Can you describe your role?

I work for an analytics company as a Senior Clinical Informatics Analyst. We extract data from electronic medical records, clean it, and feed it into sophisticated dashboards that include built-in preventive health quality measures. These dashboards help our client hospitals and clinics identify gaps in preventive care.

The government sets benchmarks that hospitals and clinics are required to meet. If they fall short, they’re fined—but if they exceed those benchmarks, they can earn bonuses and shared savings as financial incentives.

That’s where companies like mine come in. We help healthcare organizations organize their data and interpret the documentation released by Medicare and Medicaid. We run their data through quality metrics—so if a clinic’s score is at 40% but needs to be at 60%, we show them exactly what steps to take to close that gap. We guide them in improving their scores, support them through the government submission process, and help ensure they’re confident in the data they submit.

Can you give an example of a measure?

One example is breast cancer screening. Hospitals and clinics are responsible for making sure women within a certain age range receive routine screenings. Part of meeting this measure involves reaching out to patients—letting them know they’ve reached the recommended age bracket and, based on their medical records, it looks like they haven’t had a screening yet.

It’s beneficial for the patient because it allows for early detection if anything is found, and it’s also good for the hospital or clinic because getting that patient in for a screening helps improve their quality score. At the end of the year, the organization can compile a list of all the patients who completed their screenings and submit that data for reporting.

What does a typical day in the role look like?

We have internal consultants who act as liaisons between the client and the clinical informatics team. They create cases or tickets based on client needs, which are then assigned to our team and triaged among my colleagues and me, depending on the complexity or tier.

A big part of my day involves reviewing these cases and resolving client-related data issues. A lot of the work centers around making sure the data clients send us is properly mapped to the correct clinical concepts and quality measures—a process we call translating. Someone on my team might work on translating data for an entire year, so they become familiar with the ins and outs of each measure.

What comes after a year?

The next step involves actually coding in SQL to build the measures. For example, take breast cancer screening as one of the preventive measures. The specification might say: “The percentage of women between the ages of 50 and 74 who received a mammogram within 27 months prior to the end of the measurement period.”

To build that, I would read through that line and then review several pages of detailed specifications, including CPT and billing codes. From there, I write SQL code to create the measure. It involves building two components separately—a denominator and a numerator—and then joining them together. Once that’s done, we have a complete measure that the data can be processed through.

What led up to this role?

I started my career as a computer programmer, then transitioned into public health, where I developed a real passion for public health data. I spent many years in the public health space, but I realized the IT side of my interests wasn’t being fulfilled—so I decided to move into health informatics.

My first role that truly combined technology and healthcare was with an accountable care organization. Their focus was on holding hospitals accountable for unnecessary procedures—things that were often done just to increase billing. It was about preventing hospitals from getting away with practices that weren’t in the patient’s best interest.

I worked there as an implementation manager and absolutely fell in love with pulling and analyzing data. That was my first real introduction to this kind of work.

Eventually, the IT vendor we were working with noticed my work and offered me a role, which I accepted and stayed in for four years. After that, I returned to the nonprofit world, still doing tech and data work—but without the healthcare component, it was really tough. Then, I finally landed this role.

What skills are necessary for the role?

One skill is the ability to translate technical jargon into language a client can easily understand. During my interview, my company specifically asked about this. I told them I’m good at taking highly technical, analytical information and breaking it down in a way that makes sense to non-technical stakeholders. They said, “That’s exactly what we need.”

Another important skill is a willingness to continually learn new technology, since it evolves so quickly. Even SQL commands and code can change from year to year. It’s important to be self-motivated, adaptable, and able to learn independently.

What’s your advice for others?

Be persistent. I know figuring out a career path can feel really overwhelming. Even if you’re not exactly sure what you want to do, if you have an interest or some sense of direction, keep pushing forward. Apply to anything that comes close to what you're aiming for—just get your foot in the door and build from there.

That’s what I did. I knew I loved public health and IT, but I didn’t know where those two things could combine. I tried all kinds of roles until I eventually landed here. Staying open-minded and persistent can get you really far.