Experiential Learning in Health Care Analytics

Whether you're preparing to bring AI to public health issues, revolutionize precision medicine, or investigate equity in health insurance, there is no substitute for experience. In our Master of Science in Health Care Analytics program, you will gain valuable, real-world experience before you graduate through internships, projects, and working with faculty. 

how will i practice health care analytics beyond the classroom?

• Experience the one-of-a-kind health care environment of Pittsburgh, which boasts two major health systems—UPMC and Allegheny Health Network—along with world-class hospitals, skyrocketing investment in new facilities and technologies, and start-up incubators that promote entrepreneurship. The city is also home to the Pittsburgh Veterans Engineering Resource Center, one of only four VERC centers nationwide, exposing our students to a unique and crucial aspect of the American health care system. Our students and faculty partner with these organizations to pursue groundbreaking health care research and innovation projects.
• Move beyond the classroom and gain tangible skills through work opportunities both on- and off-campus, including research and teaching assistantships alongside our faculty experts.
• Solve a real-world problem for a real-world client in your team-based Capstone Project, collaborating with our industry and government partners.
• Make meaningful connections through internships and apprenticeships, many of which lead to full-time job offers.
• Apply your newly earned knowledge from class to immersive activities, workshops, events, and student clubs.

Not only do these opportunities crystallize concepts and strategies learned in coursework, they add marketable industry experience to your résumé prior to graduation.

CAPSTONE PROJECTS

Health Care Analytics master’s students complete a team-based project, working in close collaboration with a real-world client. These projects fulfill an actual business or operational need for a hospital, clinic, nonprofit, or local government agency, giving students an opportunity to have a measurable impact while still in school.

A recent group of Health Care Analytics students created a Large Language Model to analyze the discrepancies between organ transplant patient care handbooks across the U.S. Parsing 100 handbooks across 23 transplant centers, they discovered and visually represented the main differences, increasing the sharing of knowledge and patient transparency. Another group, in collaboration with Allegheny General Hospital, created analytics dashboards and Natural Language Processing models to streamline medical resident evaluation and feedback.

Recent Health Care Analytics Capstone clients include:

• UPMC
• Transplans.org
• SAS Institute
• Veterans Health Administration (VERC)
• Wounded Warrior Project
• Shoptaki
• Allegheny County
• University Hospital of the West Indies

Work directly with Faculty

As a Health Care Analytics student, you have many opportunities to enrich your grad school experience by working closely with world-renowned faculty.

• Collaborate one-on-one with a faculty member on an independent research project
• Contribute to a faculty member’s work as a research assistant
• Get involved with faculty projects through a CMU research center

Many classes at Heinz College focus on team-based experiential projects, advised by a faculty expert. These projects aim to solve an actual problem or fulfill a real need for a client organization. Courses with a focus on health care projects include:

• Healthcare Information Systems
• Designing Smart and Healthy Systems
• Consulting Lab

Health Care CONFERENCES

Each year, MSHCA students travel to prominent health care conferences including:

• Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS)
• American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE)
• America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP)
• INFORMS Business Analytics Conference