Information Systems Education Journal (ISEDJ) 10 (6) December 2012 Health Informatics as an ABET-CAC Accreditable IS Program Jeffrey P. Landry [email protected] Roy J. Daigle [email protected] Harold Pardue [email protected] Herbert E. Longenecker, Jr. [email protected] S. Matt Campbell [email protected] School of CIS University of South Alabama Mobile, AL 36688 USA Abstract This paper builds on prior work defending innovative information systems programs as ABET- accreditable. A proposal for a four-year degree program in health informatics, initiated at the authors’ university to combat enrollment declines and to therefore help information systems to survive and thrive, is described. The program proposal is then evaluated against ABET-CAC criteria for information systems degree programs. The results of the evaluation were used to refine the authors’ program proposal and provide further evidence of the defensibility of innovative IS degree programs as ABET-accreditable. Keywords: ABET, accreditation, Computing, Health Informatics 1. HEALTH INFORMATICS AS CURRICULUM must choose among three separate, accredited INNOVATION degree programs: Information Systems (IS), Information Technology (IT), and Computer The co-authors of the paper are faculty Science (CS). An era of enrollment decline has members in an information systems (IS) seen the pipeline of majors reduce to a trickle, program at a computing school, the University of and intensify the competition among the three South Alabama School of Computer and competing programs. Information Sciences (SCIS), where students ©2012 EDSIG (Education Special Interest Group of the AITP) Page 51 www.aitp-edsig.org /www.isedj.org Information Systems Education Journal (ISEDJ) 10 (6) December 2012 While there has been a decline in computing HI: A New Pipeline enrollments, the need for computing professionals is still strong, especially in the With the HIT workforce needs as a justification, domain of healthcare. The growth in the need a multidisciplinary health informatics (HI) for health information technology (HIT) workers certificate program was designed and has been fueled by recent legislative actions implemented at South Alabama. The certificate taken by the United States (U.S.) government. program was the result of collaboration among In order to remedy the slow rate of adoption of faculty and deans of programs in information information technology by healthcare providers, systems, nursing, the allied health professions, the U.S. government enacted the Health and health care industry representatives. Information Technology for Economic and Initially, HI course enrollments drew from Clinical Health Act (HITECH Act) as part of the students majoring in either health sciences or American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of IS. We quickly found that HI students, with only 2009. The HITECH Act encourages Medicaid and a computer literacy background, could grasp the Medicare providers to implement an electronic IS concepts; while the IS students, without health records (EHR) system and meet a set of clinical training or experience, could likewise meaningful use rules established by the pick up the healthcare context. Both sets of government by providing incentive payments students would adequately produce healthcare directly to providers. Medicare providers that systems analysis and design artifacts. that do not meet these requirements by 2015 will be penalized in their reimbursements by the Building upon the success of the certificate government. Currently, Medicaid providers face program, a full degree program in HI was no similar penalty (Lynn, 2011). proposed. The expansion of the certificate program to a major is designed to attract For many years the use of HIT has been limited, students in three groups: those interested in a and the need for technology workers who niche healthcare profession; those whose understand health care has been met by application for health science programs were traditional technology graduates learning on the declined because of program enrollment limits; job. However, the passage of the HITECH Act and those attracted to the computing first but has caused demand for such workers to far with a secondary interest in health care. outstrip the ability of healthcare organizations to Through the allied health/nursing pipeline, the supply these retooled workers. Leading up to program promises to attract more female 2015, there is a projected need for between students to high tech careers, as well. 30,000 and 50,000 skilled HIT workers. These numbers are based on estimates by the ONC, The development of a health informatics (HI) Bureau of Labor Statistics, and HIMSS degree program as an information systems (http://www.himss.org/Content/Files/CSC_US_H program, while addressing a workforce need, ealthcare_Workforce_Shortages_HIT.pdf). both nationally and locally, is also seen as a Providers need a workforce that is able to “hit strategy for the survival and growth of IS the ground running” in the healthcare setting. academic programs. By tapping into another market, i.e. another source of students, the HI It is no longer sufficient for colleges and degree program is a means for IS survival. universities to produce students who have Rather than competing within a computing knowledge of only the traditional business school with a strategy of differentiation, the environment since, as Hersh (2010) notes “a faculty in the IS program is expanding into new well-trained HIT professional should have markets with its new product, the health knowledge not only of information technology, informatics degree program. The program is will but also of health care, business and be interdisciplinary— program delivery will be a management, and other disciplines.” To meet collaborative effort of faculty from three the needs of the healthcare industry, it is academic units: the School of Computer and necessary to create a new curriculum that Information Systems, the College of Nursing, produces outcomes expected of a traditional and the College of Allied Health Professionals. information systems graduate, along with The program will be administered by a healthcare clinical environment training needed curriculum chair who will oversee all aspects of to understand the deployment and use of HIT in the program. The program is expected to enroll a modern healthcare organization (Longenecker between 30-100 students per year. et al., 2011; Campbell, et al., 2011). ©2012 EDSIG (Education Special Interest Group of the AITP) Page 52 www.aitp-edsig.org /www.isedj.org Information Systems Education Journal (ISEDJ) 10 (6) December 2012 This paper is one of three papers on the our current accreditation can be leveraged, we proposed HI degree program appearing in the will model the processes for continuous ISECON 2011 proceedings. The Campbell et al. improvement for the health informatics program (2011) paper provides the background of the according to the current processes in our program and its interdisciplinary design details, existing IS program. The authors’ school already including curriculum areas. The purpose of this has the processes, polices, and procedures for paper is to describe our efforts to define the HI monitoring student performance and progress, program as an IS-accreditable degree program. advising and career guidance, admission and As IS faculty experienced with ABET transfer credit, and for documenting that accreditation, we argue that health informatics is graduates meet program requirements. Since accreditable as an innovative IS program. For the curriculum is composed of existing courses an analysis of the HI curriculum against model taught by IS faculty in facilities already vetted curricula in IS and HI, see Longenecker et al. by the accreditation of the IS program, and (2011). since the program is a collaboration of deans of accredited programs, we expect the same 2. APPLYING ABET CRITERIA TO THE assessment of faculty, facilities, and institutional HEALTH INFORMATICS DEGREE support criteria for the health informatics program as for the existing IS program. The Prior work (Wood et al., 2010) has remaining three areas, program educational demonstrated that an innovative IS program can objectives, student outcomes, and curriculum, be argued to be an ABET-accreditable IS provide the newest and most challenging issues. program, that is, meeting the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology, Inc. Program Educational Objectives (ABET, Inc.) Computing Accreditation Commission’s (CAC) criteria for accrediting Program educational objectives are “broad computing programs, including the ABET-CAC statements that describe what graduates are general and IS program-specific criteria. In the expected to attain within a few years of prior work, a cyber forensics and security graduation” and that should be “based on the program was argued to be accreditable as an IS needs of the program’s constituencies.” For the program. The authors defended the need for health informatics program to be ABET- such professionals and illustrated how program accreditable, constituents of the program must and course outcomes could be mapped into the be identified, and program objectives written ABET-CAC program outcomes criteria for that are consistent with their needs. information systems programs (ABET-CAC, 2010). This paper builds upon the prior The health informatics program has the following approach to demonstrate that our health constituencies, and their representatives. See