Dominican University debuts certificate program for public health informatics

Dominican University is launching its fall semester with a new certificate program, focusing on public health informatics, an emerging field where health care and technology overlap to provide data and knowledge for improving patient wellness while delivering complex services in a user-friendly environment.

The new program begins on Aug. 30 and is designed for both those already in the workforce with a bachelor”™s degree and current undergraduate students at the Orangeburg-based school ”” the latter group can earn a concentration or minor in this subject. Daytime classes will be held in person while evening classes will be virtual.

Dominican is offering this program via a $1.9 million Public Health Informatics and Technology Grant (PHIT) Workforce Program grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology. The school is one of 10 higher education institutions nationwide to receive this funding.

“The government decided that after Covid, they needed to be part of developing a trained workforce to address perhaps another pandemic, but also develop the workforce that is able to take all of the burgeoning amounts of information that we”™re getting data, health care, etc., and bring it into actionable intelligence for leaders,” said Carrie Boericke, the university”™s PHIT program director. “And we had a dearth of people that knew how to do that and had those skills.”

Boericke reported the university has 20 students signed up for the premier semester and she expected more to come in upcoming semesters.

“We”™re actively marketing this certificate program, which is a professional development program, because we think that people can jump on that at the last minute if they decide that that”™s what they”™d like to spend their time doing this fall,” she explained. “Learning more about this provides some key arrows in their quiver for today”™s marketplace.”

While insurance is not the central focus of the program Boericke noted the subject is addressed because “so much of the system is oriented toward what you need to be reimbursed, particularly on the CMS side and on the Medicare/Medicaid side. I”™ve talked about whether the insurance tail wags the entire dog, and certainly insurance companies need employees with informatics skills and public health informatics skills.”

Salaries in public health informatics can range from about $69,000 to more than $132,000, and the school promotes the new program by highlighting how obtaining a degree or completing a certificate in this field can bring about more robust salaries and job security. Furthermore, the school is offering its PHIT students paid internships provided by a consortium of partners that are advising the program, including Bon Secours Charity Health System, CorEvitas, Cornerstone Family Healthcare, Mount Sinai Health System, EmpiRx Health, and the New York State Department of Health.