Master’s in Health Informatics Degree

Master of Science in Health Informatics

Offered By: College of Nursing and Health Care Professions

About the Master of Science (MS) in Health Informatics Degree

Health informatics is a rapidly emerging discipline that offers new frontiers requiring innovative leadership. Emerging technology provides an understanding of the value of health informatics and how it can reduce healthcare costs, increase access and patient safety, and improve the quality of healthcare services.

The master’s in health informatics degree from the College of Nursing and Health Care Professions at Grand Canyon University can help you use information technology, both hardware and software, for better decision making and better patient outcomes.

In the master’s in health informatics program, course study includes:

  • Healthcare research analysis
  • Ethics, policy and finance
  • Healthcare information systems
  • Project evaluation and development
  • Healthcare innovation
  • Healthcare data management
  • Electronic health records
  • Research and population health management
  • Leadership and informatics

Note: The final 16 weeks of this health informatics MS program include a practicum that incorporates a project plan related to a major area of health informatics such as health information management or information systems. The project is grounded in current informatics research and methods.

Earn Your Health Informatics MS Degree at GCU

The master’s in healthcare informatics degree program at GCU integrates faith, work and learning. The curriculum, taught by specialized full-time faculty, introduces GCU’s Christian worldview. It teaches students the moral and ethical obligation of Christian health informatics professionals to respect, and encourage others to respect, the sensitive nature of patient information and their obligation to comply with all regulations, laws and ethical standards for working with health information.

The Master of Science in Health Informatics program is in candidacy status, pending accreditation review by the Commission on Accreditation for Health Informatics and Information Management Education (CAHIIM). To learn more about CAHIIM, please visit our accreditation page.

Students pursuing a master’s in healthcare informatics are not required to have a specific undergraduate degree. Any bachelor’s degree is acceptable for this program. For questions about standard admissions requirements into GCU graduate programs, visit the graduate admission page.

 

Get More Information!

Loading Form

 

Masters (MS) in Healthcare Informatics Career Pathways

Graduates of the healthcare informatics program can seek out a variety of career opportunities such as automating clinical care, building new operational data systems, training healthcare workers in the use of computer systems as well as collecting and analyzing data to improve patient care.

Health informatics MS degree can lead to careers like these:

  • Computer and information systems manager
  • Information system analyst
  • Database architect
  • Data scientist
  • Computer network architect
  • Software developer
  • Information security analyst

Healthcare informatics career settings include:

  • Hospitals
  • Primary care facilities
  • Doctors’ offices
  • Insurance companies
  • Pharmacies
  • Technology suppliers
  • Consulting firms
  • Government agencies

Master’s in Health Informatics FAQs

A health informatics MS can be a valuable addition to your resume when seeking health informatics positions. With a master’s in health informatics, you can potentially position yourself for more opportunities in the field. You also have the opportunity to qualify for specified positions within different health informatics subfields, as opposed to the more common health informatics jobs open to undergraduate degree holders.

Different subfields within the health informatics field include the following:

  • Biomedical informatics
  • Clinical informatics
  • Consumer health informatics
  • Public health informatics
  • Research informatics

These different specialties focus on specific components of the healthcare informatics field, providing additional areas of interest for you to explore.

Healthcare informatics can be a rewarding career for those looking to get involved in developing and advancing healthcare information systems, improving IT security measures or managing healthcare databases. Because of the dependency of the healthcare industry on technology, this career area is important in helping to use technological advances to improve patient care.1 With this comes the importance of well-trained, educated healthcare informatics professionals.

1 Snyder, C. F., Wu, A. W., Miller, R. S., Jensen, R. E., Bantug, E. T., & Wolff, A. C. (2011). The role of informatics in promoting patient-centered care. National Library of Medicine. Retrieved October 16, 2023.

 

TOTAL CREDITS & COURSE LENGTH:
Total Credits: 42
Online: 8 weeks
[More Info]
TRANSFER CREDITS:
Up to 12 credits or 1/3 of the total program requirements in transfer (whichever is less)
TUITION RATE:
Online: $575 per credit [More Info]

Course List

Major:
42 credits
Degree Requirements:
42 credits

Core Courses

Course Description

This course is designed to prepare students for the graduate learning experience at Grand Canyon University. Students have opportunities to develop and strengthen the skills necessary to succeed as graduate students in the health care professions. Emphasis is placed on utilizing the tools for graduate success.

Course Description

The purpose of this course is to prepare students in mathematical, probability, and statistical concepts for their upcoming studies in quantitative methods. The course is intended for those students who have not had any prior statistical education, although students who have had statistics should also consider taking the course as a refresher.

Course Description

This course introduces fundamentals of the U.S. health care system and the role and value of informatics in the practice of evidence-based research and medicine. Students learn key concepts of health care information infrastructure, systems, technologies, applications, and data standards that are critical for optimizing patient care. Students also examine how health care providers and caregivers use technology, information, and knowledge to improve patient care, administration, research, and education across the rapidly evolving health care system.

Course Description

This course examines the application of information systems in health care settings, beginning with an analysis of the broad meaning and nature of information and systems. The focus narrows to utilization of computer technologies, configurations, and applications as tools to benefit health care environments. Emphasis is placed on the challenges related to the development and implementation of effective information systems in light of a rapidly and continuously changing health care model, evolution of technology team member roles and responsibilities, and advancement of technological requirements within the health care system.

Course Description

This course examines health care information resources and their impact on administrative functions, interfaces, data security and integrity, and business processes. Topics include use of relational database management software to construct tables, develop forms, create and execute queries, design and deploy reports, and advance database concepts to automate contemporary business processes. Learners are able to distinguish between various network hardware technologies and associated data communications protocols in order to direct how organizations design and implement data networks. Prerequisites: HIM-515, HCI-600, or NUR-514; and HIM-615.

Course Description

This course prepares learners to evaluate, implement, and optimize electronic health record (EHR) technology to support the management and use of clinical data. Learners examine the architecture of EHRs and analyze the challenges of their design and use, including system integration requirements, distributed user bases, storage of complex data, high security requirements, and the diverse information needs of various end users. Learners also apply project management techniques to the planning and implementation of EHRs. Prerequisite: HIM-650.

Course Description

This course introduces techniques for extracting data and creating knowledge from health care data sets. Learners examine methods for describing, summarizing, and presenting data. There is specific focus on understanding the needs of information users, identifying organizational objectives, and ensuring that the analytical methodology chosen meets those needs. Prerequisite: HIM-650.

Course Description

This course examines the security, privacy, and compliance issues that guide the design and use of health information systems and health care data. Learners analyze the regulatory environment and differentiate the regulations, laws, and ethical practices that guide information governance and the uses of data with particular emphasis on patient confidentiality and privacy. Information security tools and strategies for risk assessment, third-party risk management, and audits are also examined. Prerequisite: HIM-615.

Course Description

In this course, learners apply principles of human factors engineering to the design of optimal user interfaces that improve clinical processes. Learners examine clinical decision support and clinical workflow analysis, modeling, reducing data entry errors, and usability testing in efforts to improve the experience of end users while prioritizing patient safety and the delivery of quality health care.

Course Description

In this course, students learn key leadership principles and skills critical to their development as health care professionals capable of leading change initiatives that align with the strategic vision of health care organizations and the evolving landscape of health care. Students assess their own leadership qualities, an organization's readiness for change, and barriers that may affect the adoption of innovations and quality improvement processes. The course emphasizes systems thinking while students work toward honing problem-solving, teamwork, and communication skills necessary for leading initiatives within health care organizations.

Course Description

This course provides learners the opportunity to integrate what they have learned in the program in an applied project related to a major area of health informatics, such as health information management, information systems, or health informatics. Learners are expected to demonstrate leadership and advanced critical-thinking and problem-solving skills in the development of a comprehensive and professional project plan and solution that is grounded in current informatics research and methods. Practicum/field experience hours: 150. Prerequisite: Successful completion of all previous coursework in the program.

Locations

GCU Online Student


Pursue a next-generation education with an online degree from Grand Canyon University. Earn your degree with convenience and flexibility with online courses that let you study anytime, anywhere.

GCU Evening Student


Grand Canyon University’s evening programs cater to the demands of working professionals who prefer an in-person learning environment. Our night classes meet just once per week and offer the interaction and discussion of a typical college classroom.

* Please note that this list may contain programs and courses not presently offered, as availability may vary depending on class size, enrollment and other contributing factors. If you are interested in a program or course listed herein please first contact your University Counselor for the most current information regarding availability.

* Please refer to the Academic Catalog for more information. Programs or courses subject to change.

Scroll back to top