How To Become A Health Data Analyst: What It Is and Career Path

What is a health data analyst and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Quoted Expert

Joel Stevenson

Healthcare data analysts are known for their exclusive knowledge of data management, acquisition, interpretation, and analysis. They perform this task directly using healthcare data, thus, providing pragmatic insight for medical staff like clinical researchers, physicians, and other decision-makers to make use of. They are also known as healthcare business analysts, or in most cases, health information management (HIM). Their responsibilities include gathering and interpreting data from different sources, e.g., billing claims, patient satisfaction surveys, and electronic health records, helping organizations improve the quality of health care they render, moderate the cost of healthcare, Improving each patient's health status.

Their role becomes paramount as the day goes by; this is seen in the quest by the big company's sudden dependence on big data analysts. And as days go by, health organizations still research ways to improve their already quality healthcare using Health Data Analysts. Healthcare data analysts can work in health systems, hospitals, health insurance companies, health information technology vendors, large physician practice groups, states, federal departments, agencies, etc.

To qualify as a Healthcare Data Analyst, you must have the ability to process complex problems at a particular time frame, work under pressure, and have a passion for the healthcare sector. Again, you must be able to multi-task and must be able to work as a group. As for the salary, they earn from $65,000- $73,616 annually, depending on their experience.

What general advice would you give to a Health Data Analyst?

Joel Stevenson

Founding Director USC Columbia Technology Incubator, Associate Director Faber Entrepreneurship Center, Senior Lecturer Entrepreneurship and Strategic Management, University of South Carolina

I would not enter the job market at this time. I would apply to the Masters of Human Resources Program at U of SC. If I could not get into the program, I would take an HR job and apply again to the Master's Program. Reason...with a Master's in HR, the starting salary is right at $85,000 per year. Cost and amount of time it takes to get your Master's, $25,000, and 15 months.

ScoreHealth Data AnalystUS Average

Salary

5.3

Avg. Salary $67,478

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

6.8

Growth Rate 11%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

5.9

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.17%

Asian 14.69%

Black or African American 7.60%

Hispanic or Latino 8.57%

Unknown 4.46%

White 64.52%

Gender

female 61.25%

male 38.75%

Age - 43

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 43

Stress Level

6.8

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

8.7

Complexity Level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

2.2

Work Life balance is very poor

6.4 - fair

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Key steps to become a health data analyst

Explore health data analyst education requirements

Most common health data analyst degrees

Bachelor's

60.1 %

Master's

22.3 %

Associate

9.4 %

Start to develop specific health data analyst skills

Skills	Percentages
Tableau	9.09%
Public Health	5.82%
Data Collection	5.64%
Patients	5.12%
Data Management	4.99%

Complete relevant health data analyst training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New health data analysts learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a health data analyst based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real health data analyst resumes.

Research health data analyst duties and responsibilities

Manage the success for the adoption of the EMR into the health center.
Manage weapon system project websites via SharePoint, including troubleshooting technical issues and developing guidelines for public/private information and user permissions.
Work on Monahrq and CMS Medicare quality contract.
Oversee paper and multiple EMR systems data extractions.

Prepare your health data analyst resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your health data analyst resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a health data analyst resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Health Data Analyst Resume templates

Build a professional Health Data Analyst resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your Health Data Analyst resume.

Apply for health data analyst jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a health data analyst job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do health data analysts rate their job?