Master of science program in health information management at Heidelberg/Heilbronn: a health care oriented approach to medical informatics.

In the year 2000 the University of Heidelberg and the University of Applied Sciences Heilbronn established a second educational program in medical informatics, leading to a Master of Science (MSc) degree. In addition to their 4.5 year medical informatics program as an informatics-based approach to medical informatics, a postgraduate program in 'health information management' (Informationsmanagement in der Medizin) was set up as a complementary health care oriented approach to this field. The aim of the MSc program is to qualify physicians and other health care professionals to work as medical informaticians, particularly in the area of health information management. We admit 15 new students into the program each year. The intended program length is 15 months, comprising two study semesters (14 weeks per semester) and three months for the Master's thesis. The graduates are awarded the title 'Master of Science' by the Medical Faculty of the University of Heidelberg. The program is part of the International Partnership in Health Informatics Education of the Universities of Amsterdam, Heidelberg/Heilbronn, Minnesota and Utah. We report on this new program and on our experience with our very first students. The curriculum is compared with the related MSc programs.