HIF 530: Intro to Health Informatics and Hot Topics

Course Description

This course provides students with a broad overview of the role of health care information systems (HCIS) in health care delivery and examines conceptual and theoretical foundations of business management principles and practices essential to health informatics. This course provides the fundamentals of the acquisition, storage, and use of information in the clinical informatics setting. Emphasis is given to clinically transformative technologies which include fundamental knowledge of the concepts of health informatics and how technology can be used in the delivery of healthcare. The intent is to increase the student’s capacity for the design, configuration, use, and maintenance of informatics interventions that improve healthcare delivery. This course will also examine the trends impacting the clinical informatics field and the impact of natural and artificial systems and practices.

Prerequisites

  • None

Associated Program Learning Outcomes

Students who graduate with a Master of Science in Health Informatics will be able to:

  • #1. Apply healthcare informatics and technology concepts and skills to case studies and real-world situations.
  • #4. Improve the various healthcare functions associated with the integration of information technology by implementing technology initiatives.
  • #5. Develop system design and software initiatives for healthcare organizations.
  • #7. Determine best practices for implementation of technology initiatives through effective project management.

Students who graduate with a Master of Science in Health Care Administration will be able to:

  • #7. Prepare and analyze departmental and organizational budgets.
  • #10. Use and analyze clinical informatics to improve clinical performance.

Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs)

Upon successful completion of the course, the student will be able to:

  1. Investigate and appraise health information technology concepts and functions.
  2. Examine the functionality of major systems inside a modern healthcare information technology environment.
  3. Critique the current interoperability competency of health information technology systems.
  4. Examine key health information technology stakeholders in relation to IT requirements for patient care, identity, and finance.
  5. Assess the challenges of managing a successful healthcare information technology project and formulate a plan for the introduction of new technology into a healthcare organization.
  6. Examine the importance of interoperability among U.S. health organizations.
  7. Explain the importance of data standards related to data exchange between systems, interoperability, and patient safety.
  8. Design a data standard for sharing patient medical records.
  9. Evaluate the use of data analytics in healthcare information technology systems.
  10. Identify the characteristics of successful clinical decision support programs.
  11. Assess the responsibilities that come with gathering large sets of clinical data including privacy, security, and ethics.
  12. Assess the impact of major legislative acts that define and govern healthcare IT.
  13. Assess the impact of algorithm bias.
  14. Justify the adoption of benefits, risks, and opportunities of healthcare information technology innovations.
  15. Critique the security risks for modern healthcare information technology environments.
  16. Identify the tools used to create a modern healthcare information technology application.

 

Course Activities and Grading

AssignmentsWeight

Discussions (160 Pts, Weeks 1-8)

16%

Glossary Entries (70 Pts, Weeks 2-8)

7%

Papers (280 Pts, Weeks 1, 3, 5, & 7)

28%

Project (40 Pts, Week  2)

4%

“3/4” Term (200 Pts, Week 6)

20%

Business Case Presentation Document (150 Pts, Week 8)

15%

Live Business Case Presentation (100 Pts, Week 8)

10%

Total

100%

Required Textbook

Available through Charter Oak State College's Book Bundle

  • Balgrosky, Jean A. (2020). Understanding Health Information Systems for the Health Professions - with Access Code. Joans & Bartlett Learning. ISBN-13: 9781284148626

 

Course Schedule

Week

PLOs

SLOs

Readings and Exercises

Assignments

1

HIF1, HIF 4

1,4

Topics: Health Informatics and Technologies

  • Readings:
    • Textbook: Chapters 1, 2 and 10
  • Videos:
    • Jim’s Rules of Writing
    • Discussion Board Posts
    • A Few Words on References
    • Introduction to Health Information Technology
    • A Short History of EHRs
  • PowerPoint:
    • Introduction to Health Information Systems
  • Review Getting Started information
  • Review course syllabus
  • Readings in course text
  • Review the lecture material (YouTube videos, PPT)
  • Introduce yourself in discussion forum
  • Discussion topic: Writing Quality
  • Paper: HIT System Perspectives
  • Begin work on Business Case Presentation project

2

HIF 1, HIF 4, HIF 7

4,5,7,8

Topics: Health Information Technology Stakeholders, Projects, and Data Standards

  • Read assigned chapters
  • Review the lecture material (YouTube videos, PPTs)
  • Review websites
  • Discussion topic: Failure Points for Healthcare IT Projects
  • Project: Medical Record Exchange Standard
  • Glossary Entry
  • Continue work on Business Case Presentation project

3

HIF 1, HIF 4

3,6

Topics: Healthcare System Interoperability


 

  • Read assigned chapters
  • Review the lecture material (YouTube videos, PPTs)
  • Paper: The Promise of Shared Electronic Health Records
  • Discussion topic: Implications of Data Standards Failures
  • Glossary Entry
  • Continue work on Business Case Presentation project

4

HIF 1, HIF 4, HIF7

11,13

Topic: Algorithmic Biases


 

  • Review the lecture material (YouTube videos, PPTs)
  • Read articles
  • Discussion topic: Algorighmic Biases in HIT Applications
  • Glossary Entry
  • Continue work on Business Case Presentation project

5

HIF 1, HIF 4, HCA 10

9,10

Topics: Clinical Decision Support Systems

  • Read assigned chapters
  • Review the lecture material (YouTube videos, PPTs)
  • Paper: Impact of CDS Systems on Patient Care and Potential Pitfalls of Algorithm Biases
  • Discussion topic: Discuss how data analytics and the Five R's are applied in CDS systems and how CDS systems improve patient care.
  • Glossary Entry
  • Business Case Presentations signup

6

HIF 1, HIF 4

12

Topics: Major Legislation that Impacts Healthcare IT

  • Read assigned chapters
  • Review the lecture material (YouTube videos, PPTs)
  • Discussion topic: Analyze the Impact of One (1) Major Piece of Healthcare IT Legislation
  • Glossary Entry
  • Take ¾ Term Exam
  • Continue to work on Business Case Presentation project

6

“3/4” Term Exam

Covers: Course text: all reading assignments; all PowerPoints; all external reading assignments

SLOs: 1-13

7

 HIF 1, HIF 4, HCA 7

14,15

Topics: Healthcare IT Innovations and Healthcare IT Security


 

  • Read assigned chapters
  • Review the lecture material (YouTube videos, PPTs)
  • Paper: Technology’s Impact on the Healthcare IT Industry
  • Discussion topic: Provider Security Posture
  • Glossary Entry
  • Continue to work on the Business Case Presentation project

8

 HIF 5, HIF7

16

Topic: Healthcare IT Projects and an Introduction to Software Development Processes and Technologies

  • Readings:
    • Textbook: Chapter 6, pages 143-164
  • PowerPoint:
    • Introduction to Software Development (TBD)
  • Read assigned chapters
  • Review the lecture material (YouTube videos, PPTs)
  • Discussion topic: Modern Healthcare IT Development Tools
  • Glossary Entry

8

Business Case PPT Due

Business Case Live Presentation Due

 

COSC Accessibility Statement

Charter Oak State College encourages students with disabilities, including non-visible disabilities such as chronic diseases, learning disabilities, head injury, attention deficit/hyperactive disorder, or psychiatric disabilities, to discuss appropriate accommodations with the Office of Accessibility Services at OAS@charteroak.edu.

COSC Policies, Course Policies, Academic Support Services and Resources

Students are responsible for knowing all Charter Oak State College (COSC) institutional policies, course-specific policies, procedures, and available academic support services and resources. Please see COSC Policies for COSC institutional policies, and see also specific policies related to this course. See COSC Resources for information regarding available academic support services and resources.