• On-Campus Component
    No
  • Cost
    $1,665.00 per credit (resident, part-time), $2,601.00 per credit (nonresident, part-time)
  • Total Credits
    36
  • Credential
    Graduate Degree
  • Admission GPA
    3.3
  • Application Deadlines
    Fall: February 15 (international), June 15 (domestic MS only); Spring: October 15 (domestic MS only)
  • Campus
    Twin Cities
  • College
    Institute for Health Informatics
  • Department
    Institute for Health Informatics

This MS program is for health professionals and non-health professionals who are interested in additional training in health informatics. The curriculum consists of 36 credits. Students take a sequence of core health informatics and biostatistics courses and complete their degrees with a master's thesis or additional coursework. MS students have an average graduation time of 2.3 years or 7 semesters.

Sample Courses

This program requires 18 to 24 major credits and 7 to 13 credits outside the major. Here is a sample of courses you might take:

  • HINF 5430 – Health Informatics I (3 cr)
  • HINF 5431 – Health Informatics II (3cr)
  • HINF 5510 – Applied Health Care Databases: Database Principles and Data Evaluation (3 cr)
  • NURS 7108 – Population Health Informatics (2 cr)
  • HINF 5520 – Clinical Informatics and Patient Safety (2 cr)
  • PUBH 6450 – Biostatistics I (4 cr)

Online Catalog

Career Opportunities

The entire health care system is based on interactions between providers, their patients, and their patients' documentation in clinical records. The health care industry is working to convert these records into computer-based information systems so that processes may be performed with a greater effectiveness and efficiency. Better information systems would solve a variety of problems, from concerns about patient safety to controlling the costs of care.

Because of the large number of companies who have a health care emphasis, there are numerous local employment opportunities within health informatics. More than 150 software companies listed on MBBNet, Minnesota’s virtual biomedical and bioscience community, employ personnel who have training in health informatics, and this need is expected to grow.

According to the Health Information Management Systems Society's (HIMSS) annual compensation survey, the annual median income of health informatics professionals was $90,000 in 2015.