Industry Insight

Report Ranks Top 50 Best Value Health Informatics Master’s Degrees

Value Colleges, an independent online guide to the best values in undergraduate and graduate education, has released their Top 50 Best Value Health Informatics Master’s Degrees.

While the health care sector has been one of the fastest-growing parts of the economy for quite some time, one field in particular—health informatics—is seeing tremendous growth. In the age of big data, the Affordable Care Act, and health insurance giants, record keeping is at a premium, and health care practitioners who can handle computer technology effectively are in great demand. Whether it is a nurse earning a certificate to increase income or an administrative professional learning a new skill, a health informatics degree is a great opportunity to enhance credentials. Value Colleges has looked at the nation’s most successful health informatics programs to rank the top 50 best value health informatics master’s degrees, giving prospective students the full picture of what colleges and universities can deliver on their promises.

Value Colleges uses three data points to determine ranking: reputation (US News and World Report ranking), cost (IPEDS public data), and return on investment (College Scorecard salary potential).

The top three programs for 2018 are 1) University of South Florida in Tampa, Florida; 2) Stanford University in Stanford, California; and 3) Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia.

The full list of the top 50, in alphabetical order, is as follows:

• Adelphi University in Garden City, New York;
• Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona;
• Boston University in Boston;
• Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts;
• Chatham University in Pittsburgh;
• College of St. Scholastica in Duluth, Minnesota;
• Columbia University in New York;
• Dakota State University in Madison, South Dakota;
• Drexel University in Philadelphia;
• Duke University in Durham, North Carolina;
• Florida International University in Miami;
• George Washington University in Washington, D.C.;
• Grand Canyon University in Phoenix;
• Jacksonville University in Jacksonville, Florida;
• Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore;
• Lipscomb University in Nashville;
• Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia;
• Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois;
• The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio;
• Oregon Health & Science University in Portland, Oregon;
• Regis University in Denver;
• Roberts Wesleyan College in Rochester, New York;
• Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey;
• Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia;
• Stanford University in Stanford, California;
• Stony Brook University (SUNY) in Stony Brook, New York;
• University of Alabama at Birmingham in Birmingham, Alabama;
• University of Arkansas at Little Rock in Little Rock, Arkansas;
• University of Central Florida in Orlando, Florida;
• University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida;
• University of Illinois at Chicago in Chicago;
• University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas;
• University of Maryland University College in Adelphi, Maryland;
• University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida;
• University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan;
• University of Minnesota in Minneapolis-Saint Paul, Minnesota;
• University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, Mississippi;
• University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri;
• University of New England in Biddeford, Maine;
• University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, North Carolina;
• University of San Diego in San Diego;
• University of San Francisco in San Francisco;
• University of Scranton in Scranton, Pennsylvania;
• University of South Florida in Tampa, Florida;
• University of Utah in Salt Lake City;
• University of Washington in Seattle;
• UT Health Sciences Center at Houston in Houston;
• Vanderbilt University in Nashville;
• Walden University in Minneapolis; and
• Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio.

— Source: Value Colleges

Founder and Former CEO of Practice Fusion Joins MTBC

MTBC, a provider of proprietary, cloud-based EHR and practice management solutions, announces that Ryan Howard, founder and former CEO of Practice Fusion, has joined MTBC as special advisor to the CEO. In this role, he will be providing strategic guidance to support the growth of MTBC’s next generation EHR, talkEHR.

“Ryan is an accomplished strategist and thought leader who built the largest cloud-based physician-patient platform in the United States by offering a free EHR,” says Stephen Snyder, CEO of MTBC. “We share Ryan’s disruptive vision of empowering health care providers with a top-tier, free EHR and are thrilled that he will be helping support our continued growth.”

“I’m very pleased to join MTBC as special advisor to the CEO,” Howard says. “Having spent much of the last decade building the largest physician-patient platform in the United States, I look forward to supporting MTBC’s full launch and growth of talkEHR.”

talkEHR is designed to utilize natural language processing and artificial intelligence to automate key components of patient charting and reduce manual tasks and errors. It is offered free of cost to health care providers. talkEHR users are also eligible to upgrade to MTBC’s premium end-to-end medical billing solution, which is offered at one of the lowest price points in the industry.

Howard, a serial entrepreneur and industry veteran, founded Practice Fusion in 2005. Under his leadership, Howard grew Practice Fusion into one of the largest physician-patient platforms in the United States. In 2016, Howard founded iBeat, a wearable technology company, which he continues to lead as CEO.

— Source: MTBC