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What does a health informatics specialist do?

Updated January 8, 2025
6 min read

A healthcare informatics specialist is tasked with analyzing healthcare data. Aside from the analysis of data, you will be expected to be in charge of designing and developing methods to obtain and manage patient information. That's not all; you will also be required to catalog the records of patients and fully integrate them, as well as the information systems that manage them. A major part of your job will also involve you being in charge of transferring the information of patients across digital networks.

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Health informatics specialist responsibilities

Here are examples of responsibilities from real health informatics specialist resumes:

  • Lead audit of policies and practices to ensure compliance with HIPAA rules and regulations.
  • Assist with designing, managing, building and coordinating information processing for Cerner implementation.
  • Learned SAS and SQL to complete programming tasks independently.
  • Act as a resource for physician and staff post implementation of CPOE
  • Partner with the CMIO to restructure physician informatics functions and accountabilities.
  • Help with ROI and cost benefit analysis and assist with procurement decision making.
  • Plan, install, repair or troubleshoot telehealth technology applications or systems in homes.
  • Determine whether the centralized radiology program has impact the denial rate of authorize services.
  • Support tech savvy customers with self-service SQL queries for QMF, SAS, and Hyperion.
  • Conduct preventative maintenance of PACS monitors.
  • Eliminate time-consumed projects for members' early release go-live deadlines.
  • Perform quality assurance and quality control of digital imaging information store on PACS server.
  • Select by hospital leadership to receive employee fund education.

Health informatics specialist skills and personality traits

We calculated that 24% of Health Informatics Specialists are proficient in Patient Care, EMR, and HIPAA. They’re also known for soft skills such as Analytical skills, Communication skills, and Interpersonal skills.

We break down the percentage of Health Informatics Specialists that have these skills listed on their resume here:

  • Patient Care, 24%

    Enabled mobile access to eCW for improved patient care through the introduction and setup of eClinicalMobile for all Physicians.

  • EMR, 12%

    Created an Access Database to track all EMR training requirements and completions to include reporting and data extraction.

  • HIPAA, 9%

    Apply HIPAA policies to ensure all data is secure, to include encrypting and password-protecting

  • Data Analysis, 8%

    Perform the following aspects of data analysis: data management, data acquisition and documentation.

  • Epic, 7%

    Worked in the Command center/ Epic Triage.

  • Health System, 6%

    Provide help desk information for health system physicians and other clinical staff in finding dictation and troubleshooting system problems.

Common skills that a health informatics specialist uses to do their job include "patient care," "emr," and "hipaa." You can find details on the most important health informatics specialist responsibilities below.

Analytical skills. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for a health informatics specialist to have is analytical skills. Their role and responsibilities require that "analysts must interpret complex information from various sources and decide the best way to move forward on a project." Health informatics specialists often use analytical skills in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "learned data analysis with sas and sql to obtain better criteria/data for driving process. "

Communication skills. Another soft skill that's essential for fulfilling health informatics specialist duties is communication skills. The role rewards competence in this skill because "analysts work as a go-between with management and the it department and must explain complex issues in a way that both will understand." According to a health informatics specialist resume, here's how health informatics specialists can utilize communication skills in their job responsibilities: "manage and maintain the medical imaging jackson health system (jhs) picture archiving communication system (pacs). "

See the full list of health informatics specialist skills

The three companies that hire the most health informatics specialists are:

Compare different health informatics specialists

Health informatics specialist vs. 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. They also run diagnostic tests with Epic applications and resolve inconsistencies and process gaps. An epic consultant should have excellent technical and organizational skills, especially in managing records and files in the company's network system.

We looked at the average health informatics specialist salary and compared it with the wages of an epic consultant. Generally speaking, epic consultants are paid $1,672 lower than health informatics specialists per year.While their salaries may differ, the common ground between health informatics specialists and epic consultants are a few of the skills required in each roleacirc;euro;trade;s responsibilities. In both careers, employee duties involve skills like patient care, health system, and training materials.

While similarities exist, there are also some differences between health informatics specialists and epic consultant. For instance, health informatics specialist responsibilities require skills such as "emr," "hipaa," "data analysis," and "epic." Whereas a epic consultant is skilled in "cadence," "patients," "workflow issues," and "front desk." This is part of what separates the two careers.

The education levels that epic consultants earn slightly differ from health informatics specialists. In particular, epic consultants are 8.2% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than a health informatics specialist. Additionally, they're 5.5% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

Health informatics specialist vs. 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. The applications coordinator has a solid knowledge of the software and application and knows how to guide customers, resolve small issues, and troubleshoot minor problems. The applications coordinator is a vital position for a company that offers application-based service, software, and the likes.

Applications coordinator positions earn lower pay than health informatics specialist roles. They earn a $35,485 lower salary than health informatics specialists per year.Only some things about these jobs are the same. Take their skills, for example. Health informatics specialists and applications coordinators both require similar skills like "patient care," "emr," and "health system" to carry out their responsibilities.

Each career also uses different skills, according to real health informatics specialist resumes. While health informatics specialist responsibilities can utilize skills like "hipaa," "data analysis," "epic," and "visualization," applications coordinators use skills like "customer service," "patients," "troubleshoot," and "system design."

On average, applications coordinators earn a lower salary than health informatics specialists. Some industries support higher salaries in each profession. Interestingly enough, applications coordinators earn the most pay in the health care industry with an average salary of $60,435. Whereas health informatics specialists have higher pay in the non profits industry, with an average salary of $82,464.applications coordinators earn lower levels of education than health informatics specialists in general. They're 11.4% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 5.5% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

Health informatics specialist vs. Specialist

Specialists are employees who are responsible for specific tasks or activities in the department they are assigned to. The actions or tasks they work on are related to their educational background or work experiences. They are usually highly skilled in specializations related to the work they are assigned to. Specialists are also highly trained on the competencies that are required of their specialty. As such, they are focused on the skills and competencies that are needed to enhance their experience in their specific field further.

On average scale, specialists bring in lower salaries than health informatics specialists. In fact, they earn a $33,310 lower salary per year.By looking over several health informatics specialists and specialists resumes, we found that both roles require similar skills in their day-to-day duties, such as "patient care," "hipaa," and "cms." But beyond that, the careers look very different.

Some important key differences between the two careers include a few of the skills necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of each. Some examples from health informatics specialist resumes include skills like "emr," "data analysis," "epic," and "health system," whereas a specialist is more likely to list skills in "patients," "customer service," "work ethic," and "exceptional client. "

Most specialists achieve a lower degree level compared to health informatics specialists. For example, they're 15.9% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 7.0% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

Health informatics specialist vs. Clinical information systems director

Clinical information systems directors tend to earn a lower pay than health informatics specialists by an average of $3,478 per year.While both health informatics specialists and clinical information systems directors complete day-to-day tasks using similar skills like emr, business processes, and cpoe, the two careers vary in some skills.Each job also requires different skills to carry out their responsibilities. A health informatics specialist uses "patient care," "hipaa," "data analysis," and "epic." Clinical information systems directors are more likely to have duties that require skills in "ehr," "clinical applications," "clinical processes," and "pacs. "clinical information systems directors reach lower levels of education compared to health informatics specialists, in general. The difference is that they're 5.8% more likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 1.9% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

Types of health informatics specialist

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Research Team
Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

Updated January 8, 2025

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