OnlineSchool of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences
Health informatics specialists play an important behind-the-scenes role in improving patient outcomes through the use of novel informatics tools and techniques.
There is no typical MSHI student because people come to this discipline via IT, medical management, data analytics and patient care.
Sam Viggiano began his academic career earning a Bachelor of Arts in music with a minor in speech pathology. While in a Post-Baccalaureate program in pre-speech pathology, he began working as a financial administrator for the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. Now he’s working towards his online Master of Science in Health Informatics (MSHI) at the University of Pittsburgh School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences (SHRS).
The health care industry faces a consistent and growing demand for innovation. Patients and providers both want to see higher quality care and lower costs. Technology and data promise to help make this happen.
Health informatics consultants are support professionals responsible for the systems and databases that health care organizations and facilities use to maintain patient records. Industry advances in health IT and emerging digital health technologies are forcing health care organizations to keep up. Due to this growing need, the demand for health informatics consultants is increasing.
In February 2009, President Obama passed the Health Information Technology for Economic Clinical Health (HITECH) Act as part of the economic stimulus bill known as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Since then, more and more health care providers are abandoning the old ways of paper and filing and entering the digital age.
