The joint (BS/BPS)/MS online program permits students to complete both a bachelor’s degree in health information management (accredited by CAHIIM) and a master’s degree in health informatics in a reduced time frame with a reduced total number of credits. A typical first-year student will be able to complete this program in 5 years, whereas a full-time transfer student who has received credit for first and second-year courses will be able to finish the program in 3 years.

Requirements

Completing the joint (BS/BPS)/MS program requires a minimum of 145 semester hours, including 33 semester hours of graduate study. All specific requirements for both the bachelor’s and the master’s degrees must be met. Students in the joint program may simultaneously apply for up to twelve credits of graduate coursework for both undergraduate and graduate degrees. Students in the joint program will register for HI 501 (instead of HIM 440), HI 509 (instead of HIM 309), HI 600 (instead of HIM 401), and HI 610 (instead of HIM 330).

To be accepted into the accelerated (BS/BPS)/MS program, students must have been accepted into the undergraduate HIM program at SUNY Poly and possess a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale. Before registering for the graduate courses (typically in the senior year of the bachelor’s program), students must have taken a statistics math course with a grade of C or better, and they must have satisfied all pre/co-requisite requirements in the HIM 309, HIM 330, HIM 401, and HIM 440 undergraduate courses. These requirements are necessary to ensure that students succeed in their health informatics graduate courses while meeting all the undergraduate HIM competencies.

Status
A student enrolled in the joint program will be considered to remain in undergraduate status until the completion of 124 semester hours, and thereafter tuition and fees will be charged at the graduate level. The BS/BPS degree will be awarded at such time as all the requirements for that degree are satisfactorily met. Students are expected to complete their BS/BPS program requirements prior to pursuit of the MS degree except where those two programs overlap.

Academic Standing
Continued matriculation in the joint program requires maintenance of a GPA of 3.0 for courses taken at SUNY Poly in each of the following categories: (a) all courses applicable to the undergraduate degree; (b) health information management courses applicable to the undergraduate degree; (c) all graduate courses. Students with a GPA of less than 3.0 in any of these categories will be placed on academic probation in the program. Students on academic probation for any two semesters or with a GPA of 2.50 in any of these categories will be academically dismissed from the joint program. Students who are academically dismissed but have not yet completed the baccalaureate program but whose undergraduate performance is satisfactory will automatically be placed in the regular BS/BPS HIM program.

For academic questions/information, contact:
Jerome Niyirora, Ph.D., RHIA
Health Informatics Program Coordinator & Associate Professor
tel:315-792-7430 | jerome.niyirora@sunypoly.edu or email informatics@sunypoly.edu