Public Health Informatics Certificate

The Post - Baccalaureate Certificate (PBC) in Public Health Informatics (PHIS) at Bowie State University (BSU) focuses on application and use of information technology and systems for population/community health services, diseases’ prevention, and health promotions.  PHIS was approved in Spring 2023 by USM and MHEC, see Institution Program Inventory (maryland.gov). The PHIS program is an interdisciplinary and innovative program developed in partnership with the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) for Health Information Technology, within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to address the shortage of PHIS professionals and lack of diverse PHIS professionals in the workforce. The program contributes to the university’s mission and empowers “a diverse population of students to reach their potential by providing innovative academic programs” which supports Maryland’s and the nation’s workforce and the economy.

The PBC in PHIS program graduates uniquely differ from Information Technology (IT) specialists as they (Health Informatics Professionals), are required to have knowledge of public health, information technology and systems, and management. Graduates from this program may work as public health informatics managers, specialists, system analysts, data analysts, consultants, or designers/developers in the different health departments at local, county, state or federal levels, health systems, hospitals, academia, insurance, pharmacy, and other organizations and industries.

Important: PHIS can be either completed as a complementary to a graduate degree in information systems, computer science, nursing, MBA, and other BSU graduate programs,  or as a separate advanced specialization training for members of the current public health workforce or IT workforce or others in the health sector. For example, the MS in Information Systems and Science (INSS) program students who want to focus on Public Health Informatics (PHIS) can select the track: PHIS and take the four PHIS courses and use them as elective courses. Students can continue the MS in INSS program.

Admission

The admission requirements for this program are:

• Applicants shall possess a bachelor’s degree or higher in public health, nursing, health science, computer science, information technology and system (ITS), or other related fields from an accredited college or university with a CGPA 2.5 or higher and adhere to all other criteria in graduate admission policy set by graduate school. Applicants we have an associate degree (AA) and working experience in health or IT can apply too.
• Depending upon the applicant’s undergraduate educational background prerequisite courses on ITS and/or health science may be assigned by admission committee or program coordinator/director as pre-requisites.

Jobs

PHIS graduates will have a wide variety of industries and organizations to work for. They can get employment in federal, state and local public health agencies, non-profit and non-governmental organizations working on population and public health, hospitals, and business and industries working on public health and health care. Some of these at federal level are: the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Office of Surveillance, Epidemiology and Laboratory Services (OSELS), National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), and Classification and Public Health Data Standards Staff (CPHDSS).

The level of entry for PBC in PHIS graduates is mid-level managerial or professional level serving as a manager of PHIS projects, PHIS officers, PHIS specialists, and Standardization Specialists. The job titles include Public Health Informatics Managers, Specialist, system analyst, and data analyst. Most health informatics professionals work in a variety of health care settings including local, state, federal government agencies, public health agencies, non-profit health and medical associations, hospitals, physician group practices, pharmaceutical companies, and insurance companies. The Maryland, DC, and Virginia (MDV) region has several of these organizations that need these public health informatics professionals. 

Career Outlooks

Accordingly to the Maryland Occupational Projections 2020 - 2030, - Workforce Information and Performance (https://www.dllr.state.md.us/lmi/iandoproj/maryland.shtml), the # of jobs that requires at least a bachelor degree in  MD for computer systems analyst increases by about 12% in 2030, for computer and information systems manager increases by about 12% in 2030, for information security analysts increases by about 37% in 2030,  for Medical and Health Services Managers increases by  about 27.33% in 2030, for Environmental Scientists and Specialists, including Health increases by 10% in 2030 .  The job prospective for both in computing and health industry with a minimum of bachelor’s degree is above the average for all others.  

According to the department of Labor Occupational projections, 2020-30 (https://www.bls.gov/emp/tables/emp-by-detailed-occupation.htm), the # of jobs  for computer and information systems manager will increase by about 10.9% in 2030, for information system analyst by 7.0%, for information security analysts by 35%,  for Medical and Health Services Managers will increase by 32.5 %, for Environmental Scientists and Specialists, including Health increases by 8.4%, community health workers increases by 22%, Epidemiologists increases by 29.5%, Data Scientists by 31.4%, and for Health information technologists, medical registrars, surgical assistants, and healthcare practitioners and technical workers, all other by 10.5%. Furthermore, the job prospective for both in computing and health industry with a bachelor’s degree and above is above the average for all others occupation.  

Educational Competencies:

It follows the core and foundational competencies set by the Commission on Accreditation for Health Informatics and Information Management (HIIM) Education (CAHIIM) as applied for public health informatics, public health competencies specified by by Council on Education for Public Health, and emerging PHIS competencies identified from recent literatures. After the completion of the program, learners/students will develop the following competencies in:

• The underlying science of human health and disease including opportunities for promoting and protecting health across the life course.
• Public Health Organizations, health functions, workflows and data as well as associated theories, methods, best practices relevant to the application of informatics.
• Public Health Data Management and Analytics including basic concepts, methods, and tools of public health data collection, use, and analysis
• Public Health Data, Information and Knowledge Access, Use, Disclosure, Privacy, Security.
• Informatics standards including classification systems, clinical vocabularies and nomenclatures and the impact on the health care continuum.
• Effective Communication and Presentation Skills:  communicate effectively, both verbally and in writing as well as visually.
• Leadership and Project Management Skills.
• Teamwork and Collaboration: Ability to work in a multidisciplinary, dynamic environment as part of a collaborative and high-functioning team.
• The socioeconomic, behavioral, biological, environmental, and other factors that impact human health and contribute to health disparities.

The student learning outcomes

After completion of the program students be able to:

1. Explain core public health functions, workflows and data as well as associated theories, methods, best practices and ethical and legal issues such as privacy and security. (course: PHIS 556)
2. Evaluate and select Health Information technology and applications for public and population health(course: PHIS 556)
3. Apply project management principles to manage and direct public health informatics projects (course: PHIS 556)
4. Recommend strategies and solutions that ensure confidentiality, security, and integrity related (PHIS 600)
5. Apply informatics standards appropriately for system interoperability and data/information exchange and contribute to standards development efforts in public and population health. (PHIS 656)
6. Perform data management and analytical support for population and public health including registries and dashboards for surveillance and health assessment functions using appropriate data management and analytic tools such as Python or R. (Course: PHIS 656, PHIS 680)
7. Communicate effectively, both verbally and in writing using reports, technical documents and presentations. (PHIS 556, 600, PHIS 656, PHIS 680)