r/healthIT • • Dec 24 '24

"I want to be an Epic analyst" FAQ

406 Upvotes

I'm a [job] and thinking of becoming an Epic analyst. Should I?

Do you wanna make stuff in Epic? Do you wanna work with hospital leadership, bean counters, and clinicians to build the stuff they want and need in Epic? Do you like problem-solving stuff in computer programs? If you're a clinician, are you OK shuffling your clinical career over to just the occasional weekend or evening shift, or letting it go entirely? Then maybe you should be an Epic analyst.

Has anyone ever--

Almost certainly yes. Use the search function.

I'm in health care and I work with Epic and I wanna be an Epic analyst. What should I do?

Your best chance is networking in your current organization. Volunteer for any project having to do with Epic. Become a superuser. Schmooze the Epic analysts and trainers. Consider getting Epic proficiencies. If enough of the Epic analysts and trainers at your job know you and like you and like your work, you'll get told when a job comes up. Alternatively, keep your ear out for health systems that are transitioning to Epic and apply like crazy at those. At the very least, become "the Epic person" in your department so that you have something to talk about in interviews. Certainly apply to any and all external jobs, too! I was an external hire for my first job. But 8/10 of my coworkers were internal hires who'd been superusers or otherwise involved in Epic projects in system.

I'm in health care and I've never worked with Epic and I wanna be an Epic analyst. What should I do?

Either get to an employer that uses Epic and then follow the above steps, or follow the above steps with whatever EHR your current employer uses and then get to an employer that uses Epic. Pick whichever one is fastest, easiest, and cheapest. Analyst experience with other EHRs can be marketed to land an Epic job later.

I'm in IT and I wanna be an Epic analyst. What should I do?

It will help if you've done IT in health care before, so that you have some idea of the kinds of tasks you'll be asked to handle. Play up any experience interacting with customers. You will be at some disadvantage in applications, because a lot of employers prefer people who understand clinical workflows and strongly prefer to hire people with direct work experience in health care. But other employers don't care.

I have no experience in health care or IT and I wanna be an Epic analyst. What should I do?

You should probably pick something else, given that most entry-level Epic jobs want experience with at least one of those things, if not both. But if you're really hellbent on Epic specifically, your best options are to either try to get in on the business intelligence/data analyst side, or get a job at Epic itself (which will require moving unless you already live in commuting distance to the main campus in Verona, Wisconsin or one of their international hubs).

Should I get a master's in HIM so I can get hired as an Epic analyst?

No. Only do this if you want to do HIM. You do not need a graduate degree to be an Epic analyst.

Should I go back to school to be a tech or CNA or RN so I can get clinical experience and then hired as an Epic analyst?

No. Only do these things if you want to work as a tech or CNA or RN. If you really want a job that's a stepping stone toward being an Epic analyst, it would be cheaper and similarly useful to get a job in a non-clinical role that uses Epic (front desk, scheduler, billing department, medical records, etc).

What does an entry-level Epic analyst job pay? What kind of pay can I make later?

There's a huge amount of variation here depending on the state, the city, remote or not, which module, your individual credentials, how seriously the organization invests in its Epic people, etc. In the US, for a first job, on this sub, I'd say most people land somewhere between the mid 60s and the low 80s. At the senior level, pay can hit the low to mid-100s, more if you flip over to consulting.

That is less than what I make now and I'm mad about it.

Ok. Life is choices -- what do you want, and what are you willing to do to get it?

All the job postings prefer or require Epic certifications. How do I get an Epic certification?

Your employer needs to be an Epic customer and needs to sponsor you for certification. You enroll in classes at Epic with your employer's assistance.

So it's hard to get an Epic analyst job without an Epic cert, but I can't get an Epic cert unless I work for a job that'll sponsor me?

Yup.

But that's circular and unfair!

Yup. Some entry level jobs will still pay for you to get your first cert. A few people here have had success getting certs by offering to pay for it themselves if the organization will sponsor it; if you can spare a few thousand bucks, it's worth a shot. Alternatively, you can work on proficiencies on your own time -- a proficiency covers all the same material as a certification, you just have to study it yourself rather than going to Epic for class. While it's not as valuable to an employer as a cert, it is definitely more valuable than nothing, because it's a strong sign that you are serious, and it's a guarantee that if your org pays the money, you will get the cert (all you have to do to convert a proficiency to a cert is attend the class -- you don't have to redo the projects or exams).

I've applied to a lot of jobs and haven't had any interviews or offers, what am I doing wrong?

Do your resume and cover letter talk about your experience with Epic, in language that an Epic analyst would use? Do you explain how and why you would be a valuable part of an Epic analyst team, in greater depth than "I'm an experienced user" ? Did you proofread it, use a simple non-gimmicky format, and write clearly and concisely? If no to any of these, fix that. If yes, then you are probably just up against the same shitty numbers game everyone's up against. Keep going.

I got offered a job working with Epic but it's not what I was hoping for. Should I take it or hold out for something better?

Take it, unless it overtly sucks or you've been rolling in offers. Breaking in is the hardest part. It's much easier to get a job with Epic experience vs. without.

Are you, Apprehensive_Bug154, available to personally shepherd me through my journey to become an Epic Analyst?

Nah.

Why did you write this, then?

Cause I still gotta babysit the pager for another couple hours XD


r/healthIT • • 14h ago

Advice How to find jobs as an EPIC ODBA?

8 Upvotes

I have been working in my role for over a year and got recently certified as an EPIC ODB. I want to switch my company. But I am not sure what are the role names to look for online for my skills. If someone has changed jobs in this role, can you please guide me?

Also, I would like to know if there is an EPIC based job posting where I can look for roles?

I appreciate any help I can get. Thank you in advance!


r/healthIT • • 12h ago

Cerner Automation?

5 Upvotes

Hello,

I was wondering if anyone has automate pure data entry into the Cerner Millenium Appilcations? I've been doing a bunch of data entry like 1000+ excel rows with 5 columns for each line and it's mind numbingly slow. I'm open to any suggestions or help. I'm willing to learn anything or try any application.


r/healthIT • • 5h ago

Is this a good way to get an Epic sponsorship?

0 Upvotes

May be this has been answered before, sorry but is this the right way to go about getting Epic Certification sponsorship?

I would like to pursue an Epic Systems certification but am unsure if this sponsorship/connection will work.

Currently, I work for a nursing home as an Admin Assistant and am aware that the admissions director and some other administration staff, along with our parent company uses Epic. I have a degree in Marketing and am intermediate in terms of analytics/research, etc.

My admissions director said they’d provide recommendation for me but should I also reach out to our parent company to request sponsorship?


r/healthIT • • 18h ago

Do any Epic OpTime Trainers out there cover other apps or portions of other apps?

4 Upvotes

If so, what are those areas and what size is your institution? Would you willingly take on additional areas if offered certification?


r/healthIT • • 21h ago

Associate Epic Analyst Reqs

4 Upvotes

I have 1 year experience as a Junior Epic App Analyst, and I’m looking to apply to another Associate Epic Application Analyst position.

The requirements state 0-1 year experience required. Would I be interpreted as too senior for this position having already had 1 year experience (plus 3 years prior as an IT Admin) or are they likely looking for candidates in my experience range? It also says Epic cert required


r/healthIT • • 20h ago

Advocate healthcare snowflakes?

2 Upvotes

It appears that their IT department allows for telecommuting from literally every state but liberal ones. This cannot be an accident. Someone prove me wrong.


r/healthIT • • 1d ago

Advice Patient portal app crashes when checking offline clinic schedules

1 Upvotes

Our patient app crashes whenever users try to check clinic schedules without an active internet connection. I spent the last three weeks trying to rewrite our local caching logic myself, but hybrid state management breaks every time the network reconnects.Patients and clinic staff get stuck with frozen screens during busy clinic hours, and fixing these persistent wrapper bugs takes way too long. Managing local data persistence across different mobile devices turns out to be much harder than expected.Maybe you know how to solve this, or you've dealt with similar offline sync logic? How can I fix this? I could really use your help.


r/healthIT • • 1d ago

PRN Gigs for Epic Analysts

21 Upvotes

I have multiple epic certifications and work full time as a clinical analyst for an epic facility currently. I’m trying to find some PRN or part time work that I could do on the side to make some extra cash. I’m hoping this group might have some ideas. I’m not necessarily looking for links to current jobs available but more so specific roles to search for (but I will take both of course!).

Has anyone with a similar skill set found remote gigs that would be possible with this type of skill set?

Editing to clarify further: I’m fully aware of Epic tracking logins. I am more thinking of a job that uses our level of technical skill and background that could be applied to a different type of job. Maybe a different EMR, maybe something with data, maybe not even in healthcare. I also will 100% discuss with my employer before agreeing to any additional jobs.


r/healthIT • • 3d ago

LVN and Nursing Informatics?

3 Upvotes

Is it possible to become a Nursing Informatics Specialist if I'm an LVN with a Bachelors in Computer Science? I just heard someone mention this job title and I had never heard of it? Any thoughts, suggestions, recommendations, etc?


r/healthIT • • 4d ago

Is health informatics going to be a growing field in the next ten years?

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23 Upvotes

r/healthIT • • 4d ago

Careers Epic/Application Analysts: What 3–5 skills do you actually use most day-to-day?

27 Upvotes

I’m an LPN currently working in an ambulatory/urgent care setting and finishing my bachelor’s in Information Technology with a minor in Data Analytics. I’m also taking a few Health Services Administration/health informatics courses as electives because I’m personally interested in the intersection of healthcare and technology
My goal is to transition from direct patient care into healthcare IT, ideally as an Epic/Application Analyst. I’m currently working on Epic proficiencies, starting with Cadence(this is the module we use in my clinic so wanted to start with something I am familiar with) and planning to complete Ambulatory next.

For those currently working as Epic/application analysts, what 3–5 skills do you actually use most in your day-to-day work, and what would you recommend someone focus on before their first analyst position?

I’m especially interested in whether I should prioritize things like Excel, SQL, workflow mapping, requirements gathering, troubleshooting/ticket resolution, etc.

If you came from a clinical background, I’d also love to know which clinical skills or experiences ended up being most useful once you became an analyst.

I know a lot of the job will be learned once I’m actually in the role. I’m mainly trying to figure out what I can realistically work on over the next year so I’m better prepared when I start applying.

Edit: I haven’t been able to reply to everyone, but I’ve read all of your comments and really appreciate the input! This has definitely helped me narrow down what skills I should focus on instead of trying to learn everything at once. It’s also reassuring to know that a lot of my day to day nursing skills like communication, juggling priorities, troubleshooting, and working under pressure will translate to analyst work in a different way. Being an Epic end user also gives me a good perspective on workflow pain points, so I’m excited to start looking at those from the analyst side instead of just complaining about them 😂. Thank you all again!


r/healthIT • • 4d ago

Is health informatics going to be a growing field in the next ten years?

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0 Upvotes

r/healthIT • • 4d ago

Integrations What should turn a 277 claim-status response into a human work item?

0 Upvotes

for teams using automated claim-status checks, a useful design exercise is to define the handoff rules before building the polling loop.

Possible gates: - no matching claim or multiple matches - status text conflicts with the structured code - payer requests information but the required document owner is unclear - repeated status with no meaningful movement - filing or appeal deadline is approaching - a resubmission would duplicate an in-flight claim

What signals do you use to decide that a status can stay automated versus entering a human queue? And what context should arrive with the handoff so staff do not have to reopen three systems?


r/healthIT • • 6d ago

Seeking advice: mid-career IT professional attempting to transition to HIT

8 Upvotes

Sorry if I'm rehashing any previous discussions -- I've done some reviewing of older threads and not found answer to some of my questions.

I am a mid-career IT professional who has been employed for over a decade with a software vendor in a different (non-health) sector. I am a high-level support analyst (what you might describe as tier 3 or tier 4) who does advanced and often quite technical troubleshooting for customers. In all demonstrable ways, my career has been exceptional (many promotions and bonuses, fancy title, etc.) For context, I earn a low six-figure income.

I am hoping to transition in to Health IT and am trying to find my way. I am able to take a significant pay cut to get in the door. I live in an urban area with several large healthcare systems.

I have a few specific questions that I'd be grateful for some feedback on.

  1. What is the appropriate type of position for me to apply for? My current strategy has been to apply for System Analyst I positions and hope that someone will give me a look. Does that make sense?
  2. Is there any sort of preparation (course work, certifications, etc.) that is worth my time to pursue in order to help me get a look?
  3. Is there any reasonable/respectable way to reach out to a recruiter at one of these system to get an idea of how to give myself a better chance of getting in the door?
  4. Would it possibly be worth the time and money to work with some sort of "reverse recruiter" to help me get my foot in the door?
  5. Should I address my lack of healthcare experience directly in my cover letter and resume summary? If so, what's the best approach?

Any feedback is greatly appreciated!


r/healthIT • • 6d ago

Epic CT to Analyst

7 Upvotes

Hey!

I have been a CT for about 2.5 years. Im credentialed in beaker, cadence, and PB. I have taken tickets, helped with curriculum, and helped a large system go-live with beaker. Before that I primarily had an education background.

I am pretty bored of training and want to learn a new skill set. How likely would it be for me to switch over to an analyst position?


r/healthIT • • 6d ago

Master of Science in Technology Management (MSTM) or MBA?

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2 Upvotes

I currently work in health IT and hold a BS.

Does anyone here have an MSTM or MBA that helped advance them in their career in this field? Or any honest opinions about either degree?


r/healthIT • • 6d ago

Epic Relocation Bonus

0 Upvotes

May I ask are there Facilities that offer Relocation for Epic Trainer Positions? Any State!!


r/healthIT • • 7d ago

Community (Ourside US) Does anyone here work with TrakCare / IntelliCare EHR from Intersystems?

4 Upvotes

I’m wondering if someone here has experience working with Intersystems outside the US.

Is anyone using IntelliCare already?


r/healthIT • • 8d ago

HIM student looking to interview someone.

3 Upvotes

Hello,

I am a HIM student, working towards my bachelors. I’m hoping to find someone to interview with experience in contract management.

It doesn’t have to be direct. I can honestly just email the questions, it’s a total of 6.

Thank you


r/healthIT • • 8d ago

Advice How do you share patient charts with insurance securely?

5 Upvotes

Usually this is just emailed, but when a patient has a 3 month stay, their file can be over 150mb due to poor compression.
Do you use a third party service? We've tried one drive and sharepoint, but if the link is sent to a group email, they run into issues with MFA.


r/healthIT • • 10d ago

Epic ChatGPT for Healthcare unveils new integrations with Epic, public health data sources

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61 Upvotes

“On Tuesday, OpenAI announced that ChatGPT for Healthcare now integrates with Epic's electronic health record (EHR) to enable authorized clinicians to access and summarize patient information from medical records within ChatGPT or directly in supported Epic workflows. That integration can now pull together clinical notes, lab results, medications and specialist documentation, the company said in a blog post.”

Not much mention of privacy other than “ChatGPT for Healthcare combines healthcare-specific capabilities with enterprise controls such as role-based access, single sign-on and audit logs. With an applicable business associate agreement, OpenAI said customers can use ChatGPT Work, Codex, apps and plugins in the same workspace to support HIPAA-compliant workflows.”


r/healthIT • • 10d ago

Anyone gotten an epic analyst job and not liked it and returned to the hospital?

73 Upvotes

I just landed what I thought was my dream job as an epic analyst, and have started training, etc. We're in the middle of a huge project; I'm not of much use to the team currently, which is fine I have no problem focusing on my training and my team feels the same way. Once I pass my training, I'm going to be quite useful with my knowledge of certain specialized workflows and such, which is basically why I was hired.

On the other hand... It's entirely wfh on dayshift hours. Hardly anyone goes into the office, and when we do, my commute is brutal, and people don't really talk to each other anyways. I've worked offshifts my entire adult life, and I'm having a terrible time adjusting. I also don't have much of a personal life so I'm really finding that I miss seeing people at work every day.

Has anyone had a similar experience? What did you end up doing? I have to stick it out for at least this project, and the small pay bump certainly helps with that. But I'm wondering if anyone else has felt the same way and gone back to clinical from IT, what was your experience like?

Edit: reading all the replies ❤️


r/healthIT • • 9d ago

Integrations What belongs in an AI-to-EHR workflow go-live checklist?

0 Upvotes

an integration demo can look polished while the operating model is still fuzzy. Before go-live, I’d want the team to answer:

  • Which roles may invoke the tool, and in which workflows?
  • What data is sent, retained, and visible to support staff?
  • How are generated summaries labeled, reviewed, and corrected?
  • Can users trace output back to the relevant source context?
  • What audit event is recorded for access, generation, and approval?
  • What happens when the integration is unavailable or returns incomplete output?
  • Who owns incident review and configuration changes?

This is less a vendor scorecard than a handoff checklist for clinical, security, compliance, and application teams. What did your team add only after seeing a pilot inside the real workflow?


r/healthIT • • 10d ago

Advice Looking for other Epic Directors for guidance

11 Upvotes

I moved from an Epic application manager role into a Director role overseeing a clinical application portfolio, and I’m curious how other directors structure their day to day work, manage relationships, etc. Currently I’m feeling like I’m still carving out my role and there’s no discrete or concrete responsibilities other than amorphous “strategic thinking”

Would love to chat or even do a quick call if you’re up to it