THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA
APPENDIX A: NOTIFICATION OF INTENT TO PLAN A NEW
BACCALAUREATE OR MASTER’S PROGRAM
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Date: |
March
19, 2010 |
Constituent Institution: |
East
Carolina University |
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School/College: |
College
of Allied Health Sciences |
Department: |
Health
Services and Information Management |
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Program Identification: |
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CIP
Discipline Specialty Title: |
Medical
Informatics |
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CIP
Discipline Specialty Code: |
51.2706.123.000 |
Level: B |
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M |
X |
I |
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Exact
Title of the Proposed Degree: |
Master
of Science in Health Informatics and Information Management |
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Exact
Degree Abbreviation (e.g., BS, BA, MA, MS, CAS) |
MS |
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Does
the proposed program constitute a substantive change as defined by SACS? |
Yes |
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No |
X |
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a) Is it at a more advanced level
than those previously authorized? |
Yes |
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No |
X |
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b) Is the proposed program in a
new discipline division? |
Yes |
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No |
X |
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Approximate
date for submitting the request to establish proposal (must be within one
year of date of submission of notification of intent to plan): |
January,
2011 |
Proposed date to establish degree
(month and year): (Date can be no
sooner than six months after the date of notification of intent to plan and
must allow at least three months for review of the request to establish, once
submitted). |
June,
2011 |
1. Describe the proposed new degree program. The description should include
a) a brief description of the program and a statement of educational objectives
Health informatics and information management (HIIM)
is at the intersection of information science, computer
science, and health
care. It is the formal study of using information
technology to collect, store, manage, exchange, analyze, and use clinical and
administrative data and information in a health care setting. A clear strategy
of health informatics and information management helps health care
organizations ensure secure access to information, and enhance decision making and
improve the quality of patient care and patient outcomes.
Specialists in health informatics and information
management are skilled in collecting, managing, interpreting and analyzing patient
data. Additionally, they receive the training necessary to assume managerial
positions related to these functions. They support and interact with all levels
of an organization—clinical, financial, and administrative—that employ patient
data in decision making and every day operations. Health information managers
have traditionally worked with paper-based data systems. Moreover, they
typically worked in record systems contained within a single organization. However,
the health care environment is rapidly adopting information technology to manage
health care data across entire regions with dozens of health care
organizations. Therefore, these health information managers must advance their
training to understand and apply principles of health informatics in order to
be effective health care data/information managers.
The proposed MS in Health Informatics and Information Management (HIIM) aims to fills this need of advanced
training. It is designed to prepare individuals to be informatics and information
management specialists who can work with clinicians and administrators to
develop clear and effective health information strategies for their health care
institutions. In addition to learning
the technical aspects of health care data management, students will learn how
to develop strong management skills crucial for planning, designing, implementing
and evaluating electronic health information systems. The proposed MS in HIIM prepares individuals for leadership positions in
health information systems.
Comparable MS in HIIM programs, such as the
University of Pittsburgh and the University of Tennesee at Memphis, range
between 39-45 hours. We believe that requiring more than 45 hours will drive
away potential students. The goal of the proposed master’s in health
informatics is not to train students as computer technicians or
programmers, but, rather, to educate and train them to understand the strengths
and weaknesses of computer technology and information systems. Furthermore, students will learn how to
implement and manage information systems in a dynamic and idiosyncratic health
care environment.
The degree will be delivered in two modes: (a) face-to-face and (b) Internet. Delivery in both modes meets the needs of
different learning styles and life situations.
The Department is well prepared to provide educational opportunities in
both modes having graduated students since 1968 and having successfully
delivered courses via the Internet since 2000 for the health information
management (HIM) undergraduate program and since 2003 for the health services
management (HSM) program.
The
educational objectives are as follows: Graduates of the program will be able
to:
1)
understand and apply
principles of management and business functions to a variety of health care
settings including private and institutional practice.
2)
plan, develop, and
manage health information systems consistent with the clinical, fiscal,
administrative, ethical, and legal requirements of health care institutions.
3)
analyze, design,
implement, and evaluate health information systems.
4)
interact and
communicate with other health care professionals, administrators, and staff to provide
health care data for patient care, research, quality improvement, strategic
planning, reimbursement, and related managerial functions.
5) evaluate the strategic and
operational relevance and robustness of clinical information resources of the
health care industry and of the public health sector.
6) support research that advances
the body of knowledge and standards associated with the management of health
information and information systems in the electronic health environment.
7) successfully complete the registration examination in
order to become credentialed as a registered health information administrator (RHIA)
by the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA).
We
recognize that students who elect to pursue a MS in HIIM will have different
needs and interests. Comparable master’s programs, such as at the University of
Tennesse at Memphis, the University of Pittsburgh, and the University of
Alabama Birmingham include both thesis and non-thesis tracks.The non-thesis
track requires that a student take one 3-hour research-based course. Similarly,
the MS in rehabilitation studies program in the College of Allied Health
Sciences (CAHS) at ECU requires a 3 sh research course. It should be noted that
the current BS in HIM includes prerequisites of 3 sh in research design and 3
sh in statistics.
Evaluation
of health information systems lies at the heart of health informatics research.
The core curriculum for the proposed MS in HIIM will include “Evaluation
Methods in Health Informatics”. The intent of this course is to have students
focus on the discipline’s body of “evaluation research.” Students will be required to describe,
analyze, and evaluate different HIIM systems. We believe that the inclusion of a
course that explores evaluation methods in HIIM as well as a biostatistics
course, should meet the fundamental need to understand research and evaluation
in the field. Although,
our degree program will be more applied than theoretical in its focus, we
recognize that the addition of a thesis track can appeal to those students who
want to work with faculty members and explore in depth certain topics within
the discipline.
The program
will:
1) produce more HIIM professionals to meet the expanding needs of North Carolina.
2) train HIIM professionals able to compete in the knowledge-based economy.
3) develop innovative HIIM leaders
capable of using information technology to improve health care.
4) provide continuing education
opportunities for practicing health information professionals.
b) the relationship of the proposed new program to the institutional mission and how the program fits into the institution’s strategic plan and its response to UNC Tomorrow
This proposed degree program will meet the
following UNC Tomorrow commission’s initiatives:
1)
The
university will offer undergraduate and graduate programs that provide the
skills and competencies necessary for the twenty-first century, with strong
foundations in arts and sciences, critical thinking, communication, and
professional preparation and will
lead regional development of innovation in health sciences, information
technology, and consumer products that will be able to compete in the knowledge
based economy.
This new degree will provide
trans-disciplinary training in health care, information technologies, and
managerial sciences to prepare individuals, who are capable of collaborating
with both health care and information technology professionals in order to
plan, design, implement, and evaluate electronic health information systems for
the twenty-first century.
2)
The “UNC
Tomorrow” Commission report 4.5.3
recommends that UNC take the lead in utilizing health information in order to
improve health and wellness in
The proposed master’s degree program in HIIM
will provide education and training in the tools and principles
necessary for sharing data and information among the fields of
biotechnology,medicine, and health care. For example, this includes the
development and use of decision support tools for improving decision making in health
care delivery. Graduates will help design health information systems that make
health data/information available to appropriate users while also ensuring its
privacy and confidentiality. They will be advocates for high quality health
information as the cornerstone for improvements in health care delivery. In addition, the program will meet the RHIA
certification requirements as set forth by the Commission on Accreditation for Health
Informatics and Information Management Education (CAHIIM)of the American Health Information Management Association
(AHIMA).
3)
Sections (4.1, 4.4,
4.5, 5.7) of the UNC Tomorrow Commission report address graduate education,
leadership and the workforce for a new economy. ECU recognizes the strong link between graduate education, the
production of knowledge, and economic and social prosperity. The University is
committed to producing highly skilled leaders in a variety of fields to address
the needs and challenges of the region. ECU is committed to producing
professionals in the fields of education and health care and to developing leaders for the business,
nonprofit, and government sectors. Additionally, ECU will produce more
graduates in the science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields to
provide the workforce for a new regional economy based on industry/university/government
clusters, for example in bioscience, biotechnology, and advanced
manufacturing.
The proposed master’s
degree in HIIM offered by HSIM will target the individual who is looking for
formal training in health informatics and information management (this can
include practicing professionals from the fields of health care, information
technology, and individuals who come from other disciplines and possess a
variety of educational backgrounds). The
proposed MS in HIIM corresponds to the technology component of STEM fields.
Graduates of this program will be information specialists fluent in the
application of health informatics and information management principles towards
the improvement of health and wellness
in North Carolina. As a result of the trans-disciplinary training they
will receive, it is expected that they will join the workforce and that some will
go on to assume leadership roles in industry, academia, and government.
4)
The
report also makes the following recommendation in 4.2.1: UNC should increase
access to its educational programs including academic courses, degree programs,
and certificate programs, for traditional students, non-traditional students
and lifelong learners.
The proposed MS in HIIM
will offer two different tracks of study: an RHIA track for individuals who are
interested in fulfilling the curricular requirements of earning the RHIA
credential and a non-RHIA track for others who do not seek the RHIA credential. Both tracks should appeal to traditional as
well as non-traditional learners, including career changers. For example, the
MS in HIIM should attract practicing health care and IT professionals who want to
acquire skills in health informatics and information management. Furthermore, the proposed MS in HIIM will be
offered both face to face and online. There will be built-in online components
that allow the current workforce to upgrade their knowledge without having to
curtail their employment.
c) the relationship of the proposed new program to other existing programs at the institution
The Department of
Health Services and Information Management (HSIM) offers the BS in health
information management because it meets the current pre-requisite degree
requirement to sit for the registration examination for the credential, Registered
Health Information Administrator (RHIA). Internally, within the discipline at the national level, there is a
progression to graduate education for certification (Rollins, 2008). The HIIM profession recognizes that the drive
to adopt EHR systems requires HIIM professionals who can plan, design, and
analyze EHR systems across interlocking and partnering national health care
enterprises, state agencies, regional health information exchanges, and federal
agencies. Thus, the accrediting
organization for degree-granting programs in the discipline, the Commission on
Accreditation for Health Informatics and Information Management Education (CAHIIM),
is in the process of adopting accreditation standards for graduate health
informatics programs http://cahiim.org/initiatives.html and has adopted
competencies and standards graduate health information management programs http://cahiim.org/applyaccredgrad.html . Eligibility to sit for the national registration examination is
dependent upon being a graduate of an accredited program.
The HSIM faculty
members strongly believe that it is important for us to be proactive leaders in
our profession and to plan a graduate level degree program. As more health
information management professionals are called on to help design and implement
health care information systems, they will need training in health informatics
and computerized or electronic health information systems. There is no
existing program at ECU that offers trans-disciplinary training as the one we
are proposing. ECU can be on the cutting edge
of health informatics and information management education by offering a MS
degree in HIIM.
We believe that
we need to move forward now because three neighboring states, Tennessee, Georgia,
and Alabama already have master’s programs. (Georgia’s is a post-baccalaureate certificate
“add-on” to its master’s in public health). While these peer institutions
have maintained their baccalaureate programs, they lack the in-house feeder
that ECU’s department has – the health services management baccalaureate
degree. The HSM degree gives ECU’s
program the advantage of an internal feeder.
Thus, to maintain its reputation as a leader in the discipline, it is
important that ECU establish a graduate program. The (HSIM) department, therefore, proposes a
master’s degree program in health informatics and information management that
will replace its current BS degree program in Health Information Management.
The proposed program will take advantage of existing strengths in the HSIM department. The department offers two graduate certificate programs (health care administration and health informatics). Therefore, the majority of the cognate courses for the master’s degree in health informatics and information management (HIIM) curriculum will be modeled on courses offered by the two existing graduate certificate programs.
Because HSIM departmental faculty already have experience offering coursework that meets our professional accrediting body’s requirements for the RHIA certification exam, they will be able to design graduate level courses that continue to meet these standards.
It should be noted that academic year 2007-2008 was the first time in seven years that the department’s full-time faculty complement was complete. Since academic year 2001-2002, the department has been in a “building mode” preparing for the delivery of its baccalaureate degree in health services management, of its post-baccalaureate certificates in health care administration and health informatics, and of its proposed MS in HIIM.
Finally, it is important to note that HSIM is actively collaborating with different departments across the ECU campus on a variety of undergraduate and graduate program initiatives. They include, Industrial Technology in order to offer a health information technology option in the BS in Industrial technology, with the College of Nursing to develop a MSN in Nursing Leadership with a focus in HIT, and with the Department of Public Health in BSOM to add a Health Informatics certificate option to their MPH program. These collaborative efforts will serve as a model for the creation of a collaborative MS in HIIM that includes courses from other academic units here at ECU and educate students in multiple disciplines.
d) special features or conditions that make the institution a desirable, unique, or appropriate place to initiate such a degree program.
ECU is a leader in health care
and allied health sciences in NC. Its heath information management (HIM)
program was established in 1968 and has been accredited by CAHIIM (formerly
AHIMA and CAAHEP) since that time. The HIM program draws students from eastern
NC, VA, and other areas in the southeast and mid-Atlantic regions. The College
of Allied Health Sciences (CAHS) already offers a BS in health services management
(HSM) and it is expected that this program can serve as a stepping stone for
those of its graduates who choose to pursue a master’s in HIIM. Furthermore,
ECU also produces many information science and computer science graduates. Undergraduate ITCS students can currently
pursue a minor in health informatics. Moreover, baccalaureate ITCS graduates
are also potential customers for a master’s level program in HIIM. Finally, in
addition to PCMH, BSOM, and the College of Nursing (CON),
2. List all other public and private
institutions of higher education in North Carolina currently operating programs
similar to the proposed new degree program.
University |
Department |
Degrees |
Comments |
Proposed Program: East Carolina University |
HSIM |
MS in HIIM |
·
Offering
RHIA & non-RHIA track ·
Applied
and research informatics and information management in health care settings ·
Targets
a broad population ·
Offering
thesis & non thesis options |
Duke University |
Center for Health Informatics &
Fuqua School of Business |
Master of Management in Clinical
Informatics |
Prepares MDs, nurses & HC
administrators. Concentrate on the business aspect of health care. |
Division of Clinical Informatics in
the Department of Family Medicine |
Fellow ship training |
Non-degree training program. |
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Nursing |
Nursing Informatics |
Limited to BSN students |
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UNC –CH |
School of Nursing |
MS in Health Care Systems |
Informatics track; Limited to BSN
students |
UNC-Charlotte |
College of Computing and Informatics |
Professional Science Master’s in bio-informatics
and computational biology |
Targets graduates of life science
disciplines |
Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business in partnership with the Duke Center for Health Informatics will begin offering an interdisciplinary Master of Management in Clinical Informatics degree in August 2010. It is a one year program designed to prepare physicians, nurses and health care administrators for IT management careers in health care, medical research, government and consulting. The proposed degree program will also target students from a variety of backgrounds such as IT and health care. However, unlike Duke’s program our proposed degree program will also offer an RHIA certification track.
Duke University has a Division of Clinical Informatics program within
its Family Medicine Department. The Division is research oriented with
post-graduate training of medical residents and fellowship in medical
informatics. It does not provide a comprehensive curriculum at the master’s
level.
The
The
University of North Carolina at Charlotte has a Bioinformatics and Genomics department
within its College of Computing and Informatics. The department offers a Professional
Science master’s in Bioinformatics and PhD in Computing and Informatics
(Bioinformatics track). The Professional Science master’s degree (PSM) is an
interdisciplinary program at the intersection of the disciplines of Biology,
Chemistry, Mathematics and Statistics, Computing and Informatics, and
Engineering. It is expected that students entering the program will have
completed an undergraduate major in either a life science or a quantitative
discipline. The degree includes additional training and demonstrated competence
in both life sciences and scientific programming. The program is structured to
provide students with the skills and knowledge to develop, evaluate, and deploy
bioinformatics and computational biology applications. The program is designed
to prepare students for employment in the biotechnology sector, where the need
for knowledgeable life scientists with quantitative and computational skills
has exploded in the past decade. The focus of the program is to train students
in the field of bioinformatics that concentrate on the information needs and
processing at the molecular level. Although bioinformatics is an important
topic in health informatics, our proposed program will focus on the clinical
and translational informatics that will equip students with the informatics
skills needed in health care settings.
In
summary, the uniqueness of our program compared to other institutions at North
Carolina is three fold:
1.
We will
have a comprehensive master curriculum.
2.
We will
appeal to a broader target population.
3.
We will
concentrate on applied informatics and information management in health care
settings.
3. Estimate the number of students that would be enrolled in the program during the first year of operation.
Full-time |
10 |
Part-time |
5 (assume half
time…equivalent to 2.5 FT students) |
The HIM program has been an undergraduate
level program since 1968. Since that time, there has been consistent student
interest in the health information management major such that the entering
class each year has averaged about 15-20 students. Since the initiation of the
on-line baccalaureate HIM degree in 2005, entering class sizes have averaged 25
students. We expect to maintain this
enrollment pattern for the first five years after the baccalaureate program in
health information management is replaced by the MS in HIIM. There will be five
potential enrollment streams for the proposed master’s degree program: individuals
desiring entry-level positions in health information administration (former BS students),
individuals in post-baccalaureate certificate in health informatics who now
want a graduate degree, baccalaureate graduates in health services management,
baccalaureate graduates in information technology, and career changers with
baccalaureate degrees..
For example, sixty-eight percent of respondents to an e-mail survey sent
out in October 2008 to the membership of
NCHIMA (state asociation of health information management professionals)
expressed an interest in pursuing a master’s degree program if it were
available at ECU. Twenty-five percent of this group conditioned their interest
in the program on being able to take courses online. Moreover, 3/10 (30 percent)
of respondents to the survey of recent HSM graduates indicated that they were
strongly interested in earning a master’s degree in health Informatics and
information management from ECU, and stipulated that they required an online
option. Since fall 2008, the HSIM department has offered a graduate certificate
in health informatics and since then has received 61 inquiries from prospective
students interested in pursuing this option for graduate study. A master’s
degree program in HIIM would be a natural progression for the certificate
graduates.Therefore, we believe that there will be no difficulty in attracting
quality students. We expect that these 5 potential enrollment streams can
support an increase of 3 full time and 1 part time student (3.5 students) per
year until we reach a maximum enrollment of 26.5 students in the fifth year.
Year |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
Incoming Class |
12.5 |
16 |
19.5 |
23 |
26.5 |
4. If there are plans to offer the program away from campus during the first year of operation:
a) briefly describe these plans, including potential sites and possible method(s) of delivering instruction.
The degree will be delivered in two modes: (a) face-to-face and (b) Internet. Delivery in both modes meets the needs of
different learning styles and life situations.
The Department is well prepared to provide educational opportunities in
both modes having graduated students since 1968 and having successfully
delivered courses via the Internet since 2000 for the HIM program and since 2003
for the HSM program.
b) indicate any similar programs being offered off-campus in North Carolina by other institutions (public or private).
N/A
c) estimate the number of students that would be enrolled in the program during the first year of operation:
Full-time |
10 |
Part-time |
5 |
5. List
the names, titles, e-mail addresses, and telephone numbers
of the person(s) responsible for planning the proposed program.
Elizabeth
J. Layman, PhD, FAHIMA, RHIA, CCS Professor and Chairperson laymane@ecu.edu 252-744-6177
Paul
D. Bell, PhD, RHIA, CTR Professor bellp@ecu.edu 252-744-6171
Michael
Kennedy PhD, MHA, FACHE Associate professor kennedym@ecu.edu 252-744-6182
Thomas
Ross, PhD Assistant Professor rossth@ecu.edu 252-744-6175
Xiaoming
Zeng, MD, PhD Associate Professor zengx@ecu.edu 252-744-6176
The intent to plan a new program has
been reviewed and approved by the appropriate campus committees and
authorities.
Chancellor: |
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Date: |
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Rollins,
G. (2008). Mastering HIM: An expanding field sparks interest in graduate
education. Journal of AHIMA, 25-29.