High-Demand Business Intelligence Roles in Healthcare
Data analysis is an increasingly sought-after skill in the healthcare industry. Hiring managers are searching for candidates who understand business intelligence (BI), a conceptual field at the intersection of several technologies in data science. Those in-demand professionals who are able to leverage BI to its full potential are able to discover valuable—often life-saving—insights.
Data analytics is prevalent in most industries today, and it is changing the way data is managed, analyzed and used. The healthcare industry is experiencing significant benefits using data analytics, such as reducing the cost of treatments, predicting epidemic outbreaks and improving patients’ quality of life.
Vast amounts of data are being collected from several sources, from electronic health records to smart wearables. A “BI analyst” or “business intelligence developer” within the healthcare analytics industry would review these data, likely collected in a data warehouse, and apply data mining and predictive analytics techniques—or another BI tool—to gather insights.
While there are significant benefits to using business intelligence and data analytics within the healthcare analytics industry, there are also significant challenges, such as ensuring quality data is collected and setting up processes to act on insights in real-time.
What is business intelligence, and how does healthcare analytics utilize it?
BI is the collection and analysis of data to help, among other factors, organizations make more strategic decisions, improve processes and reduce inefficiencies. A business intelligence system can be conceptualized as a technological methodology that leverages business analytics, data mining, data visualization, data tools and infrastructure to give companies an overview of their data. BI cannot be confined to one specific task or role. Instead, it is a set of actions that collectively improve business operations that are data-informed.
Healthcare business intelligence, or healthcare analytics, collects and analyzes massive amounts of data from patients, hospitals and federal and state agencies, including medical records, insurance claims and billing information. Healthcare business intelligence uses this data to gather insights and identify trends in key health areas, from improving hospitals’ admin operations to cutting clinics’ unnecessary costs.
According to a report by Markets and Markets, in 2019, the global healthcare analytics market had an estimated value of $14 billion. By 2024, this market is projected to reach $50.5 billion, growing at a rate of 23.8% each year. The report states that the increase of data registries will drive this growth as more governments adopt electronic health record systems, alongside the rising pressure to reduce healthcare spending while improving patient outcomes.
Healthcare business intelligence jobs
Careers in healthcare analytics will not be limited to medical centers, clinics and hospitals, but also business analytics companies that support the healthcare industry, such as insurance vendors or pharmaceutical companies.
There are numerous career paths a candidate can take if they have a desire to work in healthcare business intelligence. Job postings and descriptions can include:
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Clinical data analyst
A clinical data analyst is hired by a hospital, research facility or pharmaceutical company to maintain data integrity, ensure compliance and prepare data for analysis. These data will be used in studies and trials or for business intelligence to improve processes. -
Population health data analyst
The population health data analyst is hired by larger health systems, health insurance companies and consultative firms in the public health sector concerned with population health management. Their job will include analyzing data from multiple sources to create strategies to improve patient care and reduce costs. -
Data scientist
Data scientists are hired by medical research facilities, health systems and health insurance companies to take clinical analytics a step further. They will perform complex data analysis—including predictive modeling, machine learning and data mining—to uncover trends in the data to solve healthcare challenges. The data scientist also develops tools for collecting or extracting data. -
Health information management analyst
All hospitals, clinics and doctor’s rooms employ a person in charge of health information management. Their job will be to oversee health information systems to ensure medical, legal and ethical standards are being met. Health information managers will manage, analyze and secure patients’ health-related data in both paper and electronic form. -
Healthcare business intelligence analyst
Large hospitals and healthcare analyst companies all hire business intelligence analysts. Their job is to transform data into insights that drive business value or solve healthcare challenges. They will use BI software and tools to mine data and create visualizations on their findings. -
Healthcare business intelligence developer
A healthcare business intelligence developer is an engineer that develops, deploys and maintains BI interfaces and tools such as data visualizations, interactive dashboards, SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) and data modeling tools.
What can you expect to earn in healthcare business intelligence?
According to the job board, ZipRecruiter, the national average annual salary for a healthcare business intelligence analyst is $90,316. While the site does show salaries as low as $25,000 and as high as $135,000, the majority of healthcare business intelligence analyst salaries currently range between $75,000 (25th percentile) to $150,500 (75th percentile) with top earners (90th percentile) making $128,500 annually in the United States.
Ziprecruiter highlights Washington, Maryland, Nebraska, New York and Virginia as the five states where the highest healthcare business intelligence analyst salaries can be found.
However, the term ‘healthcare business intelligence analyst’ is broad. Therefore, as you get more specific and specialized, the average salary rises. For example, also according to ZipRecuiter, the national average annual salary for a healthcare data scientist is $114,514, with recorded salaries reaching as high as $170,500.
Modern business intelligence concepts
The field of business intelligence is changing. It used to be IT and business analysts that would gather and analyze data and present it to senior executives. However, due to limited budgets and today’s fast-paced business environments, companies are finding that they have to optimize resources for faster reporting. In the past, businesses relied solely on IT to create reports, which were often outdated by the time they were presented due to the time it took to create them.
Modern BI is a form of business intelligence that addresses the new business reality with an easy-to-use self-service business intelligence tool that gives the average business user access to a sophisticated business intelligence environment. Modern BI moves the focus away from IT, and allows businesses to produce reports quickly to optimize business results. Businesses can, with little intervention from IT, answer complex questions in a relatively short space of time.
Business intelligence in the healthcare industry is also changing rapidly. The advantage of business intelligence shifting towards a more self-service platform approach means that complicated BI tools are now accessible to people outside the IT office’s confines. In other words, doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals can explore health data without any knowledge of databases or query language.
Modern BI concepts allow the patient experience to be streamlined by placing analytics at the point of care. This allows the doctor to use real-time patient data and their professional judgment when giving medical advice. It also provides the caregiver with a way to communicate with the patient in an easily digestible way.
The advances in BI do not stop there. A recent report from SelectHub outlines how business intelligence software is becoming a necessity for many modern companies. It states that the future of business intelligence will see BI platforms have more features that enable ease of use, predictive abilities and streamline workflows. There will be more collaboration features, machine learning will be harnessed for forecasting and many more features will be automated.
Therefore, it will be essential for large companies in many industries, such as healthcare, to employ people who understand business intelligence so they are not left behind as business intelligence progresses.
Develop the skills needed for business intelligence roles in healthcare with an online data science program
To become a business analyst within the healthcare industry, a foundation in business intelligence and how to use its various tools is imperative. For some of these roles, obtaining an MBA may seem like a good start. However, a more data-focused master’s degree will fare even better.
The UVA online Master of Science in Data Science program is an excellent choice for a candidate looking for a high-demand business intelligence role in healthcare. The UVA MSDS prepares students for careers in a number of fields but lets students pick industries to hone in on for specific projects. For example, graduates from the 2018 cohort conducted research entitled ‘Connecting the mind and body’ that examined how neural networks and deep learning technology can help predict neurological disorders.
The UVA MSDS is also an online degree, giving students the flexibility to pursue a master’s degree in data science from home while continuing to work. Learn more about our programs today.