Professional Science
Specialize in Health Care Informatics for business and healthcare IT.
Professional Science, Health Care Informatics Concentration, M.S.
The Master of Science in Professional Science (Health Care Informatics Concentration) is a groundbreaking Master's degree in the sciences, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines that helps equip students for work in public and private business enterprises and in academia. Well-suited to both working professionals as well as traditional students, this program emphasizes the skills and experience that will prepare the next generation of professionals to be competitive in the business and healthcare information technology workforce.
The Health Care Informatics degree program contains concentration courses in information systems applications and security, project management, business intelligence/analytics, and healthcare law, and electives in valuable specialty areas like Six Sigma and Lean Productivity Systems. This concentration also includes a core of business courses in accounting, statistics, managerial communication, leadership, and a capstone internship experience. The Health Care Informatics degree program supports both part-time and full-time students, and limited graduate assistantships are available on a competitive basis.
News Briefs
Degree leads to Community Health Systems position
Kenyia Roberson, a licensed registered respiratory therapist, was hired by Community Health Systems as a team lead for implementing Cerner electronic medical records across the organization. She landed the position just before finishing her master's degree in the Health Care Informatics program at MTSU. "This has been an amazing experience and unique journey for me," she says. Roberson gained healthcare IT exposure while working in clinical settings and being a part of multiple hospital conversions such as Meditech, Cerner, and Medhost and then later gained project management experience at CHS. She was considering returning to school when she discovered the MTSU program at a hospital's education fair. "I enjoyed assisting facilities with their clinical implementations and providing Go-Live support and training to staff," she says. The Kansas City, Missouri, native has worked across multiple patient populations and has extensive experience as a respiratory therapist in neonatal and critical care units within Middle Tennessee.
RN promoted in healthcare IT at Vanderbilt after master's
Registered nurse Scott Simms earned a promotion to senior domain specialist in cardiology for Vanderbilt University Medical Center's Health IT division after graduating from the MTSU Health Care Informatics master's program in 2014. He previously supported the clinical use of computers as a systems support specialist 2 within the Vanderbilt Heart and Vascular Institute. Simms came back to MTSU because of his satisfactory undergraduate experience in Biology and because there are few post-grad Health Care Informatics programs in the Midstate. "The program enlightened me to the industry's standards and improved my awareness with exposure to legal, managerial, and accounting facets to healthcare," he says. "This has made me a much more marketable asset for a company as well as given me the tools to perform at a high level." Simms, who holds an Associate of Nursing degree from TSU, also had worked as an RN-Systems Support Specialist and a registered nurse in the operating room and surgical ICU.
News Briefs
Degree leads to Community Health Systems position
Kenyia Roberson, a licensed registered respiratory therapist, was hired by Community Health Systems as a team lead for implementing Cerner electronic medical records across the organization. She landed the position just before finishing her master's degree in the Health Care Informatics program at MTSU. "This has been an amazing experience and unique journey for me," she says. Roberson gained healthcare IT exposure while working in clinical settings and being a part of multiple hospital conversions such as Meditech, Cerner, and Medhost and then later gained project management experience at CHS. She was considering returning to school when she discovered the MTSU program at a hospital's education fair. "I enjoyed assisting facilities with their clinical implementations and providing Go-Live support and training to staff," she says. The Kansas City, Missouri, native has worked across multiple patient populations and has extensive experience as a respiratory therapist in neonatal and critical care units within Middle Tennessee.
RN promoted in healthcare IT at Vanderbilt after master's
Registered nurse Scott Simms earned a promotion to senior domain specialist in cardiology for Vanderbilt University Medical Center's Health IT division after graduating from the MTSU Health Care Informatics master's program in 2014. He previously supported the clinical use of computers as a systems support specialist 2 within the Vanderbilt Heart and Vascular Institute. Simms came back to MTSU because of his satisfactory undergraduate experience in Biology and because there are few post-grad Health Care Informatics programs in the Midstate. "The program enlightened me to the industry's standards and improved my awareness with exposure to legal, managerial, and accounting facets to healthcare," he says. "This has made me a much more marketable asset for a company as well as given me the tools to perform at a high level." Simms, who holds an Associate of Nursing degree from TSU, also had worked as an RN-Systems Support Specialist and a registered nurse in the operating room and surgical ICU.
Professional Science, Health Care Informatics Concentration, M.S.
Healthcare informatics and healthcare information technology make up one of Nashville's most advanced industries today, and graduates in these fields typically secure employment earning salaries around double the national average. Nashville and the Middle Tennessee region also represent the second-fastest growing technology job market and the eighth-fastest growing economy nationwide. As a result, there is currently such surging demand for data scientists in Middle Tennessee that current graduation rates in these fields cannot supply enough qualified professionals, with even larger employment projections in coming years both in Tennessee and nationwide.
The M.S. program in Health Care Informatics prepares graduates to enter one of many data science and technology sectors. There is a clear focus on competence, attitude, and job readiness in the MTSU program.
Potential professional positions include:
- Clinical and business informatics process lead
- Clinical EMR support specialist
- Clinical informatics manager
- Clinical quality consultant
- Clinical/business analyst
- Director of clinical informatics
- Director of health informatics
- Health information systems project manager
- Informatics analyst
- Informatics consultant
- Informatics specialist
- Information analyst
- Manager of clinical and business informatics
- Population health analyst
- Solutions analyst
Employers of MTSU alumni include
While this M.S. degree prepares students for employment in many sectors of the healthcare and IT workforces, internship sites and prospective employers include but are not limited to:
- Blue Cross-Blue Shield
- Capella Healthcare
- Centennial Medical Center
- Community Health Systems
- Covenant Health
- Department of Veterans Affairs
- Healthways
- Hospital Corporation of America
- Humana
- Lifepoint Hospitals
- McKesson Corp.
- National Healthcare Corp.
- Saint Thomas Health Services
- Sarah Cannon Research Institute
- Tennessee Department of Health
- United Health Group
- Vanderbilt University Medical Center
MTSU’s Career Development Center
MTSU offers a comprehensive Career Development Center that serves students throughout the full student experience and beyond. They collaborate with faculty and staff to equip students with the tools to be marketable to the world of work and continuing education.
Students can schedule an appointment or check online resources and job boards at mtsu.edu/career.
Students can find current internship opportunities by talking to faculty and visiting the University job and internship board called Handshake .
Wondering what you can do with your major? Check out our What Can I Do with A Major In guides.
Graduate Assistantships
Graduate assistantships are available on a competitive basis to full-time students in the Health Care Informatics program. In addition to a monthly stipend, the university also pays all tuition and most fees for assistantship holders. Non-Tennessee residents who are awarded graduate assistantships are not required to pay out-of-state fees.To learn more about the types of graduate assistantships and to download an application, visit the Graduate Studies Assistantship page.
The College of Graduate Studies also awards a limited number of scholarships. For additional information and applications, visit the Graduate Studies Finance page.
In addition to assistantships and scholarships, MTSU's Office of Financial Aid assists graduate students seeking other forms of financial support while in school.
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