Healthcare Data Analyst: Career Guide and How to Become One

Written by Coursera Staff • Updated on

Data analytics and healthcare are industries in high demand, so it’s no surprise that combining the two can lead to a fulfilling and well-paid career. Discover what you need to know to become a healthcare data analyst.

[Featured Image] Two learners gather around a third learner who is on their laptop as the trio explore health care data analyst careers and learn about the necessary qualifications.

Healthcare and technology are two of the fastest-growing career sectors in the UK. Healthcare data analysts work at the intersection of both industries. When applied to healthcare, data analytics can unearth powerful insights. These insights can reduce healthcare costs, deliver better care, and positively impact people’s lives.

Healthcare jobs are increasing as the healthcare sector undergoes large-scale growth due to the need for improved healthcare services and skilled professionals. Whether you are a data analyst interested in pivoting into healthcare or a healthcare professional seeking a more traditional 9-to-5 lifestyle, becoming a healthcare data analyst could be a good fit.

Discover more about the role and explore the routes to becoming one to begin your career journey. 

What is a healthcare data analyst?

A healthcare data analyst uses data analytics to improve healthcare outcomes. By acquiring, combining, and analysing data from multiple sources, these professionals contribute to better patient care, streamlined healthcare processes, and well-assessed healthcare institutions. They work primarily on the business side of medicine, unlike doctors, nurses, or medical assistants who work on the clinical side. 

Professionals in healthcare data analytics may have one of many job titles. They can be broad or specific, including the following:

  • Healthcare information management analyst

  • Healthcare business analyst

  • Healthcare consultant

  • Clinical data analyst

  • Public health data analyst

  • Healthcare risk management data analyst

Healthcare data analysts typically work in these environments:

  • Healthcare providers (hospitals, private healthcare, doctor’s surgeries)

  • Health insurance companies

  • Consulting companies

  • Health-focused non-profit organisations 

  • Electronic health record companies

  • Government organisations

Healthcare data analyst tasks and responsibilities

Healthcare data analysts help health executives, providers, and administrators make data-driven, strategic decisions to achieve business goals and improve healthcare. Their responsibilities include:

  • Collecting data from multiple sources

  • Managing and organising data sets from database management systems

  • Finding patterns and trends in data analysis

  • Transforming complex data into digestible insights

  • Sharing findings with stakeholders with reports and presentations

  • Providing recommendations for improvement 

Healthcare data analysts can help improve the quality of healthcare patients receive and, ultimately, boost patient outcomes.

Types of data analysed

Healthcare data analysts must use the right types of data to generate insights that are valuable to healthcare. The following list offers a look at a few of the data types they work with, including big data:

  • Clinical data: Clinical data analytics is the most common type of healthcare data analytics. It includes using medical records to improve medical outcomes directly. These days, data analysts might use electronic health records (EHRs) to assess the number of cancer patients treated in a hospital network or to determine how to reduce the risk of contamination. 

  • Insurance data: Data analysts who work for health insurance providers will analyse claims data to help institutions identify which areas could benefit from more financial investment. They may also help insurance companies understand whether their premium pricing is affordable or where the organisation wastes its resources.  

  • Pharmaceutical data: Healthcare data analysts in the pharmaceutical sector usually support research and development that can improve products, such as prescription drugs or medical devices. Pharmaceutical companies help accelerate drug development while also sharing necessary historical research data on cancer, including clinical trials, treatments, and technology.

  • Behavioural data: Patient behaviour is an essential type of data to analyse because it offers qualitative and quantitative information about consumer behaviour, such as retail habits, satisfaction with a product or treatment, and more. This data can inform how healthcare providers deliver value-based care, medical suppliers with marketing, or governments with information campaigns.

  • Public health data: A healthcare data analyst might work with public health data to deliver statistics, infographics, and reports after identifying methods for preventing disease or promoting health within a population.

Healthcare data analyst salary and job outlook

A typical salary for a healthcare data analyst may depend on the type of company or organisation you work for. According to Glassdoor UK, the median annual earnings is £36,889, with base salaries ranging from £28,000 to £42,000 [1].

Skilled data analysts are needed in the healthcare sector to transform data into actionable insights for companies, non-profit organisations, and governments. Data analysis is a fast-growing industry in general and will continue to develop both in the UK and globally.

Skills needed to be a healthcare data analyst

Healthcare data analysts share many of the same qualifications that data analysts need in other sectors. Technical skills are critical for any data analyst’s toolkit. A healthcare data analyst should have the following skills:

  • Knowledge of mathematics and statistics

  • Proficiency with data storage, data wrangling, data warehousing, and mining

  • Familiarity with programming languages like Python, R, and SQL

  • Experience with Microsoft Office, especially Excel 

  • Understanding of analytics and visualisation tools like Tableau and Sisense

  • Enthusiasm for working at the intersection of healthcare and technology

As a healthcare data analyst, you’ll also need workplace skills, such as effective written and verbal communication, creative thinking, interpersonal skills, and time management. Further, knowledge of the health sector and experience with EHR, medical terminology, and medical billing are beneficial—and can help you land a job more easily.

Because “healthcare data analyst” can be a broad job title, the specific skills and knowledge you’ll need will depend on the particular job and area of specialisation.

To boost your data analytics skills, consider enrolling in Google’s Data Analytics Professional Certificate programme:

How to become a healthcare data analyst

Say you’re ready to pursue this career field. What are the next steps you’ll need to take? Check out the following steps to begin on the path to achieving your goals. 

1. Get a degree or diploma.

To work as a data analyst, consider studying for a degree in computer science, information systems, maths, or statistics. However, getting a job as a data analyst with any degree subject is possible if you have relevant experience, and employers do not always require a degree. 

2. Build your skills in data analytics.

You’ll want to boost your skill set in data analytics. You can do this by taking courses targeting the skills you need for a specific job. Taking data analytics and data science courses rather than health or healthcare courses makes more sense because the core skills you’ll need are to manoeuvre data. 

Consider enrolling in a Professional Certificate, such as IBM’s Data Analyst programme, to ensure you build the right skills in a structured setting while setting your own pace. If you have experience and want to develop your data analytics skills further, consider the Google Advanced Data Analytics Professional Certificate.

3. Gain work experience.

Once you feel ready to apply to healthcare data analyst positions, spruce up your CV with your new skills and any education you’ve received. Scour job sites like LinkedIn for related jobs, and when you find ones that interest you, tailor your CV to each job role. You’ll want to mention any previous healthcare experience you have.

If you land a data analyst role outside of healthcare, don’t fret. You’re still gaining valuable, relevant experience and developing a high-quality skill set that will be easily transferable to the health sector when you have a few years under your belt.

4. Grow your career.

If you have been a data analyst in the health sector and find yourself itching for something new, you might be ready to advance in your career. Some ways to do that include:

  • Earning your master’s degree in data analytics

  • Getting a data analytics certification, such as the CompTIA Data+ 

  • Gaining data analyst experience in multiple healthcare settings

Data-driven healthcare with Coursera

A career at the intersection of health and technology can be rewarding and high-earning. If you’re considering becoming a healthcare data analyst, you might be interested in Columbia University’s class on Health Informatics for Innovation, Value & Enrichment. This 10-hour online training programme uses case scenarios to help you achieve your specific, role-based career goals.

Article sources

  1. Glassdoor UK. “Healthcare Data Analyst Salary, https://www.glassdoor.co.uk/Salaries/healthcare-data-analyst-salary-SRCH_KO0,23.htm.” Accessed 2 August 2024.

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Coursera Staff

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