David Binsfield

As a data analyst consultant I am in charge of providing meaningful data reporting to our company leaders - helping them see trends in care delivery and expenses, project future health care utilization and costs for accurate planning and helping our medical professionals identify members at risk for healthcare issues - connecting members to the proper care before the issues become emergencies.

Typical education for this is a college Bachelor's degree in mathematics, computer science, healthcare management, public health, analytics, and/or business management.  Furthering your education to include a Master's degree also helps prepare for this career but it is not a requirement. I have a Bachelor's degree in Business Management.  Much of the training comes on the job as you work with other analysts on customer requests - using the concepts learned in school in a real world environment and continuing to learn from your fellow employees, superiors and clients.  Continuing to be curious and interested in learning new things is helpful to stay at the forefront of the industry you are in; there are a host of free online tools, webinars and classes available to continue your skills development at your own pace. 

Typical starting salary would be somewhere in the $50k range.  With experience you could earn a salary in the range of $75k-$125k or more.

A career in Healthcare Analytics and/or Healthcare Data Researchers/Scientists is definitely in demand.  Data analysis as a career path is growing and has a lot of opportunity.  Companies in almost every industry are turning towards data analysis and predictive analytics to help find efficiencies, find & develop new markets, and drive up market shares.  There seem to always be openings.  I have been with HealthPartners for 16 years and in that time our Health Informatics department has grown over 200%!

I enjoy helping to find solutions to complex problems.  I take pride in knowing that what we are doing with data is helping our company make healthcare more affordable for our members and that we are helping our members stay healthy so they can live their best life!

Sometimes the analysis required to answer questions or develop a necessary report is very complex, difficult to understand and doesn't result in anything conclusive that can be used.  When that happens, it is challenging to communicate those inconclusive or negative results and then go back to square one and try different approaches.

Stay curious, never be afraid to ask questions and listen up in your math classes!  Remember your math functions/equations/theories - you will definitely use them in this career path!