Gloria J. Deckard

Health informatics and analytics — building a program to integrate business analytics across clinical and administrative disciplines

Health care organizations must develop integrated health information systems to respond to the numerous government mandates driving the movement toward reimbursement models emphasizing value-based and accountable care. Success in this transition requires integrated data analytics, supported by the combination of health informatics, interoperability, business process design, and advanced decision support tools. This case study presents the development of a masters level cross- and multidisciplinary informatics program offered through a business school. The program provides students from diverse backgrounds with the knowledge, leadership, and practical application skills of health informatics, information systems, and data analytics that bridge the interests of clinical and nonclinical professionals. This case presents the actions taken and challenges encountered in navigating intra-university politics, specifying curriculum, recruiting the requisite interdisciplinary faculty, innovating the educational format, managing students with diverse educational and professional backgrounds, and balancing multiple accreditation agencies.

AMIA Board White Paper: AMIA 2017 core competencies for applied health informatics education at the master’s degree level

This White Paper presents the foundational domains with examples of key aspects of competencies (knowledge, skills, and attitudes) that are intended for curriculum development and accreditation quality assessment for graduate (masters level) education in applied health informatics. Through a deliberative process, the AMIA Accreditation Committee refined the work of a task force of the Health Informatics Accreditation Council, establishing 10 foundational domains with accompanying example statements of knowledge, skills, and attitudes that are components of competencies by which graduates from applied health informatics programs can be assessed for competence at the time of graduation. The AMIA Accreditation Committee developed the domains for application across all the subdisciplines represented by AMIA, ranging from translational bioinformatics to clinical and public health informatics, spanning the spectrum from molecular to population levels of health and biomedicine. This document will be periodically updated, as part of the responsibility of the AMIA Accreditation Committee, through continued study, education, and surveys of market trends.