20 Best Online Master’s in Health Informatics 2020

While any degree in health informatics can be helpful, the best online Master’s in Health Informatics degrees are particularly valuable. They often lead to a higher salary and can pave the way to administrative positions or to academic pursuits after graduation. The health informatics sphere is growing at an unprecedented rate due to lengthening lifespans and emerging technology. The world needs more healthcare professionals who are also capable of understanding data. What is an Online Master’s in Health Informatics Degree? A health informatics degree gives you the skills and expertise needed to combine exceptional medical knowledge with computer skills. Essentially, a health informatics major works with the more computerized aspects of healthcare and the medical industry, especially when it comes to data organization and analysis or statistics. While a bachelor’s degree is typically all that is needed to obtain a career in the health informatics sphere, a master’s degree can provide you with additional opportunities. Specifically, master’s degrees with this major focus more on the administrative policy level aspects of various health informatics professions. Therefore, online Master’s in Health Informatics degrees will contain classes and information relating to business administration and management in addition to healthcare. Certain programs may include more computer knowledge and classwork, often with a practical component. Because those with a master’s degree in health informatics often end up being in charge of others or developing their own data systems, many degrees emphasize personal initiative and decision-making strategies. Careers for Health Informatics Majors Careers for those with master’s degrees in health informatics are similar to those with only a bachelor’s degree subject. For instance, health informatics master’s recipients can become medical records and health information technicians, who are responsible for managing and organizing healthcare data. Or they can become health and medical services managers, who oversee other employees and coordinate various business activities for healthcare providers. Those with master’s degrees can even become health informatics managers or oversee hospitals and medical centers. Tech-focused master’s recipients may become clinical informatics data analysts, who perform more in-depth analyses of various healthcare data sets. Furthermore, a master’s degree can prepare a student to proceed into a Ph.D. program for health informatics. This can lead to careers in an academic setting or lead to a path of research in the field of health informatics. Master’s in Health Informatics Salary Potential Those with master’s degrees in health informatics have high salary potential overall, but not much more initially compared to those with bachelor’s degrees. The standard median pay for a medical records technician is about $40,000 per year. Those with a master’s degree may receive more as a result of their higher education, but this isn’t guaranteed. Medical and health services managers make much more money with a median annual salary of about $100,000 per year and an 18 percent job growth rate. Again, those with master’s degrees are likely to receive a higher salary as a direct result of their increased expertise. Additionally, government healthcare facilities typically request more skilled individuals to helm their medical centers. These health informatics professionals can earn salaries of about $110,000 per year on average. Health informatics professionals with master’s degrees will be better positioned to acquire excellent job positions at high paying institutions when compared to their contemporaries who only have bachelor’s degrees. What are the Best Online Master’s in Health Informatics? We know that you have educational goals that you’re itching to pursue, but you may not know where to start. The editors of CollegeRank utilize a unique ranking methodology based on the following three aspects: 40% Potential Salary After Graduation: Average mid-career salary of school alumni 30% Institutional Accreditation: Regional and National Accreditation for the 2019-2020 school year 30% Overall Degree Affordability: Average cost of undergraduate and graduate tuition per school At CollegeRank, we strive to do our best to guide you and your family toward a fruitful academic career. The pursuit of knowledge is a noble one, and we want to help you reach your goals. For questions, comments, badge downloads, or data corrections, please feel free to reach out to us at editor@collegerank.net. 1University of Washington-Seattle CampusLocationSeattle, WashingtonAverage Net Price$9,443More information The University of Washington is classified by the Carnegie Foundation as an R1 Research University, meaning that it operates at the highest level of academic research. The university’s main campus, located in Seattle, houses more than 140 different departments. The student population is over 46,000, and classes at the university operate on the quarter system. The University of Washington offers a Master of Health Informatics Health Information Management degree program. The 18-month program uses an executive format, whereby students attend courses on campus one weekend per month, while completing the remainder of their coursework online. On-campus course meetings are held on UW’s Bellevue campus. The MHIHIM curriculum is rigorous and competency-based, structured around five key pillars: Health Information Systems, Health Care Data Analytics, Information Governance, Patient and Organizational Information Privacy and Security, and Health Systems Leadership. Students also engage with industry leaders through guest lectures and panels. Courses in the program include Law, Policy Ethics in Health Information, Health Data Analytics, and Enterprise Systems Electronic Health Records. The program ends with a capstone project that allows students to apply their technical and management skills to real-world industry problem-solving. A sample capstone project is a Physician Practice Online Staff Training Program.