Making a Difference: Careers in Health Informatics

Making a Difference: Careers in Health Informatics addresses everyday questions from people interested in working in health informatics. Typically, this includes people who work in health care, computer and technology fields, information science, finance / insurance and related areas. The book aims to tell students about various jobs that exist in the health informatics field, what credentials they need to qualify for those jobs, and a brief description about what people in those roles tend to do every day. As faculty members teaching in a Master of Science in Health Informatics program, the authors say that they are fortunate to have eager, bright, and talented graduate students who are invested in related health informatics areas. This could be their experiences in medicine, nursing, clinical care, software engineering, finance, business, library science, data science, or caregiving. Common questions we hear from our students that may be similar to questions among readers include: ’what jobs are out there?’, ’what can I do with this degree?’ or ’what does a health informatics specialist do?’ This book aims to answer some of these questions with a look into a day in the life of people working in this field.

The book examines career options, roles, and skill sets important in health informatics across 6 related industries. We want readers to realize that their skills and interests can apply in many areas of the field, not exclusively hospitals. This book highlights 6 unique work segments (hospital systems, long term care, health IT / consumer health organizations, government, consulting, and payer / insurance companies) into which readers may look to expand their career opportunities. The hope is that this book will provide insight into career opportunities students and professionals may be qualified for, and interested in, but simply not aware of.

Hiring managers and human resource professionals across the stakeholder groups across the stakeholder groups may also find the book helpful in learning about other roles that may benefit their organizations.

Rebecca Meehan, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor in the School of Information at Kent State University, where she teaches in both the Health Informatics (HI) and User Experience Design (UXD) programs. Dr. Meehan is a health informaticist with over 20 years of experience in applied research in health and aging. Her interests center on improving patient safety outcomes by improving the user experience of health information technology, and sociotechnical approaches to improving health outcomes for a diverse cultural population. Dr. Meehan’s work in academic research is complemented by industry knowledge in software development having worked as a product manager and usability researcher for Intuit, Inc, a fortune 500 company, for global enterprise level software systems. She has also consulted independently on usability projects for U.S. and global clients in healthcare and wellness. These experiences allow her to bring a unique perspective for her students and research as having both academic and industry experience in health information research. Her previous experience includes senior research roles with Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and Department of Sociology, Myers Research Institute of Menorah Park Center for Senior Living, and Innovative Designs in Environments for an Aging Society (IDEAS, Inc.). Dr. Meehan earned a B.S. in Biology at St. Mary’s College and then went on to Case Western Reserve University for both her M.A. and Ph.D. in Medical Sociology & Gerontology. She is the author of multiple publications and has presented at national and international conferences. Dr. Meehan is a member of the HIMSS-Xcertia Health App Work Group, HL-7 EHR Usability Workgroup, the Health Information Management Systems Society (HIMSS), the American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA), and the User Experience Professional Association (UXPA).

John Sharp is Director of Thought Advisory for the Health Information Management and Systems Society (HIMSS). He also has been adjunct faculty for the Health Informatics Program at Kent State University since teaching Clinical Analytics I and II. Previously, he was Manager of Clinical Research Informatics at the Cleveland Clinic. He has been in the field of health information technology for more than 20 years. He has authored chapters in several books including Health Informatics Practical Guide and Applying Social Media Technologies in Healthcare Environments. He has also authored and co-authored more than 20 journal articles on health informatics topics, innovation and social media in healthcare.He is also on advisory boards including: Founding board member, NODE Health (Network of Digital Evidence) and International Editorial Board, ICT & Health. Having held several roles in healthcare informatics, he is uniquely qualified to discuss multiple career paths in the field. He has bachelor and masters’ degrees from Case Western Reserve University. He has been actively involved in both the American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA) and HIMSS for more than 15 years and presented frequently at their conferences.