Are there Online MS in Healthcare Informatics Programs That Waive or Do Not Require the GRE?
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In short, yes! There are fully online master of science in health informatics (MSHI) programs that waive or do not require the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) as part of their admission requirements.
Because of the multifaceted nature of this degree, which is focused on improving patient care through data informatics analysis, people with a variety of knowledge in secure IT storage, data interpretation, and patient advocacy are ideal candidates for MSHI degree programs. Online MSHI programs are open to individuals with a wide range of professional backgrounds. With a degree that complements (but does not require) previous healthcare experience, graduates from MSHI programs go on to work in IT administrative roles in the healthcare industry.
The profile of a typical applicant to an MSHI program is a bachelor’s degree holder with two to five years of clinical or administrative healthcare experience; a computer science professional; or professionals with bachelor’s degrees and work experience in disciplines not related to IT or healthcare.
Due to the increased demand for trained and experienced healthcare informatics professionals, many universities are expanding their online degree program offerings. The turn of the 21st century brought many changes to the U.S. healthcare industry: the digitization of patient records, the expansion of health insurance through the Affordable Healthcare Act, and the large aging population. These policy and demographic changes have resulted in a 28 percent rate of job growth for medical and health services managers (2021-2031)—an accelerated rate that is faster than the national average according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics.
Access to the Internet has made it easier than ever for students enrolled in online MSHI programs to complete coursework in a way that best suits their personal and professional schedules. The online format empowers healthcare professionals, career-changing bachelor’s degree holders, and recent graduates to remain in their current jobs while completing an MSHI degree on a part-time or full-time schedule.
Online MSHI programs use web-based tools that deliver curricular content and promote interaction between students and professors. Through online learning management platforms, class discourse takes place in many forms: discussion boards, chat rooms, instructional videos, and live video conferencing. Some programs offer online coursework asynchronously—giving students the flexibility to access class material and complete assignments at their own pace by the deadlines set forth by the instructor. Some programs incorporate elements of real-time, synchronous activities requiring students to be online at certain times of the day or week.
While MSHI programs vary in their requirements and exact formats, they also have certain shared features. In addition to online coursework, many programs require a culminating capstone project that combines real-time practicum experience with an issue-based research project.
When considering online degree programs, an important factor is whether or not the program is fully online or offered in a hybrid (i.e., online with some face-to-face requirements) format. Some online programs offer campus immersions requiring students to be on campus for several days. Fully online programs may have “virtual residencies” enabling students to have similar face-to-face classroom experiences from the convenience of their homes or other off-site locations.
Most online MSHI degree programs feature a curriculum combining core classes and electives, allowing students to specialize in a specific area of interest within healthcare informatics. These specialized tracks benefit students, future employers, and the patients they serve by enabling future healthcare informatics professionals to tailor their studies to the administrative needs of the kinds of healthcare organizations they intend to serve.
Some online degree programs carry the distinction of accreditation by the Commission on Accreditation for Health Informatics and Information Management (CAHIIM). Graduates from CAHIIM-accredited degree programs are eligible to sit for certification exams offered by the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA), thereby ensuring future employers that they possess relevant knowledge and skills to work within an electronic health record (EHR) environment.
To facilitate an easier admissions process for these highly sought-after degrees, several universities have omitted the requirement of submitting standardized test scores for the Graduate Record Examination (GRE). This trend in collegiate admissions programs allows admissions committees to consider applicants’ academic abilities more holistically. Some programs will grant GRE waivers with proof of impressive academic performance and professional experience documented through degrees earned from accredited schools, a high GPA, professional work experience, previous GRE scores older than five years, or a letter of support and validation from a department head or professional superior.
Read on to learn more about featured fully online master of science in healthcare informatics programs that waive or do not require the GRE.
Online MS in Health Informatics Programs That Waive or Do Not Require the GRE
Arizona State University – College of Health Solutions
Professionals looking for a flexible way to learn how to manage healthcare institutions with global awareness and cultural competence can consider enrolling in the master of international health management (MIHM) offered through the College of Health Solutions at Arizona State University in partnership with the University of South Wales in Sydney.
This 100 percent online program has four different tracks to allow enrolled students to customize their learning experience. These include health economics; health informatics; hospital management; and quality improvement in healthcare. Examples of coursework in the 30-credit program include process engineering; healthcare systems and design; health economics, policy, and payment models; comparative healthcare systems; healthcare management and finance; fundamentals of health informatics; health informatics database modeling and applications; and high-value patient-centered care.
No GRE or GMAT scores are required to apply. Eligible applicants have a bachelor’s or master’s degree in a related science or health service field (pharmacy, social work, nutrition, etc.) from a regionally accredited college or university with a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.0.
- Location: Tempe, AZ
- Accreditation: Higher Learning Commission (HLC)
- Expected Time to Completion: Full-time (12 months); part-time (24 months)
- Estimated Tuition: $879 per credit
The University of Central Florida offers a 100 percent online 38-credit master’s of science in healthcare informatics. This CAHIIM-accredited program offers admission twice a year and focuses on providing students with a thorough grounding in the clinical, management, and business aspects of healthcare informatics. The program is ideal for bachelor’s degree holders from any discipline and current healthcare professionals seeking career changes. GRE or GMAT scores are not required for admission.
Graduates of the program will be able to interpret patient data and provide actionable patient insights. The curriculum includes healthcare informatics and information technology; biostatistics and decision analysis; system analysis and design; project management in healthcare informatics; healthcare database management; privacy and security in healthcare informatics; and healthcare data architecture and modeling.
- Location: Orlando, FL
- Accreditation: Commission on Accreditation for Health Informatics and Information Management Education (CAHIIM); Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC)
- Expected Time to Completion: 24 months
- Estimated Tuition: $772.69 per credit
The University of Cincinnati offers a 33-credit fully online master’s in health informatics (MHI) program. Students can complete this program on a part-time schedule in as few as two years. Faculty for the MHI program is composed of professors from the University of Cincinnati’s Lindner College of Business and leading healthcare industry experts.
This MHI program does not require students to have any healthcare or IT experience, nor does it require GRE or GMAT scores for admission. Applicants must possess an undergraduate degree with a minimum GPA of 3.0 and submit two letters of recommendation.
Coursework covers topics that prepare students for certification and an optional health information security certificate is available for an additional nine credits of elective courses. The curriculum includes healthcare and public health landscape; health informatics, information systems, and technology; health information legislation, privacy, and security; project and program management; leadership and strategic management in health settings; and introduction to healthcare data science.
- Location: Cincinnati, OH
- Accreditation: Commission on Accreditation for Health Informatics and Information Management Education (CAHIIM); Higher Learning Commission (HLC)
- Expected Time to Completion: 24 months
- Estimated Tuition: Resident ($754 per credit); non-resident ($769 per credit)
University of Illinois at Chicago
The University of Illinois at Chicago offers a fully online master’s degree in health informatics, which prepares future health professionals to apply technology to improve patient care and outcomes. Designed for students from various educational and professional backgrounds, this program aims to equip graduates with the knowledge and skills to effectively deliver medical information to healthcare providers and help drive data-informed decisions in the field. Optional concentrations in health data science; consumer and mobile health; and leadership are also available.
Admission requirements to the program include a bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution, a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.0, registrar-issued transcripts, and English proficiency test scores for international students. GRE or GMAT scores are not required.
Made up of 38 credits, the program includes courses such as healthcare data; information sources in biomedical & health information sciences; communication skills in health informatics; ethics & legal issues in health informatics; healthcare information systems; health information systems analysis & design; and topics in health informatics.
- Location: Chicago, IL
- Accreditation: Commission on Accreditation for Health Informatics and Information Management Education (CAHIIM); Higher Learning Commission (HLC)
- Expected Time to Completion: 24 months
- Estimated Tuition: $750 per credit
George Mason University offers a fully online CAHIIM-accredited master’s of science in health informatics. This program is ideal for a wide range of students including current clinical and administrative healthcare professionals, information or data science professionals wanting to specialize in healthcare, career-changers with no experience in IT or healthcare, and students who are new or experienced in healthcare informatics. The evidence-based curriculum is student-centered, routinely evaluated, and adjusted to respond to the dynamically changing healthcare and technology fields.
Students have concentration options in health informatics management and health data analytics. Comprising 36 credits, the program includes courses such as an introduction to the US health system; computational tools in health informatics; introduction to health informatics; healthcare databases; statistics in health services management; health care security policy; data mining in health care; and health data integration.
Applicants to the program must have a bachelor’s degree or equivalent from an accredited university or college with a minimum GPA of 3.0. GRE or GMAT scores are not required for admission.
- Location: Fairfax, VA
- Accreditation: Commission on Accreditation for Health Informatics and Information Management Education (CAHIIM); Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC)
- Expected Time to Completion: 22 to 28 months
- Estimated Tuition: $800 per credit
The University of Scranton offers an online master of science program in health informatics, preparing students to translate the knowledge of numbers into better patient care. Students can also specialize in an optional data analytics concentration.
To get accepted into the program, applicants must have a bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university, a minimum undergraduate GPA of 3.0, official transcripts from all previously attended institutions, a current resume, a personal statement, and three letters of recommendation. Work experience and GRE or GMAT scores are not required for admission.
Students in the general track must complete 33 credits, while those in the data analytics specialization must complete 41 credits. Courses include introduction to health informatics; healthcare knowledge for health informatics; principles of computer science and software development; information technology for health informatics; database principles and applications; population health for health informatics; and health information policy and governance.
Graduates will be ready to take up positions such as insurance analysts, home health specialists, informatics specialists, directors of clinical informatics, and clinical documentation managers.
- Location: Scranton, PA
- Accreditation: Commission on Accreditation for Health Informatics and Information Management Education (CAHIIM); Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE)
- Expected Time to Completion: 24 months
- Estimated Tuition: $757 per credit
Grand Canyon University’s College of Nursing and Health Care Professions offers an online master’s in health informatics degree that prepares students to use information technology, both software and hardware, for better decision-making and patient outcomes.
Students pursuing this program are not required to have specific undergraduate degrees for admission. Any bachelor’s degree is acceptable for this program. GMAT or GRE scores are not required.
Consisting of 42 credits, the program includes courses such as applied business probability and statistics; foundations of informatics; healthcare information systems and technology; healthcare data management; electronic health records; health data analytics; health information systems security; and user interface design for informatics.
Graduates can take up roles such as software developers, computer network architects, data scientists, database architects, information system analysts, and information security analysts.
- Location: Phoenix, AZ
- Accreditation: Higher Learning Commission (HLC)
- Expected Time to Completion: 24 months
- Estimated Tuition: $575 per credit
Duquesne University’s John G. Rangos Sr. School of Health Sciences offers an online master’s in health administration program with a concentration in health informatics and data analytics. Graduates through this concentration will be able to promote value-based care by designing and developing systems that support collaborative, data-driven decisions.
For admission to the program, applicants must have a bachelor’s degree from an accredited university with a cumulative GPA of 3.0 from their most recent institution. Two to three years of work experience is recommended, but not required. GRE scores are not required.
The program’s 42-credit program includes courses such as health informatics and data analytics; data mining and predictive modeling; leadership in healthcare management; operations and quality management in healthcare; healthcare financial management; healthcare information systems; and healthcare law and ethics.
- Location: Pittsburgh, PA
- Accreditation: Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Management Education (CAHME); Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE)
- Expected Time to Completion: 16 months
- Estimated Tuition: $1,545 per credit
Adelphi University’s College of Nursing Public Health offers an online master of science program in healthcare informatics helping working professionals gain the healthcare managerial, leadership, analytical, and technical skills required for making critical decisions as clinical data analysts or clinical/nursing information specialists.
Applicants to the program must have a bachelor’s degree from an accredited four-year institution with a minimum 2.7 cumulative GPA, a graduate admission application, official transcripts from all prior institutions, a current resume, two letters of recommendation, a 500-word essay, and TOEFL or IELTS test scores for international candidates. GRE scores are not required.
The curriculum of this 39-credit program includes courses such as computer applications for healthcare management; human interaction, integrity, and interoperability; clinical decision support systems and evidence-based practice; introduction to health informatics and culture of healthcare; health analytics, big data, and natural language processing; health management information systems and organizational behavior; and business of healthcare informatics.
- Location: Garden City, NY
- Accreditation: Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE)
- Expected Time to Completion: 24 months
- Estimated Tuition: $950 per credit
Boston University’s Metropolitan College (MET) offers an online master of science program in healthcare informatics that exposes students to modern health information technology, including health processing, data collection, analysis, and storage.
As the program primarily focuses on electronic medical data generated and stored in public health and healthcare organizations, graduates will have a strong knowledge of healthcare information systems, including electronic health records (EHRs). Additionally, the program offers optional concentrations in two high-demand areas of healthcare IT: health information management, and applied data analytics.
Comprising 32 credits, the program includes courses such as biomedical sciences and health IT; health informatics; health information systems; ethical and legal issues in healthcare informatics; advanced health informatics; cybersecurity; information structures with Java; and information systems analysis and design.
Applicants must have a bachelor’s degree from a regionally accredited college/university in any field of study. GRE or GMAT scores are not required for admission.
- Location: Brookline, MA
- Accreditation: Commission on Accreditation for Health Informatics and Information Management Education (CAHIIM);
- Expected Time to Completion: 16 to 24 months
- Estimated Tuition: $520 to $955 per credit
The University of Pittsburgh’s School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences offers an online master of science program in health informatics. Graduates of the program will be able to expand their career opportunities at the intersection of healthcare, technology, and business management. Students pursuing this program can choose from four tracks and four additional certificate options: the data science track; the general health informatics track; the healthcare supervision and management track; and the health services analytics track. Certificate options are available in health data analytics; health information cybersecurity; leadership in health informatics; and revenue cycle management.
Qualified applicants must hold a bachelor’s degree in any field with a minimum 3.0 cumulative GPA. GRE is not required for admission to the program.
The program’s 36-credit curriculum includes courses such as introduction to python for health informatics; health information and the healthcare system; financial management and health care reimbursement; talent management and human resources; foundations of health informatics; healthcare analytics and data visualization; and data science in health informatics.
- Location: Pittsburgh, PA
- Accreditation: Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE)
- Expected Time to Completion: 16 to 24 Months
- Estimated Tuition: $1,190 per credit
Purdue Global’s online master’s degree in health informatics intersects computer science, information management, and healthcare. Students in this program will be able to explore the tools and processes used for recording, storing, and analyzing healthcare information. The program includes a final capstone project where students can apply their learning to a real-world issue in health informatics.
This 48-credit program includes courses such as leadership and management in healthcare; health informatics; health information applications and systems; clinical terminologies, vocabularies, and information standards; project management of health information systems; healthcare data analytics; and legal and ethical issues in health information.
- Location: West Lafayette, IN
- Accreditation: Higher Learning Commission (HLC)
- Expected Time to Completion: 18 months
- Estimated Tuition: $420 per credit
University of Arizona Global Campus
The online master of science program in health informatics and analytics offered by the University of Arizona’s College of Arts and Sciences will provide graduates with the knowledge and skills required to help health professionals provide optimal care. The program focuses on the function and structure of information, privacy, security, and interoperability standards, the effective use of data in problem-solving and information governance, and health information exchange.
The program comprises 39 credits and includes courses such as foundations in health informatics; healthcare management information systems; healthcare program & project management; systems analysis, design, & technology management; technology topics in information governance & business analytics; providers topics in health informatics; and advanced topics in biomedical informatics.
Graduates will be prepared to handle technologies used for recording, securing, and sharing health data. They will be prepared for several career opportunities. These include health information technologists, clinical data managers, health informatics specialists, health informatics analysts, clinical data managers, and medical and health services managers.
- Location: Tucson, AZ
- Accreditation: WASC Senior College and University Commission (WSCUC)
- Expected Time to Completion: 24 months
- Estimated Tuition: $740 per credit
George Washington University’s Milken Institute School of Public Health offers an online master of public health program with a concentration in health informatics and analytics. Students in this program will learn how data, analytics, and information technology (IT) are transforming the healthcare landscape.
Applicants to the program must have a bachelor’s degree from a regionally accredited university and must submit a statement of purpose, official transcripts, a current resume, two letters of recommendation, and English language proficiency for international students. GRE scores are not required for admission.
Made up of 45 credits, the program includes courses such as population health analytics; health IT, informatics, and decision making; health systems and health IT applied analysis immersion; predictive analytics: applying the concepts to predictive modeling; research analytics: applying the concepts to analytics; design of technologies for health and healthcare settings; health law and health IT; and healthcare delivery and health IT.
- Location: Washington, D.C.
- Accreditation: Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE)
- Expected Time to Completion: 12 to 18 months
- Estimated Tuition: $1,835 per credit
Liberty University offers a 42-credit fully online master’s degree to help future healthcare administrators facilitate the management and use of patient healthcare information. With a relevant curriculum designed to train students in cutting-edge technologies, graduates of this program are prepared to create a high-quality experience for each healthcare patient. Through the university’s online research portal, students acquire access to various resources to facilitate their graduate-level studies.
The curriculum includes courses such as legal & ethical issues for health professionals; organizational behavior in health systems; healthcare administration; quality assessment & evidence-based decision making; managerial epidemiology; quantitative methods in healthcare management; systems analysis, modeling & design; and health informatics.
The major admission requirements for the program include a bachelor’s degree with a GPA of 3.0, a completed admission application, official college transcripts, and proof of English proficiency for applicants whose native language is other than English. GRE or GMAT scores are not required for admission.
Graduates can take up roles such as cancer registrars, data administrators, data networking analysts, health information managers, health information technicians, medical coders, and systems integration specialists.
- Location: Lynchburg, VA
- Accreditation: Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC)
- Expected Time to Completion: 18 to 24 months
- Estimated Tuition: $565 per credit
