r/HealthInformatics

I am an international student who is going to study Computer Science. The tech field is not good but I don't know I really want to get in like a field similar to like tech but I also want to be secured and get PR. Should I get into health informatics?

I’m looking for some career advice from people who have been in healthcare administration, health IT, or informatics.
I’m 28 years old and currently work as a Patient Care Coordinator at Emory. Before that, I worked at Johns Hopkins for six years in Patient Access and became a lead after about four years. Most of my experience is in patient access, registration, insurance verification, scheduling, Epic, and improving front-end workflows.
I started college as a Biology major but dropped out during my third year. Now I’m ready to go back to school, but I want to make the smartest decision.
My long-term goal is to improve healthcare systems, work on process improvement, operations, data, or informatics, and earn at least $100k by my 30s.
I’m considering two paths:
1. Earn an Associate’s degree in Health Information Management (HIM), get into the field sooner, and then continue toward a bachelor’s.
2. Skip the HIM associate’s degree, earn certifications (Excel, SQL, Power BI, Lean Six Sigma, etc.), and work toward a bachelor’s in Healthcare Informatics.
For those of you already in healthcare IT, informatics, HIM, or healthcare leadership:
• Which path would you choose if you were starting over?
• Is the HIM associate’s degree worth the time, or would certifications plus a bachelor’s be a better investment?
• What certifications have actually helped you get promoted or increase your salary?
• If your goal was to make $100k+, what would your roadmap look like from where I am today?
I’d really appreciate hearing from people who’ve made similar career moves or are currently working in these fields. Thanks!

Hi all!
Wondering if it is possible to get into clinical informatics specialist role without clinical experience. I have a HIM background, then became an Epic consultant with Microsoft, and now a consultant helping clinics improve their epic builds for better revenue outcomes. Is this enough?

Also would love your experience as a clinical information specialist at an entry level.

Hi everyone, I'm a biotechnology engineering student interested in moving into healthcare data analytics.
How's the job market in India right now?
Which companies hire for these roles?
What skills or tools are most valued (SQL, Python, Power BI, SAS, CDM, etc.), and what kind of roles should I target as a fresher?
If anyone is currently working in this field, I'd really appreciate any insights or advice. Thanks!

Hey everyone,

I hate to sound too desperate, but I'm at the point where I could really use some help.

I'm projected to finish my M.S. in Data Science next week and have over five years of healthcare experience as a pharmacy technician. I've been working hard to transition into data analytics by building projects with SQL, Tableau, Python, R, and Excel, refining my resume, networking on LinkedIn, and applying to what feels like hundreds of jobs.

I also have what I believe is a solid portfolio of healthcare analytics projects that showcases my SQL, Tableau, Python, Excel, and data visualization skills, so I genuinely feel like I've put in the work to prepare myself. Despite that, I'm still struggling to get my foot in the door.

To be honest, one of the hardest parts isn't even the applications anymore. It's going home every day and having my family constantly ask why I still haven't found a job. I know they're worried about me and want me to succeed, but after spending hours tailoring resumes, applying, networking, and preparing for interviews, it's mentally draining to feel like I'm constantly being reminded that I haven't made it yet.

I'm primarily interested in Research Data Analyst, Healthcare Data Analyst, Business Intelligence Analyst, Clinical Data Analyst, Population Health Analyst, Quality Improvement Analyst, Reporting Analyst, and healthcare IT roles. I've also started looking into Epic Analyst, Epic Applications Analyst, and Epic Reporting Analyst positions because I believe my healthcare background would translate well, even though I don't have direct Epic experience yet.

If anyone here works in healthcare, healthcare IT, health insurance, life sciences, biotech, pharmaceuticals, or another industry that hires data analysts, I'd be incredibly grateful for the opportunity to connect. If you know of any openings that align with my background, I'd love the chance to chat. And if, after getting to know me and reviewing my experience, you'd feel comfortable referring me, it would truly mean the world to me. I also live in Sacramento, California and open to remote roles as well.

I'm happy to share my resume, portfolio, GitHub, and LinkedIn with anyone who's interested.

Thank you for taking the time to read this. I know everyone is busy, but I'm determined to keep going. I truly appreciate any advice, conversations, referrals, or leads.

I’ve been toying around with MCP for healthcare data and ended up building an open-source Node.js server called fhirHydrant.

FHIR is the common API format for healthcare records: labs, meds, conditions, encounters, documents, etc. It’s also notoriously noisy and overloaded. One of the more useful pieces I built was a compaction layer that strips giant FHIR responses down to the parts an AI client usually needs, so you’re not burning tokens on wrappers, metadata, and repeated coding structures.

I’ve already used it for some interesting workflows, like analyzing large sets of lab results and cross-referencing them with other chart data.

Sharing in case anyone else is thinking about the same AI + interoperability plumbing.

https://github.com/faulkj/fhirhydrant

Hi everyone,
I’m looking for some honest advice from people who are currently working in Health Informatics or related healthcare technology roles in Canada.
A little about me:
I completed my Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS) in India.
After moving to Canada, I completed a diploma in Healthcare Administration.
I currently work at Hospital in the Canada as Administrative Assistant, so I’ve been gaining firsthand experience with the Canadian healthcare system and hospital workflows.
I’m now considering pursuing a specialization/master’s in Health Informatics and would really appreciate insights from professionals in the field before making such a significant investment of time and money.
Some questions I have:
How is the job market for Health Informatics in Canada right now?
What does the long-term future of the field look like, especially with AI becoming more common in healthcare?
Is it a stable career with good growth opportunities over the next 10–20 years?
Are graduates finding jobs relatively easily, or is the market becoming saturated?
Which skills, certifications, or technical knowledge would you recommend developing alongside a Health Informatics degree to stay competitive?
If you could start over, would you still choose this field? Why or why not?
Are there any universities or programs in Canada that are particularly well respected by employers?
I’m looking for realistic opinions—not just the positives, but also the challenges, limitations, and things prospective students often don’t hear until after graduation.
If anyone has transitioned into Health Informatics from another healthcare profession, I’d especially love to hear about your experience.
Thank you in advance for sharing your insights.

Hey everyone,

I’m a recent Computer Science & Artificial Intelligence graduate and I’ve developed a strong interest in applying AI in healthcare

During my academic journey, I worked on an AI-based medical imaging project (brain tumor detection), which made me realize how impactful this field can be. Now I want to seriously build my career in this domain, but I’m trying to understand the real roadmap beyond college projects.

I’d love to connect with people who are already working, researching, or studying in this space.

I’m looking to learn:

• How did you enter this field?

• What skills mattered the most?

• How important is research compared to industry experience?

• What kind of projects helped you stand out?

• Is a Master’s/PhD necessary for serious work in this field?

• What mistakes should beginners avoid?

My long-term goal is to work on impactful healthcare AI systems,

Would really appreciate hearing your journey, roadmap, or any advice for someone starting from scratch.

“If anyone is open to mentorship or sharing resources/papers, I’d be grateful.”

I’m starting my Master’s in Health IT this August at UMBC and have about two months before classes begin. Since I’m new to Health IT, I’m trying to figure out what employers actually value.
My goal is to graduate with the skills, portfolio, internships, and experience to stand out well above the average entry-level candidate and ideally be competitive for an $80k-$100k+ role.
If you were starting over, what would you focus on during grad school?
Specifically:
● Which certifications are actually worth getting?
● Which technical skills should I prioritize (SQL, Power BI, Python, Excel, FHIR, HL7, cloud, etc.)?
● How important is building a project portfolio compared to certifications?
● Should I prioritize a part-time Health IT job during the semester or focus on landing a strong summer internship?
● What mistakes do you see graduate students make that hold them back?

I’d really appreciate any advice from people already working in Health IT. Looking back, what would you have done differently?

while working in healthcare units and from my expereince using QuickBlox as a real time communcation platform inside medical applications I noticed that real time communication has a direct impact on hospital workflow speed It was used as a communication layer between medical staff inside the app allowing instant messaging and updates between doctors and nurses much faster than traditional methods In real cases this helped reduce delays in information transfer between teams It really made me realize how important real time systems are in patient care

Curious if others working inside hospitals see the same improvment when real time systems are used

I recently completed a B.S. in Health Informatics. The program gave me exposure to tools such as SQL, Python, and Tableau, but not to the level where I would consider myself highly proficient. On the side, I independently learned Power BI and had the opportunity to apply it during my internship (We were required to do unpaid internships in our program), although I'm not sure how much value employers place on that experience.

What I'm struggling with most is navigating the job market. Health Informatics is still a relatively new field and often seems to fall into a gray area between healthcare, IT, data analytics, and business. As a recent graduate, I'm unsure which career paths I should be targeting, what certifications would be most worthwhile, and how to position myself effectively. Any advice from those who have been in a similar position would be greatly appreciated!!

i want to take advantage of my employer’s tuition coverage and am leaning towards a career change from pharmacy technician to a job in informatics. Sorry if this is an often repeated post.

id consider going for a masters in the future if still covered.

I want to go back to school, and have experience in public health using databases for national outbreak surveillance. I thought getting a health informatics masters would be a good transition because of my background, but all the job postings I'm seeing for the career paths I've found so far require experience in healthcare already. Epic analysts need Epic certification which you can only get from inside of healthcare, and everything else seems to require healthcare experience. Is the system designed that way to keep outsiders out or has anyone actually broken in from the outside without starting as a front desk technician or clinician of some sort? I got accepted into the program and I'm really considering dropping my offer.

Hello, I have an MS in biostatistics and an MPH in environmental health sciences. I’m currently working as a statistical programmer in big pharma working on vaccine clinical trials. I’m looking at leaving this field because of the workload/high stress environment. It is common to work 90 hour weeks during deliverables and I no longer want to work at this level.

With my background is a transition to health informatics possible? I have professional experience primarily in SAS and R, but I am learning Python as well.

If my education would be a decent fit, what could I do to make myself stand out it as a decent candidate? I applied for an entry level role at my local hospital, but was denied. I tried reaching out to someone on LinkedIn to discuss the field, but never heard back.

Is there some semblance of work life balance in health informatics? Or at least predictably during busy times?

Thank you in advance.

Hello everyone! Looking into patient identity / EMPI / MPI data integrity work and I’m trying to figure out if it’s actually a good career path or if it’s too niche.

The part that interests me is the investigative side: comparing patient records, finding possible duplicates, figuring out overlaps, correcting identity/data issues, and escalating anything that isn’t clear. I like detail-heavy computer work, and I like that this kind of work connects to patient safety and healthcare data quality.

But before I put real time into training for it, I want to understand what the job is actually like.

For anyone who works in EMPI, MPI, HIM, health IT, patient access, or healthcare data quality:

• Is this a stable field with real job availability?
• Is it hard to get into without years of healthcare experience?
• What job titles should I be searching besides EMPI analyst?
• What does the day-to-day work actually look like?
• Is the constant record comparison mentally draining?
• Is the work mostly independent, or is there a lot of phone/customer service/meetings?
• What background or training would actually help: HIM, Epic, medical coding, patient access, data quality, etc.?
• Is there room to move up into better-paying roles?
• What pay is realistic starting out and after a few years?

I’m not expecting a perfect job. I’m just trying to figure out if this is a realistic path with enough openings and a decent future, especially for someone in Ohio or looking at remote healthcare data roles.

Any honest advice, warnings, or job title suggestions would really help.

Thanks in advance