SLIPPERY ROCK — Slippery Rock University is introducing a health information management degree program that will be the first of its kind in the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education.

The master's degree program in health information management will begin in the fall of 2018, school officials said Friday. It is a 33-credit program that's being described as the “value-added bridge between clinicians, payers, regulators, patients, consumers and technology.”

The program will train students to manage technology based solutions to health care-related issues, and will be added to two existing graduate programs in data analytics and health informatics.

The program was approved this week by the system's board of governors, and drew praise from system chancellor Frank Brogan, who called it “forward-thinking and innovative.”

“We are convinced that degree programs like this will prepare a new generation of students for success,” Brogan said.