Technological innovation is a constant in nearly every industry. In healthcare, it’s especially instrumental in leveraging data to enhance patient care.

What most patients don’t see during a doctor’s visit or hospital stay are the people behind the scenes who actively work to improve patient care by analyzing healthcare data using information technology and data science principles — a practice known as health informatics. Not only does health informatics play a substantial role in the medical technological revolution, it’s also in high demand. In fact, the Bureau of Labor Statistics projects the health informatics job market will experience 16% growth by 2031.

UCF’s new online bachelor’s in health informatics program combines healthcare, information technology and data analytics to create a dynamic, interdisciplinary experience. Students will be prepared to become leaders in bridging the gap between clinical care and data-driven solutions, ultimately improving patient outcomes and driving the future of healthcare delivery. It’s also the first bachelor’s program of its kind in the State University System.

“The goal is to equip students to use data that we accumulate via mechanisms like electronic health records and research in a way that will improve healthcare outcomes and clinical treatments,” says Jillian Harrington, program director and Iecturer in the School of Global Health Management and Informatics. “I see them as data gurus of sorts. They will know how to take the information collected and synthesize it in a way that will be useful to physicians, health systems, pharmaceutical companies, and more in improving healthcare treatment and outcomes.”

The new program joins the ranks of the school’s existing master’s in healthcare informatics and bachelor’s in health information management (HIM) programs. The latter focuses primarily on the health information management aspect of healthcare, while its new sister program concentrates more on the technical side of the field, from data mining and programming to the use of artificial intelligence. These prepare students for potential career paths such as electronic health record analyst or implementation specialist, bioinformaticist, data or testing analyst, and clinical informatics specialist.

As Florida’s Premier Engineering and Technology University, UCF is in a prime location to put students on the doorstep of a host of strong healthcare partners in the greater Orlando area — many of which actively seek entry-level graduates in the growing field — and hundreds more throughout Florida and nationwide. Health informatics students also learn from and contribute to technological advances alongside faculty who are among the field’s top researchers and innovators in cutting-edge healthcare technology.

That includes enhancing cybersecurity in health records and developing clinical decision-support tools that improve patient care, such as a patented digital algorithm that identifies gaps and incomplete information in health records. Much of this work occurs in the Center for Decision Support Systems and Informatics under the leadership of Associate Professor Varadraj Gurupur. Here, students and faculty work with local healthcare partners to provide data-driven research solutions that empower decision-makers to tackle complex healthcare challenges and improve related health services.

Harrington says creation of the health informatics program was spurred by mutual interest from students interested in the technical aspect of health information, as well as community stakeholders and program advisory board members. It incorporates a mix of both new and existing courses, some of which overlap with those offered in the HIM and health services administration programs.

Some of the new courses include Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare, Internet and Web Technology Applications for Healthcare and Community Health Informatics.

“What we’re hearing across the industry is that there’s so much good that can come from the use of data in healthcare, and how we can use that data from electronic health records to figure out the best way to treat people and ensure that we’re providing good healthcare,” she says. “We can look at patients’ diagnoses, treatments and how they’ve reacted to those treatment patterns, and then compare that against other patients in similar situations or with similar demographic information. That information can be manipulated to look at specific things — for example, the risk factor for middle-aged women developing heart disease. This program and others like it are preparing people to go into that space, help develop those systems, and ensure the data is training those artificial intelligence systems appropriately.”

Students in the health informatics bachelor’s program receive complimentary memberships to professional organizations and associations such as the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society, the American Medical Informatics Association, and the American Health Information Management Association. They also have the opportunity to sit for exams to earn industry certifications, such as Certified Associate in Healthcare Information and Management Systems and Certified Health Data Analyst. The goal is to graduate with not only a degree but also industry experience via internships and earned certifications.

“Those who come out of this program will be prepared to work in the health informatics industry and to help shape the future of data and artificial intelligence moving forward, which will be a huge push for years to come as the industry figures out how to use these tools appropriately and safely,” Harrington says. “It’s really cool that our students can be part of that.”

Students interested in the bachelor’s in health informatics should contact Harrington at jillian.harrington@ucf.edu.