Department of Business Informatics
Career Outlook
Technology use at every level of health care is increasing substantially. Front-line health care workers interact daily with a dizzying array of computerized technology. Traditional health care IT roles continue to grow in complexity and number. The primary goal of better patient care remains, but the means by which this is accomplished is changing dramatically.
Health care professionals access and interpret more data on the health problems of their patients. The ability to synthesize data, to put it together in different ways in order to spot trends, is becoming a key component in diagnosis and treatment in health care. Enterprise-wide clinical information systems provide a single view of patient records, including medication history, test results, diagnostic images, clinicians' notes, and diagnosis. Technologies are used to control and evaluate community health care, and to provide accurate and timely information for crisis decision making.
At the highest level, health informatics focuses on patient care and institutional administration. The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services has mandated a national healthcare information infrastructure (including electronic health records) by 2014, driving an industry-wide focus on interoperability and transparency of health care systems and records. Issues range from storage, retrieval, and interpretation of information in patient care to implementation and management of the complex information systems used in the administration of health care. The natural environment of health informatics includes hospitals, physician networks and practice groups, third-party payers and regulatory agencies, and industry suppliers such as pharmaceutical companies, biotechnology companies, and vendors of hospital equipment and medical supplies.
The Master of Health Informatics program bridges the long-standing gap between clinical informatics and health care administration, and prepares you to deal with current and future complex technology issues in the health care industry.
Note: This program was approved by the Commonwealth of Kentucky on July 16, 2007.
Contact Gary Ozanich for more information. Phone: (859) 572-1397 • E-Mail
