The Master of Management in Clinical Informatics is a one-year residency program designed to:

• Train informaticians and health professionals to thoughtfully apply technology in order to improve the performance of providers, payers and regulators; to enhance patient care; and to promote the translation of scientific discovery into clinical practice.
• Provide insight into the interaction and interdependencies of informatics, advanced analytics, process improvement methodology, and business management principles.
• Hone functional skills and the ability to think strategically in a global business environment, allowing the immediate application of new-won knowledge and skills.
• Enhance opportunities for professional roles in a variety of health arenas, from payer and health systems to biomedical research and development.
• Assist in building a network of national and global contacts.

• Offered over four 12 week academic terms, the Master of Management in Clinical Informatics is based on an interdisciplinary curriculum that draws from clinical sciences, management sciences, and information sciences. All courses are taught by Duke Faculty.
• Curriculum requirements include seven management courses and five information technology courses, including an applied practicum. The practicum course provides real world experience and is the capstone course for the MMCi program, drawing from all areas of the curriculum. Practicum projects can be arranged through a student’s work locations, third parties, or under the Duke organizational umbrella including Duke Health Technology Solutions, Duke Clinical Research Institute, or Duke Health. 
• As part of their learning experience, students have opportunities to interact with their peers in other Duke programs, for example MBA and Master of Science in Clinical Research students, as well as with members of the health care industry.
• The Management in Clinical Informatics program is administered by Fuqua’s Health Sector Management program, one of the top such programs in the world. An advisory board representing Fuqua and the Duke University Health System will oversee the program.
• The Master of Management in Clinical Informatics is a professional degree that is not equivalent to a traditional MBA degree. However, the degree could easily be complemented by a full executive MBA at a later point.

Curriculum

Management Courses – Preliminary Descriptions

• Strategy
  Students will identify business opportunities in dynamic competitive environments and develop the skills necessary to become effective strategy analysts. They will explore the complexity of analyzing competition and assessing strategy in an era of globalization and increasing uncertainty.
• Corporate Finance
  This course examines important issues in corporate finance from the perspective of financial managers. The concept of net present value, suitably adapted to account for taxes, uncertainty, and strategic concerns is used to analyze how investment and financing decisions interact to affect the value of a firm.
• Decision Models
  Students will explore the use of decision models to understand different business scenarios in order to make sound business decisions. The course introduces several commonly used modeling tools (decision trees, Monte Carlo simulation, and optimization) and the art of modeling in a Microsoft Excel environment.
• Marketing Analysis
  This course will introduce students to the principles, processes, and tools necessary to analyze markets, including customers, competitors, and their own company (the 3 Cs) and to design optimal marketing programs via strategies for pricing, promotion, place, and product (the 4 P's).
• Supply Chain Management
  In this course, students will learn the basic facts and principles comprising the processes and activities involved with product delivery – from the extraction of raw materials, through transportation and processing, to the delivery of finished products to the customer.
• Managerial/Cost Accounting
  This course focuses on the design of management accounting systems for analyzing costs in the context of a firm's business model, as well as the use of managerial accounting data in planning and controlling operations.
• Organizational Design and Innovation
  Using information strategically to transform the delivery of care requires an understanding of the relationship between organizational design and processes. This course will explore how technology can be a catalyst for organizational change and transformation.

Clinical Informatics Courses – Preliminary Descriptions

• Clinical Informatics Strategy
  Health IT (HIT) solutions have been promoted as a means to reduce the cost and increase the quality of health care delivery in the US and globally.  The question we try to assess in this course is how we can deploy HIT technology to achieve its promise.  This question is addressed from a strategic rather than technical perspective in the class. First, we develop exploratory frameworks to help analyze potential for impact of IT implementation efforts:  scale economics, network economics, and organizational innovation.  Second, we assess the adoption of technology within existing organizations as well as barriers to adoption. Third, we explore the development of killer apps-how are health IT firms financed and what are successful business models and concepts.  Overall, students should have a grasp of the potential for the technology to achieve the cost and quality goals that have been proposed, and the barriers to achieving this success.
• Health IT Business Solutions
  Healthcare is highly regulated and associated with special needs and risks not present in other sectors. The health information system industry echoes this specialization. This course will provide an overview of principles and concepts of information technology with a focus on healthcare systems used in the healthcare setting and the industry seeking to serve these uses. This course will assist the student in identifying the critical needs of the current health information systems including vendor and healthcare organization perspectives. The course will include an examination of electronic health records, current and emerging use of clinical information systems and applications in clinical health information systems, technologies that support health care information systems, and system design, implementation, maintenance and overview and their impact on organizational resources and efficiency.
• Data, Information and Knowledge Representation.
  This course addresses different strategies for representing data, information and knowledge including description logic, information models, data elements, terminologies and ontologies. Emphasis will be placed on the data, information, knowledge framework for solving problems in health informatics. Both declarative and procedural knowledge acquisition, modeling, representation and use will be explored.
• Secondary Use of Healthcare Data
  Organizational decisions, including accreditation, quality management, and reimbursement would be improved by relevant, timely, accurate, and complete analyses of available data for decision support. This course is designed to introduce theoretical knowledge and practical skills to evaluate and conduct analysis for secondary data available in health care settings.  Using epidemiology methods as a framework, students will learn how one can evaluate or conduct secondary data analysis. The course helps students to recognize the principles of epidemiology methods applicable to health services and outcome analyses, and understand the terminology and methods for research using secondary data. Threats to validity including selection bias, confounding, information bias, and methods for their control will be discussed in a variety of settings emphasizing practical considerations.
• Practicum
  Through a team-based project approach, this capstone course applies the core concepts of the informatics and management courses to a “real world” situation at Duke Health Technology Solutions or in a similar clinical environment.   Students will explore the relationship between organizational strategy, implementation, and technical applications of health informatics. The practicum is arranged by the student and the student’s faculty advisor, and usually entails the student joining an ongoing real-world health IT project and project team, and requires a written, publication quality report of the practicum and related results. The practicum will be developed to encompass a work, internship, or independent study project. These projects extends beyond a single academic term, but must be completed within the duration of the MMCi 12 month program depending on the student's course of study.  The practicum assignment must be approved by the Program Director.   Note – International students will do a year-long practicum that is based on a minimum of 2 days (16 hours) per week being actively engaged in a real world project.  Practical work experience associated with the practicum may be paid or unpaid.
• Ethics Seminar
  Each term, a case-based ethics seminar will address ethical issues in health information technology. Topics may include the sale of prescription drug information; ownership of personal health records; data security breeches and organizational responses, and health literacy and access to electronic medical records.

Extracurriculum

The Master of Management in Clinical Informatics program offers students a variety of opportunities to engage with peers, leading industry professionals, and potential employers through seminars and guest speakers.

Student, Peer and Industry Networking

Clinical Informatics Club

Staff from the Health Sector Management and Duke Center for Health Informatics (DCHI) will assist students in setting up a student-run club that provides a forum to interact with industry professionals and alumni from prominent health-related organizations.

Other Networking Opportunities

Duke's location close to Research Triangle Park offers numerous opportunities to engage with industry leaders. Duke-sponsored industry events provide additional opportunities to interact with health care experts.

Clinical Informatics courses are open as electives to Fuqua MBA and Duke Graduate students which increases the opportunity to network with students from other backgrounds.

HSM-Sponsored Conferences and Meetings

Health Industry and Health Information Technology Events

Fuqua’s Health Sector Management team and the Duke Center for Health Informatics (DCHI) partner with numerous organizations to arrange seminars, meetings, and other events that bring together top minds in academia and industry. Many of these events involve and/or are open to students. Examples of past and upcoming conferences include:

• Delivering on the Value Proposition for Connectivity and Health IT – April 23, 2009
• Medical Innovation and Strategies Conference, Wireless and Consumer Healthcare – September 23, 2009
• DCHI Clinical Informatics Conference – March 11, 2010
• Second Annual Medical Innovation and Strategies Conference – September 15, 2010

Learn more about meetings and conferences

Industry-Sponsored Conferences and Meetings

Fuqua’s Health Sector Management program provides some sponsorships and stipends for students to attend local, national, and international health care conferences. These include meetings organized by the:

• Informatics Conference – April 27th, 2011
• NCHICA 7th AMC Privacy & Security Conference - May 22-25, 2011, The Friday Center, Chapel Hill, NC
• NCHICA 17th Annual Conference & Exhibition September 25-28, 2011, Grove Park Inn & Resort, Asheville, NC
• Himss – North Carolina Chapter
• Himss

Global Learning Opportunities

Worldwide Partnerships

Students have access to valuable resources and learning experiences through Duke's many global partnerships, including:

• Duke Clinical Research Institute, the world's largest and oldest academic clinical research institution, which has 5,000 investigators worldwide and currently conducts research in 63 countries.
• Duke Global Health Initiative, which brings together interdisciplinary teams and partners to reduce health disparities locally and worldwide, solve highly complex health problems, and train the next generation of global health leaders.
• Duke-National University of Singapore Graduate Medical School, Singapore's first medical school based on the American medical education model.
  

Program Format

The MMCi program is offered in a weekend format to accommodate the schedules of working professionals. Relevant ongoing work experience or an ongoing internship is a requirement of the MMCi program. Classes meet every other Friday and Saturday, with a few short break, for a 12 month period, August to August. The 12 month period is broken into 4 academic terms that run approximately 12 weeks each. During the term, classes meet on 6 class weekends. Classes run full days on Fridays and Saturdays. Additionally, there are career seminars and meet and greet events offered on Thursday evenings prior to class weekends.

Lodging will be optional. Beginning with Breakfast on Fridays, meals are included on Fridays and Saturdays through mid afternoon.

The Master of Management in Clinical Informatics curriculum is made up of 12 required courses, listed below. Each course represents three credits, for a total of 36 credits. Each course requires 27 contact or teaching hours which is met through the weekend schedule.

All students will be required to complete a non-credit ethics seminar that will meet four times throughout the year.

There are no elective courses, and no exemptions or substitutions are permitted.

Practicum

Through a team-based or individual project approach, this capstone course applies the core concepts of the informatics and management courses to a “real world” situation.  Students will explore the relationship between organizational strategy, implementation, and technical applications of health informatics. The practicum is arranged by the student and the student’s faculty advisor, and usually entails the student joining an ongoing real-world health IT project and project team, and requires a mid-term report and a final presentation summarizing the work performed and results. These projects extend across the Spring and Summer academic terms, but may be longer if arranged by the student and the mentor.  The projects must be complete by the end of the MMCi Summer academic term. The practicum assignment must be approved by the Program Director and the Program Faculty sponsor.