Health Data Analysts

High School

In high school, take classes in general computer science, data analytics, database management, software development, artificial intelligence, and other information technology–related subjects. You’ll need to be able to give presentations and write reports to explain your findings and recommendations, so be sure to take English, writing, and speech classes. Other recommended courses include health, mathematics, science (especially anatomy and physiology), business, and social studies.

Postsecondary Education

A minimum of a bachelor’s degree is required to enter this field. Some employers require a master’s degree—especially for higher-level, specialized health data analysis positions. Analysts typically have degrees in health information management and technology (preferred), health information management, mathematics, statistics, biostatistics, or data science. Students augment their classroom training by completing internships, cooperative education experiences, or practicums at companies, government agencies, or other organizations that employ health data analysts.

An increasing number of tech companies, government agencies, and nonprofit organizations offer apprenticeships in data analytics, data science, and related fields. For example, the IBM Apprenticeship Program offers more than 25 registered apprenticeship roles including data science, cybersecurity, and software development. Visit https://www.ibm.com/careers/career-opportunities to learn more.

The U.S. military offers training in data science/analytics, computer science, and related fields. Visit TodaysMilitary.com for more information.

Certification

Many colleges and universities offer certificates in data analytics, data science, data science/analytics and artificial intelligence, and related fields. For example, Purdue University (in collaboration with IBM) offers a professional certificate program in data analytics. Visit https://purdue.edu for more information on this and other programs. Software development companies and online learning platforms (OLPs) also offer certificate programs.

Other Education or Training

Health data analysts must continue to learn throughout their careers in order to stay competitive on the job. Continuing education opportunities are provided by associations, information technology (IT) companies such as IBM, and for-profit and nonprofit OLPs (such as Coursera, edX, and Udacity). For example, the American Health Information Management Association offers classes such as Foundations of Healthcare Data Analytics, Actionable Data Analytics Insights, and Introduction to HIPAA Privacy and Security. The Association for Computing Machinery offers more than 1,000 online courses on topics such as Big Data, data mining, data visualization, data warehousing, data management, and business skills. The American Mathematical Society, American Statistical Association, Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence, DAMA International, Data Science Association, Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society, IEEE Computer Society, INFORMS, Women in Analytics, and TDWI also offer continuing education opportunities. Contact these organizations to learn more.