How to hire a clinical informatics specialist

How to hire a clinical informatics specialist, step by step

Here's a step-by-step clinical informatics specialist hiring guide:

• Step 1: Identify your hiring needs
• Step 2: Create an ideal candidate profile
• Step 3: Make a budget
• Step 4: Write a clinical informatics specialist job description
• Step 5: Post your job
• Step 6: Interview candidates
• Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new clinical informatics specialist
• Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

What does a clinical informatics specialist do?

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   First, determine the employments status of the clinical informatics specialist you need to hire. Certain clinical informatics specialist roles might require a full-time employee, whereas others can be done by part-time workers or contractors.

   Determine employee vs contractor status

   Is the person you're thinking of hiring a US citizen or green card holder?

   Yes

   No

   A clinical informatics specialist's background is also an important factor in determining whether they'll be a good fit for the position. For example, clinical informatics specialists from different industries or fields will have radically different experiences and will bring different viewpoints to the role. You also need to consider the candidate's previous level of experience to make sure they'll be comfortable with the job's level of seniority.

   Here's a comparison of clinical informatics specialist salaries for various roles:

   Type of Clinical Informatics Specialist	Description	Hourly rate
   Clinical Informatics Specialist	Computer systems analysts study an organization’s current computer systems and procedures and design information systems solutions to help the organization operate more efficiently and effectively. They bring business and information technology (IT) together by understanding the needs and limitations of both.	$29-53
   Epic Consultant	An Epic consultant is responsible for maintaining the organization's database with Epic applications, ensuring the accuracy and efficiency of network systems to support business functions and operations. Epic consultants are usually on the technical side, strategizing solutions to maintain the stability of the database for business needs... Show more	$34-53
   Applications Coordinator	An applications coordinator acts as the contact person for all concerns regarding an application or software. The applications coordinator connects customers to corresponding departments in a company according to their needs, inquiries, and problems... Show more	$16-41

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Patient Care
   • HIPAA
   • Health System
   • Patient Safety
   • Clinical Practice
   • System Design
   • Training Materials
   • Clinical Applications
   • Process Improvement
   • Clinical Documentation
   • Performance Improvement
   • Data Collection
   • Cerner
   • Post Implementation

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Assist with designing, managing, building and coordinating information processing for Cerner implementation.
   • Experience includes peripheral and midline catheter placement, administering home chemotherapy, and antibiotics.
   • Upload attestation data to CMS.
   • Utilize SQL for research and custom reporting.
   • Map HISlocation from EMR to GE software.
   • Apply change management skills to promote client participation and ownership.

   More clinical informatics specialist duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in the clinical informatics specialist job description is a good way to get more applicants. A clinical informatics specialist salary can be affected by several factors, such as the location of the job, the level of experience, education, certifications, and the employer's prestige.

   For example, the average salary for a clinical informatics specialist in Virginia may be lower than in Hawaii, and an entry-level engineer typically earns less than a senior-level clinical informatics specialist. Additionally, a clinical informatics specialist with lots of experience in the field may command a higher salary as a result.

   Average clinical informatics specialist salary

   $83,169yearly

   $39.99 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level clinical informatics specialist salary

   $61,000 yearly salary

   Updated December 15, 2025

   Average clinical informatics specialist salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	Arizona	$99,528	$48
   2	California	$99,185	$48
   3	Nevada	$94,293	$45
   4	Washington	$94,159	$45
   5	North Dakota	$92,872	$45
   6	Indiana	$91,632	$44
   7	North Carolina	$89,853	$43
   8	Oregon	$89,003	$43
   9	Maine	$87,525	$42
   10	Missouri	$86,902	$42
   11	Texas	$86,417	$42
   12	Illinois	$85,629	$41
   13	New York	$84,812	$41
   14	Michigan	$84,238	$41
   15	District of Columbia	$83,629	$40
   16	Georgia	$83,208	$40
   17	Tennessee	$82,791	$40
   18	Minnesota	$82,042	$39
   19	Pennsylvania	$81,851	$39
   20	Massachusetts	$80,997	$39

   Average clinical informatics specialist salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	GradyHealth	$113,641	$54.64	11
   2	MemorialCare	$106,061	$50.99
   3	Tenet Healthcare	$102,548	$49.30	76
   4	Cerner	$101,992	$49.03
   5	Baptist Health Care	$101,069	$48.59	6
   6	Dignity Health	$99,788	$47.98	64
   7	Providence Health & Services	$99,195	$47.69	61
   8	Sysmex	$99,111	$47.65	1
   9	Northwell Health	$98,968	$47.58	73
   10	Hoag	$98,186	$47.20	1
   11	Adventist HealthCare	$97,462	$46.86	6
   12	Terros Health	$97,263	$46.76	8
   13	Rady Children's Hospital And Health Center	$96,638	$46.46
   14	Dana-Farber Cancer Institute	$96,202	$46.25	5
   15	Health Choice Network	$96,030	$46.17	1
   16	Munson Healthcare	$94,970	$45.66	2
   17	Akron Children's Hospital	$94,742	$45.55	20
   18	Parexel International	$94,455	$45.41	193
   19	Hennepin Healthcare	$93,639	$45.02	19
   20	Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center	$93,545	$44.97	19

4. Writing a clinical informatics specialist job description

   A good clinical informatics specialist job description should include a few things:

   • Summary of the role
   • List of responsibilities
   • Required skills and experience

   Including a salary range and the first name of the hiring manager is also appreciated by candidates. Here's an example of a clinical informatics specialist job description:

   Clinical informatics specialist job description example

   The Senior Clinical Informatics Specialist transforms clinical practices by identifying opportunities for healthcare information systems to leverage the power of data and technology in optimizing operational workflow, clinical processes, clinical decision making and enhance patient care.
   Job Relationships
   
   Reports to the Digital Transformation Manager
   
   Principal Responsibilities
   Acts as an agent of change to help promote organizational adoption of clinical applications and its related workflows to optimize patient safety and experience. Acts as a liaison between clinical and information technology staff teams in leveraging the use of technology in clinical practice. Participates in the design, build, implementation, and training of new providers or practices for clinical applications, including EMR, Radiology Information Systems, Laboratory Information Systems, etc. Evaluating existing systems and identify problem areas. Develop strategies and best practices to incorporate into future information systems and policies. Evaluate operational and clinical processes and recommend and implement improvements. Participate in upgrade planning, testing, validating and implementing for clinical information systems. Develop, create, and conduct performance-based application training courses that meet the requirements of the end-user based on best practice recommendations. Must have a proven ability to communicate effectively both in writing and verbally with management and peers on issues, risks, opportunities, and general progress towards business goals. Ensures information systems policies, procedures, and technologies comply with applicable laws and regulations. Conducts analysis of clinical and organizational needs. Identifies, designs, and evaluates clinical information systems and applications design that supports those identified requirements. Ability to use appropriate skills in the areas of: project coordination, multi-tasking, prioritization of demands, group discussion, training, facilitation, decision-making, communication, and time management. Provide training and technical support to clinical users before and during application activation events and or the adoption of a new workflow. Support organizational QA activities by assisting other information technology teams with verification and validation of any new application build and modification. Comply with the Springfield Clinic incident reporting policy and procedures. Adhere to all OSHA and Springfield Clinic training & accomplishments as required per policy. Provide excellent customer service and adhere to Springfield Clinic's Code of Conduct and Ethics Standards. Perform other job duties as assigned.
   Education/Experience
   RN, LPN or other equivalent clinical related discipline is required. Bachelor's degree preferred A minimum of 3 years of experience supporting clinical applications within the healthcare sector. Demonstrated experience in consulting and training and development; system implementation, and requirements gathering is beneficial.
   Knowledge, Skills and Abilities
   An established proficiency with the Microsoft Office suite of applications such as Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and Outlook. Demonstrated professionalism, both in appearance and etiquette. Conscientious with issues related to security and privacy. Detail-oriented, a self-starter, and an outstanding team player who can execute tasks with quality and efficiency. Must have excellent technical aptitude and the ability to learn new technologies rapidly in an actual use case scenario.
   Working Environment
   This job operates in a professional office environment. Routinely uses standard office equipment such as computers, phones, photocopiers, filing cabinets and fax machines. Team oriented environment utilizing collaboration with peers. Sitting and/or standing for long periods/computer work.
   PHI/Privacy Level
   
   HIPPA1

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   There are various strategies that you can use to find the right clinical informatics specialist for your business:

   • Consider promoting from within or recruiting from your existing workforce.
   • Ask for referrals from friends, family members, and current employees.
   • Attend job fairs at local colleges to find candidates who meet your education requirements.
   • Use social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter to reach potential job candidates.

   Post your job online:

   • Post your clinical informatics specialist job on Zippia to find and attract quality clinical informatics specialist candidates.
   • Use niche websites such as dice, engineering.com, stack overflow, it job pro.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   During your first interview to recruit clinical informatics specialists, engage with candidates to learn about their interest in the role and experience in the field. During the following interview, you'll be able to go into more detail about the company, the position, and the responsibilities.

   Remember to include a few questions that allow candidates to expand on their strengths in their own words. Asking about their unique skills might reveal things you'd miss otherwise. At this point, good candidates can move on to the technical interview.

   While interviews are great, you will only sometimes learn enough from a conversation with a clinical informatics specialist applicant. In those cases, having candidates complete a test project can go a long way in figuring out who's the most likely to succeed in the role. If you aren't a technical person and don't know how to design an appropriate test, you can ask someone else on the team to create it or take a look at these websites to get a few ideas:

   • TestDome
   • CodeSignal
   • Testlify
   • BarRaiser
   • Coderbyte

   The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.

7. Send a job offer and onboard your new clinical informatics specialist

   Once you have selected a candidate for the clinical informatics specialist position, it is time to create an offer letter. In addition to salary, the offer letter should include details about benefits and perks that are available to the employee. Ensuring your offer is competitive is vital, as qualified candidates may be considering other job opportunities. The candidate may wish to negotiate the terms of the offer, and it is important to be open to discussion and reach a mutually beneficial agreement. After the offer has been accepted, it is a good idea to formalize the agreement with a contract.

   It's also important to follow up with applicants who do not get the job with an email letting them know that the position is filled.

   To prepare for the new clinical informatics specialist first day, you should share an onboarding schedule with them that covers their first period on the job. You should also quickly complete any necessary paperwork, such as employee action forms and onboarding documents like I-9, benefits enrollment, and federal and state tax forms. Finally, Human Resources must ensure a new employee file is created for internal record keeping.

8. Go through the hiring process checklist

   • Determine employee type (full-time, part-time, contractor, etc.)
   • Submit a job requisition form to the HR department
   • Define job responsibilities and requirements
   • Establish budget and timeline
   • Determine hiring decision makers for the role
   • Write job description
   • Post job on job boards, company website, etc.
   • Promote the job internally
   • Process applications through applicant tracking system
   • Review resumes and cover letters
   • Shortlist candidates for screening
   • Hold phone/virtual interview screening with first round of candidates
   • Conduct in-person interviews with top candidates from first round
   • Score candidates based on weighted criteria (e.g., experience, education, background, cultural fit, skill set, etc.)
   • Conduct background checks on top candidates
   • Check references of top candidates
   • Consult with HR and hiring decision makers on job offer specifics
   • Extend offer to top candidate(s)
   • Receive formal job offer acceptance and signed employment contract
   • Inform other candidates that the position has been filled
   • Set and communicate onboarding schedule to new hire(s)
   • Complete new hire paperwork (i9, benefits enrollment, tax forms, etc.)

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