Health and nursing - Health care coordination or compliance

Industries such as health care, insurance and banking are highly regulated fields with a variety of legal guidelines they are required to follow. Compliance law focuses on mandating the regulations these organizations must follow to continue operating safely and legally. Large institutions often establish compliance departments dedicated to creating processes to track these requirements and manage data verifying organizational track records.

Whether you’re looking to advance in your career or make a switch into this field, this MLS program can support your goals by building your knowledge of the legal principles that underlie various business and health care regulations. This educational background can facilitate your understanding of how to create institutional frameworks in your organizations that meet policy demands.

The skills and knowledge you’ll develop

This program equips you with the skills and knowledge needed to implement relevant laws, regulations and ethical standards within organizations of any size. Your expertise will help businesses uphold legal and ethical standards, avoid reputational damage and build trust with stakeholders and employees. You’ll be well prepared to take on these challenges after gaining skills such as:

• Assessing and managing risk
• Conducting internal investigations
• Developing compliance processes and programs
• Enforcing ethical decision-making
• Interpreting regulations and compliance requirements
• Managing recordkeeping and reporting

Additionally, you’ll study strategies for devising and maintaining reporting mechanisms associated with industry guidelines. Through foundational courses and electives, you’ll also build abilities in legal writing and other broadly applicable skills.

What is a degree emphasis? Is it the same as a concentration?

A degree program’s emphasis is similar to a concentration, but there are key differences.

• A concentration is a formalized selection of courses within a major. A concentration requires a minimum of 15 credit hours of which at least nine credit hours must be upper division. Your concentration appears on both your ASU diploma and your transcripts.
• An emphasis is a selected topic area defined within the major. It’s typically 9–12 credit hours and doesn’t need to be officially declared. The emphasis will not appear on your diploma or transcripts.

Health informatics has a wide range of applications, from managing hospital bed usage at a local medical center to addressing global population health challenges. In this program, you’ll learn how health informaticians use data analysis to prevent diseases, improve patient safety and build decision support systems.

This program also focuses on the ways health informatics professionals create improved workflows in clinical settings, including using dashboards and data visualization tools. Developing effective management and analysis of health data can reduce costs and increase quality of care. Informatics expertise is highly valuable across industries, including clinical and non-clinical health care, academia, community health, global public health and more.

Further, this program trains an inclusive, multicultural and multidisciplinary group of students. Courses emphasize practical learning experiences to apply innovative informatics solutions in health care and population health. You’ll also gain theoretical and applied knowledge in health informatics to improve health outcomes for individuals and communities.

The knowledge and skills you’ll develop

In this program, you’ll dive into the analysis, science and interpretation of health care data. Courses offer a comprehensive understanding of how technology and data can be used together to improve public and private health care systems. Through your coursework, you’ll build competencies in:

• Analyzing and interpreting large sets of health care data.
• Applying leadership theories.
• Communicating complex information to multiple audiences.
• Recommending effective workflow solutions.

Additionally, you’ll explore the multidisciplinary nature of health informatics. You’ll learn how health informaticians collaborate with clinicians, biomedical and computational scientists, knowledge management professionals, educators and health care consumers to solve problems in health care delivery.

How does this program compare to a master’s in health information management?

While this health informatics program and the master’s in health information management both focus on health care data, they differ in their emphasis, skill sets and career outcomes. This degree emphasizes research, innovation and applying data for health care optimization. Courses highlight topics in health care databases, programming, telemedicine and population health analytics. Upon graduation, you can pursue roles as a health informatics analyst, clinical informatics specialist or a health care data scientist in various industries.

In contrast, a master’s in health information management (HIM) focuses on the accuracy, security and compliance of health care data. The curriculum covers medical coding, electronic health records management, data governance and regulatory policies. Graduates typically seek positions as compliance officers, health information directors, coding managers or privacy officers. While the HIM leans toward operational and compliance-based skills, health informatics is more technology-driven, emphasizing data science and system design.

In the complex field of medical products, there's a need for professionals who understand the regulatory framework and can apply regulations, guidelines and standards to ensure compliant conduct of clinical research. This program concentrates on the regulatory aspects of clinical research management to ensure the safety and efficacy of medical products. You’ll also go beyond the operational aspects of conducting clinical research to understanding the FDA regulations and requirements for bringing medical products to market. With a regulatory science degree concentration, you’ll have the ability to advance medical care and treatment while ensuring new discoveries adhere to regulations that keep patients safe.

Upon graduation, you’ll be prepared to apply the regulations, standards and guidelines that are applicable to medical products through the product life cycle including:

• Clinical testing.
• Conducting clinical trials to prove safety and efficacy.
• Postmarketing surveillance of the medical product.
• Preclinical testing.
• Submitting to the FDA for marketing approval.
   

Who’s a good candidate for this master’s program?

As an ideal candidate, you should have a bachelor's degree in a science-based program. Although not required, it would also be beneficial to have previous medical experience or familiarity with medical products and regulatory affairs. This program is a good fit if you're looking to expand your abilities in regulatory writing techniques, quality assurance and medical device management. You’ll also develop an understanding of how to meet regulatory oversight requirements related to conducting clinical studies. Additionally, this online master’s also offers the flexibility to study part-time if it’s more conducive to your schedule due to other obligations.

In this health care administration and policy master’s, you'll immerse yourself in transforming the health care landscape, focusing not on the benchwork of sciences but on revolutionizing how health care policies and systems serve populations. You'll explore ways to increase access to health care, particularly for vulnerable and rural communities, and tackle pressing issues like health equity. By blending studies in population health, health economics, policy and data analytics with leadership and systems thinking, you'll gain the skills to enact meaningful change.

Who’s a good candidate for this program?

If you're someone who naturally questions how things could be better, possesses an entrepreneurial mindset and thrives on creative and innovative thinking, this health care administration and policy master’s could be your calling. It's designed not just for those eyeing administrative roles but for anyone with a passion for health care or seeking to make a significant impact within the system. Whether you're already navigating a career in health care, from administration to clinical roles, or considering a pivot into this vital field, your drive to advance and innovate makes you an ideal candidate.

This program is also a strategic choice for those contemplating medical school. It offers a unique gap-year opportunity to gain insights into the broader context of health care delivery, policy's role in health outcomes and the potential of informatics to enhance decision-making and health results. Your ability to articulate a vision for your future in health care and how this program aligns with your goals is key, regardless of your background in health care or specific undergraduate degree.

What you can do with a health care administration and policy master’s

Upon graduation, you'll be equipped for a variety of impactful roles across the health care sector. Imagine leading teams as an advanced clinical leader, managing health programs or making big decisions as a health care administrator. Your skills in improving quality will be essential for bettering patient care. You may even start your own health care business, bringing new ideas to the field.

While some candidates may initially view this program as a precursor to medical school, students commonly realign their career trajectories towards health care administration or quality improvement upon exposure to the curriculum. As a graduate, you're not just getting a degree; you're preparing to make a real difference in health care, whether it's in managing teams, improving services or innovating.

The demand for clinical research managers is on the rise. This master’s program offers a transdisciplinary education in the commercial and fiscal practices of conducting clinical research, preparing you for these roles. You’ll also investigate the ethical and regulatory aspects of research and overall management of clinical drug, biological and medical device trials.

This clinical research management master’s is the first program of its kind to receive accreditation from the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs (CAAHEP). The CAAHEP is the largest programmatic accreditor in the health sciences field and is recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation in the U.S. and internationally.

The skills you’ll develop in this master’s program

Clinical research management is a field made up of medical professionals who direct and conduct clinical research and trials for new medical products and supervise clinical trial operations and staff. Clinical research managers also work with sponsors, institutional review boards and vendors involved in conducting clinical trials.

Upon graduating from this program, you’ll equipped with the skills needed to perform clinical research management duties, such as:

• Delivering staff trainings
• Developing and implementing policies and procedures
• Hiring and evaluating employees
• Leading operations management
• Overseeing budgets and contracts

Who’s a good candidate for a clinical research management master’s?

This program may be a good fit for you if you have experience working in clinical trials or are involved in various aspects of clinical trials, such as working on IRB submissions, training study staff or serving as a clinical research associate.

It’s important to note that you must have six months of experience related to research trials. If you don’t have six months of related experience, you may complete ASU’s Foundations of Clinical Research Management courses with at least a “B” to meet the experience requirements.

Are you interested in learning more about this program and other graduate health programs offered by the Edson College of Nursing and Health Innovation? Register now for an upcoming live, virtual information session.