Healthcare Data Analyst Job Description, Key Duties and Responsibilities

By | August 18, 2023
Healthcare Data Analyst Job Description
Healthcare data analysts gather data from various sources to ensure improvement in service delivery.

Healthcare Data Analyst Job Description, Key Duties and Responsibilities

If you are looking to know what makes up the job description of a healthcare data analyst, including the key duties, tasks, and responsibilities they commonly carry out, this post will be helpful to you.

It will also help you learn of the major requirements employers commonly set for hiring for the position of healthcare data analyst. Please, read on:

What Does a Healthcare Data Analyst Do?

Healthcare data analyst gather and interpret data from a variety of sources, including electronic health record, billing claims, cost reports, and patient satisfaction surveys, to help organizations lower the cost of care, enhance the patient experience, and ultimately drive healthcare quality improvement.

They work in healthcare organizations and have a job description that entails providing data insights that drive clinical process improvement, such as reducing readmissions and hospital-acquired conditions.

They are responsible for data analysis, verification, and load mapping of customer financial and clinical healthcare data related to medical, RX, eligibility, biometric, and other types of data files.

They are responsible for mapping of raw customer financial and clinical healthcare data into standardized format using an application user interface.

Their role also involves undertaking research on data issues; they are responsive to any data indicating a customer opportunity or change in customer needs, and provide written business requirements for resolution.

Healthcare data analysts serve as a liaison between development and client relations staff and provide implementation support to the development team for new and existing customers.

They also work with internal teams such as Delivery, Customer Management, and Development staff to evaluate, prioritize, and execute development initiatives for new and existing customer data loads.

To become a healthcare data analyst requires a Bachelor’s degree in Business or in a quantitative field.

Data analysts in the healthcare industry also require some role based skills, including computer skills, communication skills, organizational skills, and problem solving skills to perform their job successfully.

Healthcare Data Analyst Job Description Example/Sample/Template

Healthcare data analysts perform various functions, including collecting, storing, retrieving, and presenting data that supports clinical and business decisions.

They are responsible for data mining, development, and preparation of data to provide useful information for internal and external stakeholders.

The major tasks, duties, and responsibilities of a healthcare data analyst role are listed in the job description example below:

  • Report and present clinical insights from the analysis of data from healthcare claims
  • Responsible for discovering discrepancies and patterns in available healthcare data
  • Responsible for standard and ad-hoc extracts/reports across multiple primary and secondary data sources
  • Perform design and creation of Tableau visualizations for clinical consulting reports
  • Provide reports and clinical data presentations to internal and external customers as required
  • Proffer suggestions on ways to improve healthcare delivery, quality, and cost effectiveness for client health plan populations
  • Responsible for tracking on-going outcomes reports and manage priorities for upcoming reports
  • Build models that capture a wide range of healthcare delivery data
  • Provide statistical analysis of large and complex datasets and ensure accuracy in analysis
  • Address project objectives by developing and implementing statistical analysis plans
  • Responsible for sophisticated code and sound statistical reports
  • Provide support in the market research data collection process
  • Responsible for the presentation of statistical findings to the consulting team and non-statisticians.

Healthcare Data Analyst Requirements – Skills, Knowledge, and Abilities for a Successful Career

If you are seeking the job of a data analyst in a healthcare environment, you will need to be able to meet some specific requirements set by the recruiting firm to prove that you will be effective in performing the purpose, objectives, and obligations of the position.

Shown below are major healthcare data analyst requirements most recruiters or HR managers will expect prospective candidates for the role to meet to be qualified for employment:

  • Education: To work as a healthcare data analyst requires a minimum of Bachelor’s degree in any of MIS, IT Engineering, Business, Health Informatics, Actuarial Science, Statistics, or Mathematics, or in a related field
  • Experience: Candidates for the position may be required to possess proven experience as a healthcare data analyst and experience at a pharmaceutical or biotechnological company, or with a consulting firm
  • They also require experience in quantitative analysis with a demonstrated focus in statistics and analytics, as well as experience with coding languages (e.g. R, Python, SAS, SQL) to query and extract data. Also, experience with Tableau, data collection, and analysis working with very large data sets is a plus
  • Knowledge: They require knowledge of SQL-Server, including stored procedures, table definitions and queries; an understanding of healthcare claims processing, rules, and regulations; Knowledge of Enterprise Data Warehouse (EDW), data management systems, and knowledge of Extract, Transform, and Load (ETL) frameworks
  • Collaborative skills: They must be able to work effectively with key stakeholders on complex cross-team or work group projects
  • Sound judgment: It is essential that they can apply discretion and judgment in discussing confidential information with people outside the company and must demonstrate the ability to change direction in response to changing work situations
  • Problem-solving skills: They require excellent problem-solving skills and a keen eye for details to carefully assess and accommodate detailed project requirements
  • Computer skills: They must be proficient with Microsoft Office tools, especially PowerPoint, Excel, Access, and Word for data analysis and presentation
  • Excellent analytical skills: They require the ability to analyze, explain, and draw logical conclusions based on complex data from multiple content areas
  • Communication skills: It is essential that they possess the ability to clearly articulate ideas and concepts both verbally and in writing
  • Organizational skills: They must be organized, able to prioritize tasks, and work effectively on multiple assignments.

Conclusion

If you are an employer, recruiter, or HR manager hiring for the role of a healthcare data analyst, you can create a detailed description of the position which you need to publish to inform interested individuals about the duties and responsibilities of the position, by applying the sample job description provided in this article.

You will also find this post helpful if you are someone thinking of getting into the healthcare data analyst career to learn about what the role entails.

Did this post help you learn about what healthcare data analysts do? Please, leave a comment in the box below. You can also share your job description if you work as a data analyst in a healthcare firm.