areas in Medical & biological research, Psychology and Public health. Doctors and medical professionals can pull up any patient’s medical history and other important information and immediately initiate the most effective treatment. Computer technology contributed greatly to the improvement of patient monitoring and how information about a patient’s healthcare can instantly be shared. Doctors can use health informatics and biomedical engineering to conduct surgery and providing medical care to patients any where around the world. There’s never been a better time to develop skills that can fuel years of career growth.