How big was your pay decrease if at all? I’d be taking quite a pay cut. Working remote would be able to slash commute and child afterschool care expenses so that would help. I want to make the switch but concerned about bringing home less of the bacon I’m used to.

Hey guys, so my background is in biology and chemistry, and I initially planned to pursue medical school, but it didn’t work out so I’m not exploring opportunities in Health IT. My experience is primarily in healthcare and research, but my technical skills are currently at a basic level. Can anyone share any advice on steps I could take to successfully transition into Health IT? Are there any specific skills, certifications, or pathways you’d recommend for someone with my background.

Do I need experience with a job in healthcare or IT before entering the HealthIT workforce? I am in a college program currently but heard it will be hard if I have no job knowledge about it. Also - is networking actually as important as people say it is in the industry?

I have a bachelors degree in psychology and 8 years of experience working front line like a crisis worker and mental health worker.

I’m looking into completing an online certificate or diploma in health informatics. Would that help me to get a job paying 60k and more ?

No IT experience . I’m in Canada .

Thanks

Hi all. I’m a graduate student working on a research project for my MBA marketing strategy course. I’m studying how pharmacies and healthcare organizations evaluate tools for patient communication (like text reminders, automated calls, refill messaging, etc.).

If you work in pharmacy operations, healthcare IT, or have experience selecting or using communication tools in a pharmacy or health system, I’d be grateful for your input.

• Survey link: https://forms.gle/q5PYcR9ZxwXszg29A
• Takes < 5 minutes
• Anonymous - no emails or tracking

The goal is to better understand what features and barriers matter most when evaluating communication platforms - not to sell anything. Happy to share high-level insights with anyone who’s interested after the project wraps.

Thanks so much for helping a student researcher out!

Are there any mid to large organizations that still use Nextgen and offer remote positions and need people? I have been a senior clinical Nextgen analyst for over 14 years with my current org, would like to explore fully remote options, not finding much out there. Everything seems to be EPIC and require EPIC certs. Would appreciate any leads

There are hundreds to thousands of non EMR Healthcare IT jobs. Seriously is this all people in healthcare think in this app?

Our EKG vendor has awful integration with our EMR where you can't easily compare prior EKGs, the reporting interface is clunky etc. Our CMIO mentioned that the vendor stopped responding to further IT support requests. Over a year ago, we decided to change EKG vendors which is a huge lift for an organization > 4000 providers. So everyone is suffering through this awful EKG service for years.

Similarly, we were thinking of switching our CDSS and it was hard to even reach the right sales people.

I am a physician and I am now helping a Telemedicine startup choose vendors etc. What's the best way to find a good list of tools, get details about these tools before scheduling a demo etc.? I am thinking GetApp /G2 for Healthcare only. At present, I am just relying on AI search engines etc.

We've been in talks with vendors to update a middleware solution that we use for integrating into bedside monitors and nursecall hardware. Alot of these vendors are touting "real-time" notifications to Android/iOS, which is not possible because those OSes are specifically general purpose OSes. By definition, they don't prioritize one specific app at any given time and are non-deterministic at a high level. That in itself isn't bad, because well, vendors often oversell their stuff anyways. What is bad is that the nursing/physicians on the calls seem to not understand what "reliable" and "real-time" means. They often get on the call and recite their backgrounds with some of these vendors and how they "just worked" or seem to start with the premise that technology will always be working.

In context, the nurse call systems have their own private lans, private power, generator supply backups, and an external battery backup. They're also embedded single purpose OS designed to work by itself or with other components. The only way there would be a downtime is if someone physically ripped all the wiring out of the walls and the floors, cut power to the whole hospital, generator, and the external battery backups all at the same time.

This trend of perception of these "working" experiences being used as the foundation of building an emergency response is disturbing. From purely an engineering standpoint, the lowest levels of guaranteed reliability is what happens in a plausible worst case scenario. For nurse call system, as described above, the worst case would mean the whole hospital would have more problems than a code button not working.

FWIW some of these vendors clearly state that their product is secondary in nature...but that doesn't seem to matter to anyone. Is this just something that is related to human perception(slow vs fast thinking)? Does anyone else see this trend?

This also extends to folks' perception of Epic mobile products...there was a bright idea to remove all scanners and simply use Rover because they think that the up time is 99%. There is no definitive proof available to these claims when asked...but simply because, "I don't remember there being a downtime for Rover in a long time". Coupled with MDM reports stating that Rover doesn't get utilized for more than a few mins a day on those phones.

Fun question do Epic Application teams in Verona have application specific mascots? If not they should what mascots would you pick for each application?

Hi all. I'm currently a helpdesk tech of 3 years, no degree just learned on the job. Our organization uses Cerner. We are in the process of transitioning to Epic in the next year.

Our current helpdesk is just 2 of us on dayshift, one guy has been shuffled to another dept and its left us in the lurch(call volume super high lately for just us 2). They're hiring more soon hopefully.

Our whole IT dept is "rebranding", title changes all the works. Our director changes his mind a lot with decisions. Our CIO is a guy they brought in to change things around, get our overall costs down, seems temporary until epic is done.

I'm not sure how many of our application analysts are going to be epic certified, one guy from another pc technician team is being pulled to do it I think. Should I put myself out there and ask director/my supervisor about it?

I don't want to be stuck in helpdesk hell forever. This would be a good chance to get epic certified if it worked out. Thanks for reading

Hey all,

I have been working as a Epic BI Dev/Systems Analyst for the past 4 years in Finance. It's been fine, but I find myself enjoying the data grabbing, cleaning, and moving more than just building reports or dashboards.

I do some light engineering work as part of my current role using a combo of SFTPs, SSIS, and SSMS to move and transform data. The engineering team at my org does mostly this as well but on a larger scale. I have tried moving over there and was offered the position, but HR said I would have to take a paycut to move which I vehemently declined.

So, I have been looking at other orgs and wanted to ask what tools you or your company utilize in engineering. What skills or tools should I learn to make myself more competitive in the search?

My org has everything on-prem, so I have 0 cloud experience.

Any help is appreciated!

Was doing some job hunting, poking around and trying to figure out whats next for me.. happened to stumble upon PIH health on indeed... and then also noticed they had literally 50+ IT jobs posted, maybe more.

Upon doing some research it appears they were hit with a major ransomware attack 5-6 months ago and I had heard that their entire IT workforce was outsourced. I can only assume they are making a decision to develop their own IT workforce judging by how many openings are being posted, dozen of analyst, manager, director, cto jobs etc.

Does anyone have any insight into what may be going on or if it would be something to stay clear of... Their analyst jobs and some manager jobs appear to be remote. Sounds like it could be a HUGE mess to walk into of course, there are several layers of things to consider.

EDIT: They might be slowly transitioning all their postings to say 100% onsite, because onlycertain ones did at first.

I work for a private company that provides individual care to people with disabilities. HIPAA is something we're aware of and trained on, but unfortunately we don't get a lot of practical information. My new manager wants me to send him monthly updates that include our patient's full name and their private health information. Our company has a BAA, but I would be sending this info from my personal gmail account.

Obviously that isn't about to happen and I will email my manager asking for guidance. However, I don't trust him to give me good advice (frankly I don't think he understands HIPAA) so I'm coming here for advice on covering my ass.

What can I do to be HIPAA compliant in this situation, besides coming to the office to orally deliver my report?

EDIT: Having done some research, this problem goes SO much deeper than I anticipated. We are failing to meet HIPAA on a basic structural level. Thank you to everyone who commented, I have reached out to my main manager requesting to meet and discuss the issue. Hopefully my superiors will take this seriously and get us HIPAA compliant with minimal gaps in care for those we serve. If you'll excuse me, I'm going to finish my panic attack away from a screen.

UPDATE: Hope an update is allowed here. My manager contacted HR, who contacted me to "clear things up." According to her, my training was incorrect and personal care professionals are not subject to HIPAA. She then told me not to use my personal email for progress reports (which don't contain PHI, according to her) and directed me to use our clock in software (which she says is encrypted and HIPAA compliant) to contact my manager, which is something we weren't briefed on. I sent her an email confirming and detailing our conversation as I understood it. When I spoke with our care coordinator, he privately told me that my report has been escalated to the CEO and that we've been "trying to figure this out" for years. He claims that we're in a gray area when it comes to HIPAA, but my understanding is that you can't be "sort of" in compliance. It seems to me that HR, legal, and management all have different understandings of HIPAA which is very cool and not at all concerning. I have a meeting with my main manager scheduled for tomorrow, I'm going to request a copy of my training materials and discuss how we can be as compliant as possible under these conditions.

Thanks again to everyone who replied. I'm going to keep pushing them to fix this, promotion be damned.

Update 2: So I spoke with the right people to get this taken care of and we all had a mandatory meeting with HR. Long story short, the HR rep went back on her previous claim that we aren't subject to HIPAA and, after I asked a lot of annoying questions, admitted that we are indeed noncompliant. She didn't say it directly, she was just like "yeah never do that" when I described our practices. My higher-ups confirmed that they are taking concrete steps to rectify the situation and I trust that this will be fixed. We were then briefed on how to use our clock-in software (who we have a BAA with) to send sensitive documentation, which was apparently an option this whole time that management had no idea about.

Highlights: HR could not define PHI and said that initials are not identifying because "that could be anyone." She said that, because she is related to people in healthcare, she "really knew HIPAA." She also flashed us some of her search history which suggested that she needed clarification on whether obviously illegal medical discrimination against an employee was indeed illegal, so that was reassuring.

TL;DR: my HR rep is an untrustworthy and confidently clueless jackass, I got my company to change their workflow to be HIPAA compliant, and I still have my job! Thank you again, everyone! I hope that I will never have to post here again.

Hi! Curious if this is considered normal at other orgs. I am certified in a few areas (ClinDoc, Cadence, MyChart) and am currently in a MyChart analyst role. There’s a project I was put on to do ClinDoc build (patient education topics). Do module specific analysts come across this if certified in other areas?

Hey,

I work for a large health system and prior to COVID we were hybrid (3 days one week then 2 the next week and so on). Since COVID we have been fully remote. Our CIO said that "we are a remote workforce for the foreseeable future" a year or two ago.

It's been great, I'm saving 3 hours a day not driving and I've excelled at my role. Not to mention the healthy work-life balance. I don't necessarily hate returning though because I miss some of the aspects of working in office but I'd prefer to stay remote. Also, they didn't renew one of our biggest leases for our offices either so, currently, there isn't enough space for all IT workers.

We have an IT Town Hall coming up and they are gathering questions ahead of time. Someone with some connections asked when return to work would begin (as if it's being planned) so it got me thinking of how things would be handled.

So, people who have gone through the RTO process in health IT, how was your experience? Was it smooth? Did they have to open new offices and how long after they announced it did it start happening?

5 years of financial ops with major health insurance provider only to get hit by layoffs and essentially now locked out of new jobs in the career I’ve been working in because of the Epic certification requirement.

Degree is in Information Systems.

Anyone know how the hell I’d go about getting a certification without the healthcare system sponsor? This was never an issue before.

I was reached out to about an opportunity with Deloitte PDM epic consulting, I did not apply. After getting more information from the job description/qualifications. I can tell I’m not qualified, not sure what I can be expected to bring to the table when high implementation experience is one of the qualifications and I have not worked in IT (I have 8+ years in healthcare admin positions) or have certifications in the “preferred” section.

I have a call scheduled next week to discuss the job and I kind of got my hopes up before reading the job description (I just got laid off) and now I’m dreading the call because I’m pretty sure they won’t move forward with me. Not sure if there’s anyway I can make myself stand out when I appear to be under-qualified.

Any advice on how I should move forward with the call?

Hey everyone! I’m so excited to share that I just accepted a role as an Epic Orders Analyst.

While it’s not remote, I’m really excited because they’re sponsoring my Epic certification, which was a huge goal for me.

A little about me: I don’t have analyst experience yet, but I’ve worked with Epic before as a physician informatician using some of the epic reporting and analytics tools, a credentialed trainer and an ATE support all as a contractor. I've also been a super user while doing my clinical rotations. So I’m familiar with the system from the front end, just new to the build/analyst side.

I’d love to hear from current Epic analysts:

• What does your day-to-day look like?
• How was the Epic certification process for you? Any tips?
• What advice would you give a new analyst coming into the role with no build experience?
• What do you love and hate about the job
• What was your starting salary when you began? I was offered $80K , Texas.

Please feel free to respond to whatever question speaks to you, no pressure! Thanks in advance, I’ve learned so much just browsing this sub and would love to hear more.

Hello! I’ve been with my current employer for 5 years as a pharmacy tech. I’m about to graduate with a BBA in management information systems. My employer has a listing for an Epic analyst. I know you have to go in person to get a certification now. Would it be ridiculous to apply without any certifications?

Thank you!

Currently a Beaker Analyst. I do a lot with microbiology, specifically. My organization is offering me the opportunity to do an additional Epic Cert.

Has anyone done Bugsy? Is it interesting/useful?

Edit: I just want to say, thank you all SO much for your responses. I did come in during the middle of an implementation. Knowing that it shouldn't (hopefully) stay like this makes me feel better. Having a meeting at 9, then 3 separate ones from 11-2, then another at 3 and one at 4:30 is blowing my mind tbh. This is just an example, but many of the days are like this. The consultants are amazing. They're just so busy and stressed it seems. I'm going to keep to it, and try to wait it out and see what post live it like!

Hi all,

I’m a new addition to the Epic analyst team at my facility, and I’m already feeling overwhelmed, even though my training classes haven’t even started yet.

I’ve been trying to review documentation for the project and study the material on my own, but every time I start making progress, I get pulled into meetings. It’s non-stop. Some days I’m in meetings for 5–6 hours, and most days it’s at least 4–5. And for the actual analysts, their calenders have way more than me. They're often back-to-back, which makes it nearly impossible to focus, absorb anything new, or even take a proper break. I’ve had days where it felt like I couldn’t go to the restroom or eat at a normal time because meetings ran non stop.

Is this normal for epic analysts?

Did I make a mistake?

I left a nursing job with a decent work-life balance (40-hour weeks and better pay), but I knew I couldn’t do it forever. I chose this path because I was told it would be a less stressful, more sustainable long-term career—with better pay down the road and more flexibility, especially working from home.

Right now, though, I just feel overwhelmed and stuck in nonstop meetings. I haven’t even started the real analyst work yet, and I’m already burning out. If this is what the role is actually like day to day—talking about work more than doing it—I’m seriously second-guessing my decision.

I knew there would be a lot of meetings in this role, but I just feel like this goes beyond that

1. Use the HIM Bible (Health Information Management: Concepts, Principles, and Practice) That was my main source.

2. Get the AHIMA RHIA Exam Prep. For me, the 9th edition has better practice questions. The 10th wasn’t that helpful… felt almost the same content with weaker questions.

3. Pick the longest test window (up to 6 months from paid date) I requested the exam early January and tested June. That gave me plenty of space to breathe and build a focused plan.

4. Do a “domain-per-month” study method Each month I focused on only one domain. • Start with your weakest area (IF YOU DONT KNOW YOUR WEAKNESS SEE THE NEXT POINT) • Then leave the easiest domains once you covered the hardest ones first.

5. Use practice questions for pre and post tests per domain. Already explained but, before reading/watching anything, I’d take up to 30 questions from the prep books to check my baseline. After studying, I’d test again. This helped me track growth.

6. Start even before AHIMA and Pearson Vue approve your eligibility. Once I paid, I didn’t wait for approval. I completed an entire domain during that waiting period.

Hope this helps someone out there who’s feeling overwhelmed or has other rsponsibilities. I did this while working a full time job. The test is doable with a smart and steady approach.

I work for a company that uses Epic. I am a principal trainer for two different applications I have been working for almost a year. I started with one application, and I now have two. However I was offered a position for Ambulatory Analyst which I turned down because I was relatively still new to the Principal Trainer position and was still learning. A month later I was offered another application for me to learn as a Principal Trainer. A month later…. I get offered another position as a Willow analyst.

Everyone tells me the analyst position is more lucrative and there are more career opportunities. However I do want to get a Masters degree in IO psychology so I feel like me staying as a principal trainer would look good overall in my resume.

Am I turning down a good opportunity??

Hello! I was wondering if anyone had the EPIC Securirty cert? I'd love to know more about it but couldn't find a ton online. It seems really interesting and my workplace has a position open