In This Issue:
 Masters in Health Informatics
Kentucky e-Health Summit
Meet the Board
Membership Survey
Love Informatics? - Earn you Masters in Health Informatics at Northern Kentucky University
Bluegrass HIMSS members will have a special interest in two new Health Informatics Programs being offered by Northern Kentucky University. These graduate programs are focused on addressing both the traditional areas of clinical informatics and health IT systems, but have a forward-looking orientation toward the larger problems of interoperability, electronic health records, transparency and evidence-based practices. Using a broad “value chain” definition , the program’s scope extends beyond a hospital to all aspects of health, information, and healthcare administration, including suppliers, payers, pharmacies, pharma and biotech companies.
NKU plans to launch a new MS Degree and Graduate Level Certificate in Health Informatics Fall Semester, 2007. The programs were approved by the University Board of Regents in May and approved by the Commonwealth’s Council on Postsecondary Education in July. The programs were developed by the College of Informatics, and School of Nursing and Health Professions in collaboration with the regional healthcare industry. The programs will reside within the College of Informatics.
The MS Program consists of 18 credits in foundation courses, 11 credits in elective courses and a required two semester capstone course/project sequence in the final year. Elective courses are in one of three categories: Health Informatics Policy, Business Process Management and Knowledge Management. Classes are offered in evenings and students are able to complete the program in two years if attending on a full-time basis.
The Certificate Program is designed to provide core skills in health informatics to professionals and students while providing credentials and verification of competencies for professional development. This program consists of 12 credits, 3 required courses and one other selected from the foundation courses. The Certificate provides a point of entry to the MS Program with a majority of the foundation courses completed.
The healthcare community was broadly engaged in developing the curriculum for the program. Working health care professional joined with NKU faculty on the Curriculum Planning Committee. In the planning process, the committee undertook detailed curriculum and best practice analyses by examining Health Informatics and Health IT Administration Graduate Programs from around the country and interviewing administrators. Also, more than 20 structured interviews of industry executives and managers were undertaken. The complete development process is documented here.
The response to the programs by the regional healthcare industry has been great. Every institution and organization contacted about the program was eager to provide help in developing the curriculum and indicated a willingness to be involved in the capstone program. The capstone will provide students an opportunity to gain experiential knowledge while working onsite at a healthcare institution working on real world projects and problems. Students enrolled in the program who are already working in the healthcare industry will be allowed to develop a capstone project with their existing employer.
Key objectives of the program are to meet the demand for professionals, as well as to work with institutions and organizations within the Commonwealth to advance the state of healthcare by improving patient care and promoting efficiency. In addition, working within the College of Informatics and NKU’s Infrastructure Management Institute, the program and faculty will support initiatives of economic development and engagement involving healthcare technology.
For further information, or to apply go to http://mhi.nku.edu. Or call (859) 572-6366. Questions, comments, and suggestions from Bluegrass HIMSS members are particularly welcome.
Kentucky e-Health Summit
e-Health is one of the few policy options with the ability to lower health care costs, increase quality of care, and improve the health of Kentuckians while also enhancing economic opportunity in the Commonwealth.. e-Health consists of two parts: the adoption of health information technology (HIT), such as electronic medical records in clinical settings, and health information exchange (HIE), the ability to exchange health information electronically between two entities when appropriate.
The second Statewide e-Health Summit scheduled for December 6-7, 2007, at the Lexington Marriott Griffin Gate. Updates and more information can be found at Kentucky e-Health website or by contacting Trudi Matthews at Trudi.matthews@ky.gov.
07-08 Bluegrass HIMSS Board Members
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Coming Soon - Bluegrass HIMSS Membership Survey
The Bluegrass HIMSS board wants to know that you think about our chaper activites and what topics are important to you. Very soon we will be send out a membership survey to help us determine future topics for meetings and conferences. Please take the opportunity to tell us how we can make this the be year ever!
The survey will be sent out in late August or September.
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