Health Services Analytics (HSA), a track in the Master of Science in Health Informatics program, prepares students responsible for the development and management of health information systems consistent with the clinical, fiscal, administrative, ethical, and legal requirements of healthcare institutions. Graduates of this program analyze, design, implement, and evaluate health information systems. As members of the healthcare team, they interact with other healthcare professionals and administrators, and provide healthcare data for patient care, research, quality improvement, strategic planning, reimbursement, and related analytics and managerial functions.
HSA graduates work in a variety of settings, such as hospitals, health planning agencies, software development companies, consulting firms, information systems vendors, ambulatory care centers, research centers, rehabilitation facilities, and insurance companies.
HSA Curriculum Requirements
All students enrolled in the HSA track are required to complete 36 credits (students enrolled full-time normally complete the program in 3-4 consecutive semesters). Courses are chosen with the advisor and a Plan of Study will be developed to enable each student to have an in-depth study of Health Informatics considering student's previous academic preparation and experience.
There are online (https://online.shrs.pitt.edu/online-masters-in-health-informatics/) and on-campus versions of this track. The curriculum and course contents are identical in these two versions. Domestic students can choose either of them according to their situation or preference before the enrollment. International students are required to attend the on-campus version of the track.
The Health Services Analytics curriculum allows students to choose from required courses and elective courses. Elective courses can be chosen from other health informatics tracks in the department. If one wants to take electives from other departments in SHRS or other academic programs within the University, the limit is 6 credits.
Required Courses (21 credits)
- HI 2210 - Health Information and the Health Care System (3 credits)
- HI 2250 - Foundations of Health Informatics (3 credits)
- HI 2251 - Healthcare Analytics and Data Visualization (3 credits)
- HI 2451 - Database Design and Big Data Analytics (3 credits)
- HI 2410 - Health Vocabulary, Terminology & Classification Systems (3 credits)
- HI 2411 - Revenue Cycle Analytics (3 credits)
- HI 2230 - Financial Management & Health Care Reimbursement (3 credits)
Elective Courses (15 credits)
- HI 2021 - Practical Statistics & Programming Using R (3 credits)
- HI 2022 - Introduction to Python for Health Informatics (3 credits)
- HI 2231 - Talent Management and Human Resources (3 credits)
- HI 2236 - Quality and Performance Improvement in Healthcare: Methodologies, Core Skills, and Lean Green Belt Certification (3 credits)
- HI 2450 - Security, Privacy, Legal & Ethical Issues in Health Care (3 credits)
- HI 2452 - Digital Health (3 credits)
- HI 2453 - Machine Learning in Health Science (3 credits)
- HI 2454 - Data Science in Health Informatics (3 credits)
- HI 2456 - Healthcare IT Trends and Innovation (3 credits)
- HI 2457 - Design Thinking in Health Informatics (3 credits)
- HI 2632 - Leadership and Project Management (3 credits)
- HI 2670 - Health Informatics Capstone/Internship (3 credits)
Many HI courses are only offered once per academic year. In this case, if a student fails to successfully complete a course, the student must retake the course the next academic year. This may prevent the student from registering for the advanced-level courses and delay the date of graduation.
Please note: All students are required to finish one course in medical terminology if they do not have that course in their previous study or clinical background. Pitt offers a Coursera course in medical terminology that can meet this program requirement and can be found at this link https://www.coursera.org/learn/clinical-terminology. Students can choose an equivalent medical terminology course from somewhere else as well.