THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA
APPENDIX A: NOTIFICATION OF INTENT TO PLAN A NEW BACCALAUREATE OR MASTER’S PROGRAM
Date: December 20, 2009
Constituent Institution: East Carolina University
School/College: College of Allied Health Sciences Department: Health Services and Information
Management
Program Identification:
CIP Discipline Specialty Title: Medical Informatics
CIP Discipline Specialty Code: 51.2706.123.000 Level: B M X I
Exact Title of the Proposed Degree: Master of Science in Health Informatics and Information Management
Exact Degree Abbreviation (e.g., BS, BA, MA, MS, CAS) MS
Does the proposed program constitute a substantive change as defined by SACS? Yes No X a) Is it at a more advanced level than those previously authorized? Yes No X b) Is the proposed program in a new discipline division?
Approximate date for submitting the request to establish proposal (must be within one year of date of submission of notification of intent to plan):
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).
Yes
June, 2011
January, 2011
No X
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 employs patient data in decision making and every day operations. Health information managers have traditionally worked with paper based data systems. However, in a health care environment that is rapidly adopting information technology to manage health care data, they 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 Tennsesee 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 UNC Policy Manual 400.1.1.3[G] Adopted 05/06/09

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.
The UNC Policy Manual 400.1.1.3[G] Adopted 05/06/09

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 North Carolina. Furthermore, page 4 of the ECU response UNC response phase 1 report states that ECU will produce more and better physicians, dentists, nurses and allied health professionals to meet the expanding needs of North Carolina and beyond, lead in the research and development of health care technologies and evidence-based therapies, and improve health care access and outcomes.
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) and 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 m aster’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-
The UNC Policy Manual 400.1.1.3[G] Adopted 05/06/09

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 for the Registered Health
Information Administrator’s (RHIA) registration exam. However, CAHIIM is proposing to require the master’s degree for individuals interested in sitting for the registration exam beginning in 2016. Although CAHIIM has not yet “officially” mandated this change, we believe that AHIMA’s Vision 2016: A blueprint for quality education in health information management) i makes it clear that this is where professional education in health information management is headed. In fact, the health information management profession is serious about making the master ’s degree its academic standard. For example, AHIMA recently collaborated with the American Medical
Informatics Association (AMIA) in order to draft and publish required HIM master ’s degree competencies based on their master ’s level job analysis study. (http://www.ahima.org/emerging_issues/Workforce_web.pdf)
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 in order to meet what will most likely soon become the “official” future academic standard for eligibility to sit for the RHIA registration exam. Furthermore, 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 cannot afford to wait for CAHIIM’s official policy change because two neighboring states,
Tennessee and Georgia, already have CAHIIM approved master’s programs. (Georgia’s is a postbaccalaureate certificate “add-on” to its master’s in public health).
While these peer institutions have maintained their baccalaureate programs, they lack the inhouse 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 20072008 was the first time in seven years that the department’s fulltime 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 importat 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.
The UNC Policy Manual 400.1.1.3[G] Adopted 05/06/09

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), Greenville and its environs have a high concentration of health care related businesses (physician practices, surgicenters, clinics).
Teaching and clinical faculty from PCMH, BSOM, and CON are protential collaborators in offering curricular content in the MS in HIIM. Moreover, the high concentration of health care related entities in and around
Greenville can also serve as potential clinical practicum/internship sites for students in the MS in HIIM program.
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
Proposed Program:
East Carolina University
Department
HSIM
Degrees
MS in HIIM
Comments

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
Division of Clinical
Informatics in the
Department of Family
Medicine
Master of Management in
Clinical Informatics
Fellow ship training
Prepares MDs, nurses &
HC administrators.
Concentrate on the business aspect of health care.
Non-degree training program.
UNC –CH
UNC-Charlotte
Nursing
School of Nursing
College of Computing and
Informatics
Nursing Informatics
MS in Health Care
Systems
Professional Science
Master’s in bio-informatics and computational biology
Limited to BSN students
Informatics track; Limited to
BSN students
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.
The UNC Policy Manual 400.1.1.3[G] Adopted 05/06/09

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 School of Nursing at University of North Carolina Chapel Hill has a master’s program in health care systems in which informatics is one of the tracks. Nursing students with an interest in informatics take the required professional and research core courses and core courses in health care systems in which practicum experiences occur in informatics settings. Then, they take a 3 sh web-based course in health care informatics that develops an understanding of the concepts relevant to health care informatics and the use of computerized information systems in health care organizations. There is also a m aster’s degree program in Nursing Informatics at Duke; however, as with the program at Chapel Hill, it appeals to a narrow target audience; applicants must possess a BSN in order to qualify for admission. On the other hand, this proposed degree program will target students with a variety of backgrounds such as IT and health care.
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. master ’s degree in health informatics and information management: 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
The UNC Policy Manual 400.1.1.3[G] Adopted 05/06/09

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
Number 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
The intent to plan a new program has been reviewed and approved by the appropriate campus committees and authorities.
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
Chancellor: Date: i http://www.ahima.org/emerging_issues/Vision2016BlueprintforEduc.pdf
The UNC Policy Manual 400.1.1.3[G] Adopted 05/06/09