
Kent State University’s Master’s in Health Informatics
Prepare for a leadership role in the dynamic healthcare specialty incorporating data science and insights from the social and behavioral sciences with a master of science in health informatics (MSHI).
$735 out of state
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Transform your career with skills in modern healthcare management. Health informatics offers opportunities in several industries, and a 100% online graduate degree from Kent State University can help you chart a clear path to success.
Download our guide to learn more about:
- Career Opportunities
- Customizing Your Degree
- The Student Experience
- Admission Requirements
- Tuition and Financial Aid
Change Lives in Your Nine-to-Five
Kent State University’s online master’s in health informatics prepares you for a rewarding career in this fast-growing interprofessional healthcare specialty that draws on a range of scientific and management disciplines to optimize modern healthcare. Use your analytical skills and the education you’ll receive in our program to change lives for the better.
Because our program is designed for busy working professionals, you can tailor your degree to suit your unique background and goals, including changing fields or advancing in your current career.

Learn From Research Leaders
Small classes and focused 7-week courses in our online health informatics master’s program offer opportunities to develop strong working relationships with your classmates and professors. The faculty have a wealth of expertise in research and management topics and a dedication to improving healthcare through information technology.
Our professors’ research interests span topics including big data, taxonomy, information architecture, knowledge organization, human factors and usability. Collectively, they have led research projects for hospitals, universities, businesses, non-profit organizations and the National Science Foundation.
Professionally connected innovators and thought leaders, our MSHI faculty are widely published and have developed courses on a range of digital health and health informatics topics.
We’re Known for Innovation and Excellence
Our expertise and commitment to student success combine with our inclusive innovation culture to deliver an educational experience that can help you advance your career and improve healthcare delivery.
Long recognized as a leader in library sciences, the top-ranked Kent State University School of Information is leveraging our expertise in information architecture and management to transform healthcare with our online master’s in health informatics.1
Kent State University is a public research university with a rich history of engaged scholarship and innovation, and we began offering online education more than 20 years ago. We’ve applied lessons learned along the way to create a flexible, user-friendly learning experience that fits into your life as a busy working professional.
MSHI Careers Snapshot
Graduates of our online master’s in health informatics are qualified for roles with healthcare organizations, health equipment manufacturers, insurance providers and government agencies. Salaries and duties vary with the industry. Professionals with the right education and experience can earn comfortable six-figure salaries in this rapidly growing field.
This sample information on average salary and projected job growth through 2030 is from the U.S. Department of Labor’s O*Net, and you can find more information on our careers page.
Move Forward with Kent State
Earn your MSHI in as little as two years, building your knowledge and skills along with your professional network. Our admissions process is simple, and we have waived the GRE requirement in favor of a holistic evaluation of your background and achievements.
Whatever your life situation or experience, our 100% online master’s in health informatics has been designed to offer flexibility and the individualized attention you need to help you reach your professional goals while handling your other life commitments.
A Degree Program That Works for You
Our faculty integrate real-world experiences and case studies from the field, blending theory and practice within the program’s curriculum. Kent State’s online MS in health informatics has three major components:
- Seven core courses
- Four elective courses
- One capstone experience
Depending on your career goals, you may choose an internship, a master’s project, research paper or thesis for your capstone experience. See the Academic FAQs for more on this topic.
Once you enroll, your Admissions Advisor will help you craft your personalized degree plan, creating a clear course sequence and path to graduation.
The program is intentionally designed to create focused study and encourage collaboration. Each course is seven weeks long, and you can take two courses sequentially each semester, focusing on each subject individually.
Develop Your Core Competencies
Our online MS in health informatics can help you build an impactful career in patient care, services administration or systems design and implementation. Core courses will give you a solid conceptual grounding in the areas of:
- Terminology
- Systems
- Management
- Human factors
- Analytics
- Law
Tailor the Degree to Your Needs
After completing the core courses, you can then customize your expertise with electives and your capstone experience. Some of the focus areas you can pursue include:
- Clinical decision support systems
- Knowledge management
- Semantic analysis
- Information architecture
- Public health informatics
- Change management
- Project management
Kent State’s MSHI program also offers opportunities for you to pursue individual investigation of health informatics subjects that interest you.

Career Outcomes
- Healthcare
- Educational services
- Scientific/other professional services
- Technology
- Government
Typical Job Titles
- Medical Records Director
- Clinical Informatics Manager
- Clinical Informatics Nurse
- Nursing Information Systems Coordinator
- Clinical Informatics Systems Analyst
- Clinical Applications Specialist
One Degree, Many Career Options
Make Career Connections Here
- Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS)
- Society for Imaging Informatics in Medicine
- Dublin Core Metadata Initiative (DCMI)
- LeadingAge Center for Healthcare Technologies (CAST)
- Human Factors and Ergonomic Society (HFES)
- American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA)
Tuition and Financial Aid
The Kent State online MSHI costs a fraction of the amount you could earn in annual salary with the skills you would gain from getting your degree. The degree has the same prestige as a degree earned on campus, and the flexible online format makes it easier to work full-time while studying.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics has found that nationally, professionals with a master’s degree earn an average of 18% more than those with a bachelor’s degree and enjoy greater job security, making the effort very worthwhile.5
The online Master of Science in Health Informatics consists of 36 credits.
Ohio Residents | Out of State | |
Per Credit Hour | $725 | $735 |
Approximate Program Cost | $26,100 | $26,460 |
An additional distance learning fee for all students enrolled in a distance learning course is $15 per credit hour. Program tuition and costs are estimated and subject to change. For comprehensive tuition information, please refer to the tuition rates posted on the Bursar’s website.
We recognize that pursuing a graduate degree is a significant investment. Your Admissions Advisor can answer your questions on program costs, discuss how a Kent State degree compares to others and connect you with financial aid representatives when you are ready to discuss your financial options.
Please contact an Admissions Advisor for more information on tuition and fees either by email at onlinedegrees@kent.edu or toll-free at +1 844‑234‑4073.
Courses
Complete your online master’s in health informatics in as little as two years, taking two 7-week courses sequentially each semester. The 36 credits required for graduation are distributed as follows:
- Required courses - 21 credits
- Elective courses - 12 credits
- Capstone experience - 3 to 6 credits
Required Courses (21 credits)
HI 60401 HEALTH INFORMATICS MANAGEMENT (3 CREDITS)
HI 60402 LEGAL ISSUES IN HEALTH INFORMATICS (3 CREDITS)
Introduction to the fundamentals of law for health informatics and information management. Elements of the course include general legal principles and healthcare; legal electronic medical records (EMR); Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) privacy rules and security rules; access, requests and disclosure of health information; required reporting and mandatory disclosure laws; risk management and quality improvement; compliance; workforce overview; and related ethics and social issues.
HI 60403 HEALTH INFORMATION SYSTEMS (3 CREDITS)
Introduction to information systems and their applications in healthcare used for managerial and clinical support. Study the fundamentals of information systems, including electronic medical records (EMR), and information security. Understand the role of standardized codes, vocabularies and terminologies used in health information systems. Analyze management and enterprise systems, and identify the key elements to manage information resources effectively and the trends affecting the development of health information systems and networks.
HI 60410 HEALTH RECORDS MANAGEMENT (3 CREDITS)
Conceptual foundations and practicum for health records management, including the planning, implementation and operation of electronic medical records (EMR); the management of EMR in management and enterprise systems; identifying, selecting and evaluating EMR and health information systems, applications and repositories; and issues of data quality, integrity, migration and interoperability.
HI 60411 CLINICAL ANALYTICS (3 CREDITS)
The use of well-defined and well-integrated clinical analytics throughout the healthcare value chain can be transformative. Through careful implementation of health analytics, hospitals can transform unwieldy amalgamations of data into information that can improve patient outcomes, increase safety, enhance operational efficiency and support public health. Given the immense size of the data challenge, the distinctness and geographic spread of many healthcare-related activities, and the fact that so many healthcare activities are conducted by different entities which must interact with each other, there is really no other way to provide operations management tools necessary to deliver personalized medicine and to control spiraling costs. Since clinical analytics is an immature discipline, we carefully examine the practices of those institutions who are standard setters in the industry.
HI 60414 HUMAN FACTORS AND USABILITY IN HEALTH INFORMATICS (3 CREDITS)
Provides students with the foundational principles of usability and human factors as applied to safety and quality in health informatics technology. Course readings and materials review the concepts of human factors, usability and the cognitive consequences of health information technology on clinical performance and decision making. Attention is given to the role of mobile computing in healthcare, as well as information visualization.
HI 60636 STANDARDIZED TERMINOLOGIES IN HEALTHCARE (3 CREDITS)
Electives (12 credits)
Choose 12 credits from the following courses:
EMAT 51510 PROJECT MANAGEMENT AND TEAM DYNAMICS (3 CREDITS)
HI 60412 CLINICAL DECISION SUPPORT (3 CREDITS)
Provides a practical survey of clinical decision support systems that collect clinical data and enable the transition to clinical knowledge in real world applications intended to improve quality and safety of patient care. Students become familiar with the basic requirements for clinical decision support systems and the challenges associated with the development and deployment of new applications within the healthcare setting.
HI 60413 CHANGE MANAGEMENT IN HEALTH INFORMATICS (3 CREDITS)
Designed to cover the process of change management in large healthcare organizations in light of current trends. Topics related to technology requirements, technology implementations, risk assessment and buy-in are among those covered.
HI 60415 HEALTH INFORMATICS INQUIRY AND ASSESSMENT (3 CREDITS)
Provides a foundation for understanding research in health informatics with a focus on user and experience design research. Through lectures, readings, discussions and assignments, students review user research methods, data collection techniques and communication strategies within the healthcare context. Students then apply this knowledge to creating a research plan for assessing health information technology and communicating results to key organizational stakeholders.
HI 60416 ETHICS, POLITICS AND POLICY IN HEALTH INFORMATICS (3 CREDITS)
HI 60417 PUBLIC HEALTH INFORMATICS (3 CREDITS)
HI 60691 SEMINAR IN HEALTH INFORMATICS (3 CREDITS)
HI 60792 ELECTIVE INTERNSHIP IN HEALTH INFORMATICS (FOR STUDENTS WITH NO HEALTHCARE BACKGROUND) (2-3 CREDITS)
HI 61095 SPECIAL TOPICS COURSES IN HEALTH INFORMATICS (3 CREDITS)
HI 61096 INDIVIDUAL INVESTIGATION IN HEALTH INFORMATICS (3 CREDITS)
KM 60301 FOUNDATIONAL PRINCIPLES OF KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT (3 CREDITS)
KM 60311 BUSINESS PROCESS MANAGEMENT (3 CREDITS)
KM 60370 SEMANTIC ANALYSIS METHODS AND TECHNOLOGIES (3 CREDITS)
UXD 60101 INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE (3 CREDITS)
UXD 60104 USABILITY I (3 CREDITS)
Prerequisite: UXD 60001 and UXD 60002; and graduate standing.
Capstone Experience Requirement (3-6 credits)
HI 66092 MASTER'S INTERNSHIP IN HEALTH INFORMATICS (3 CREDITS)
HI 66099 MASTER'S PROJECT IN HEALTH INFORMATICS (3 CREDITS)
HI 66198 MASTER'S RESEARCH PAPER IN HEALTH INFORMATICS (3 CREDITS)
Satisfactory/unsatisfactory (S/U) graded. Students must have completed a minimum of 30 credit hours toward the MS-HI program prior to registration.
HI 66199 THESIS I (2-6 CREDITS)
Academics FAQs
Is the health informatics program accredited by an outside organization?
What do you mean when you talk about the capstone experience?
Please explain the difference between a project, a research paper and an internship.
All of the options require a log of completed hours (minimum 150) to be turned in at the end of the term and a 30-50-page paper summarizing the experiences, answering the research questions and explaining project deliverables. You will have a preceptor for each of the options. In some cases, you may have an on-site preceptor as well as a supervising faculty member.
Do I have to sit for the certification exam upon graduation or is it optional?
Do I have to take all electives in HI or do I have some flexibility of choice?
Do I have to complete the capstone experience at Kent or can I do it where I live?
Admissions Requirements
- Completed online application
- Complete bachelor’s degree, with a GPA of 2.75 or higher (on a 4.0 scale), from an accredited university
- Three letters of recommendation from professors and/or employers
- Application fee: $45
- Official transcripts
- Statement of purpose
- Resume/CV
- No GRE required for admission
The application process is simple and we’re here to guide you through it.
Our Admissions Advisors are happy to answer your questions regarding admissions requirements for the program. If you have questions, please email us at onlinedegrees@kent.edu or call us toll-free at +1 844-234-4073.
Important Dates
Application Resources

Our step-by-step application checklist will help ensure the success of your application submission.
Download Checklist
Application FAQs
Create an account in the online application system to save your work and track the progress of materials submitted via the application system.
I am a U.S. citizen. Where should I send my application materials?
Graduate Admissions
P.O. Box 5190
Kent, Ohio 44242
Please be sure to include your full name and Kent State ID (9-digit number starting with 8) on all submitted documents. For questions, contact Graduate Admissions at +1 330-672-2661 or gradapps@kent.edu.
I am not a U.S. citizen. Where should I send my application materials?
Office of Global Education
Kent State University
106 Van Campen Hall
625 Loop Rd.
Kent, OH 44242
USA
For questions, contact International Admissions at +1 330-672-7970 or intladm@kent.edu.
See How We Support Your Success
Our accomplished and caring faculty have designed a comprehensive program in a user-friendly online format to help you thrive in this dynamic field.
Immersive Online Curriculum
Learn from Experts
Health Informatics Career Potential
Advance Your Career with Kent State
- Retrieved on July 6, 2022, from premium.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/kent-state-university-kent-campus-203517/overall-rankings
- Retrieved on July 6, 2022, from onetonline.org/link/summary/15-2051.02
- Retrieved on July 6, 2022, from onetonline.org/link/summary/15-1221.00
- Retrieved on July 6, 2022, from onetonline.org/link/summary/15-1211.01
- Retrieved on July 6, 2022, from www.bls.gov/careeroutlook/2022/data-on-display/education-pays.htm