Southwestern Oklahoma State University's (SWOSU) Feasibility Study For Implementing an Accredited Health Information Management Master's Degree Program

Transformation can be defined as a process of profound and radical change that orients an organization in a new direction and takes it to an entirely new level of effectiveness. The healthcare industry is in the midst of major transformation.;This paper focuses on the efforts proposed to Southwestern Oklahoma State University (SWOSU) to develop and implement a graduate level Health Information Management program. The research presented in the paper will make a case for implementation of this online program offering in the Midwest. The purpose behind the degree is to act as a catalyst between the health information undergraduate degrees's currently offered around the United States and many complementary undergraduate degrees from computer science to information technology, etc. The Health Information Management graduate degree will bridge the cap allowing graduates of this degree to fill many of the upcoming and necessary healthcare roles throughout the United States.;The only way to offer this additional knowledge to professionals is to have an adequate number of accredited health information management and/or health informatics programs throughout the United States. The project of this paper will lay out the application for a new program offering at SWOSU to the Oklahoma Board of Regents for Higher Education, which will need to approve such a program prior to any students enrolling in the program. In the future, the health informatics and information management component of additional knowledge will be necessary to position healthcare professionals as their organizations Health Information experts.