DSU becomes an HIMSS approved education partner

December 4, 2016

DSU has been named as an Approved Education Partner (AEP) by the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS). An AEP is a training and education provider that meets HIMSS’s rigorous standards for effective health information technology and healthcare education.

Having met these standards, Dakota State University now joins an exclusive group of organizations authorized to offer HIMSS-approved healthcare and health information technology education and training programs that prepare candidates for advanced knowledge in health IT or healthcare.

“We are very pleased to receive this recognition from a professional organization focused on better health through information technology (IT),” said Dorine Bennett, chair of the Department of Health Information Management.

“The HIMSS approval comes as a result of DSU’s commitment to offering timely, relevant curriculum for our students to prepare them for success in their careers,” she added.

The program offers several degrees, from a health care coding certificate to a master’s degree in health informatics. These are progressive programs, so students may finish with an associates or a bachelor’s degree, and move on to the next level, Bennett said.

In the undergraduate programs, there are about 120 students located in 30 different states; there about 10 in the master’s program, which was created in 2009, she added. Students who are already practitioners working the field may continue in their jobs, as the classes are online.   

HIMSS noted DSU’s creation of this online M.S. in Health Informatics, which now produces master’s prepared informatics professionals for executive-level and enterprise-wide administrative, research and/or applied health informatics positions with courses in many different topics so critical to the health informatics. 

Topics covered with the DSU curriculum include data analytics, lifecycle governance, workflow and usability optimization, system analysis and design, project and change management, enterprise modeling and data management.

The DSU curriculum also serves as a solid foundation to prepare the student to take the professional CAHIMS or CPHIMS certification exams.

HIMSS also noted Dakota State’s work with the Center for the Advancement of Health Information Technology (CAHIT) with the pursuit to enhance education, promote HIT adoption, and increase awareness to the topics relevant to HIT.  

 “HIMSS is pleased to welcome Dakota State University as an Approved Education Partner.  By earning this designation, the organization has demonstrated that their educational development activities meet the rigorous standards for quality as identified by HIMSS.  With the AEP designation, Dakota State University establishes itself apart from others,” says Mara L. Daiker, senior manager, professional development, HIMSS.

Best Online Master’s

Nonprofit Colleges Online also named DSU as the #1 Best Online Master’s in Health Informatics, with their Students Before Profits Award 2017.

The award was “created to elevate nonprofit colleges and universities offering degrees that put students before profits and education before the bottom line,” says their website.

For the 33-credit program at DSU, the cost is $14,587.

Other schools which made the list are larger institutions. Seventh-ranked University of Missouri has about 10 times the number of students enrolled at the school, with about 33,000 students compared to DSU’s 3,190. Program cost at University of Missouri is over $25,000 for 33 credits.

Nonprofit Colleges Online also listed DSU #3 in health information management and health informatics.