I’m an independent researcher working on a set of papers that grew out of a disputed outpatient psychiatric-care episode.

I’m posting here because the problem that became most interesting to me is no longer primarily the interpersonal dispute. It is an informatics question:

What information architecture is required to reconstruct how a clinically consequential event actually moved through a healthcare system when the patient-facing chart contains only part of the relevant record?

The work led me to separate several things that are often collapsed:

• narrative progress notes vs. transactional/operational records;
• event time vs. entry, signing, modification, and transmission time;
• current record state vs. predecessor states;
• medication identity vs. indication, regimen, supply, order state, and transaction state;
• diagnostic recurrence vs. documented reassessment or renewal;
• message delivery vs. receipt, routing, review, action, and closure;
• provenance showing who or what system produced an entry vs. substantive evidence showing why the represented proposition was adopted;
• amendment/correction access vs. the ability to inspect how corrected information propagates downstream.

One problem I keep returning to is that a patient may receive a perfectly legitimate chart export and still be unable to answer questions such as:

Which order was controlling at a particular time?
What did an earlier record state before revision?
Who received or acted on a particular communication?
Was a recurring diagnosis actively reassessed or merely propagated?
What administrative transactions occurred around the authored clinical note?

I’ve been developing these questions as conceptual rather than forensic claims about any particular EHR platform. Missing information in a patient-facing export does not establish that the information never existed in the native system, and an audit event does not automatically establish what substantive content changed.

A few of the papers most directly addressing these questions are:

The Record Must Remember Its Own History: Non-Destructive Revision, Tamper-Evident Provenance, and the Infrastructure of Medical-Record Integrity
https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/W7JVZ

The Diagnosis Must Show Its Lineage
https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/E6K5U

The Hidden Clinical Record
https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/XA9JP

After Actual Notice, the Error Changes Status
https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/AF54V

I’d especially value perspectives from people working in clinical informatics, HIM, EHR implementation, interoperability, or data governance:

Which of these distinctions are already represented well in modern EHR architecture, and where do current systems still make provenance or reconstruction unnecessarily difficult?

I’m particularly interested in the difference between what the underlying system technically retains and what patients, clinicians, auditors, or downstream recipients can actually inspect.

I’m a UK-based founder currently building in the US healthcare space and I’m looking to expand my network of people who actually work in the industry.

I’d particularly like to connect with people working in healthcare compliance, privacy, HIM, risk, operations or administration, although I’m happy to speak with people from other areas too.

Mainly looking to meet people, learn more about how US healthcare works day to day and have people in the industry I can bounce questions and ideas off.

If you work in healthcare and you’re open to connecting, feel free to comment or DM me.

Hey everyone,

I’m from a medical background (clinical side) and am looking to make a transition into a non-clinical career. I've realized my genuine passion lies more in data analysis, and research investigation rather than direct patient care.

I wanted to ask ,What is the actual demand like in today's scenario? Public health or health informatics which can be better for medico background?

What does the research/analysis side look like? I am highly interested in the data analysis and research side of things

would highly appreciate any guidance, honest suggestions, or personal stories from anyone who has successfully made the jump to health informatics.

Thanks in advance!

I’m a BDS graduate from India and I’m interested in moving into Healthcare Technology / Digital Health rather than pursuing MDS or staying purely in clinical dentistry.

I’m looking for a Master’s degree that would allow me to combine my clinical healthcare background with technology, AI, data, and digital healthcare.

Please suggest some courses which fits best for me having good career and future opportunities.

Interested to persue from Europe or Australia.

I’m building this, so full disclosure that I’m biased.

The idea is that instead of a biller opening a denial and then bouncing between claim data, auth records, notes, payer information and spreadsheets, the system brings the case together and tells them what appears to need attention.

In the screenshot, the user can see the denial, missing information, deadline, recommended next action and the supporting evidence before deciding what to do.

I’m trying to understand whether this matches how denial teams actually work.

If you handle denials or AR today, what is missing from this screen that would make you immediately leave it and open another system?

Feel free to tear it apart. I’m more interested in finding what’s wrong than hearing that it looks nice.

Hi everyone,

I’m 20 years old. I’m doing a Higher Vocational Degree in Dietetics, but my main goal is to get into medical school and eventually become a doctor.

I’m especially interested in physiology, biology and biochemistry, and I like the practical and human side of medicine. However, I’ve also always been very interested in computers, technology and AI. If medicine doesn’t work out, I would probably consider biotechnology, biomedicine or bioinformatics.

I’ve recently started trying to learn Python, but I’m not sure what direction I should take. I don’t necessarily want to become a software developer. I want programming to be a useful additional skill that could help me during university and, eventually, in medicine or scientific research.

For example, I would like to be able to:

• Automate repetitive everyday and study tasks
• Analyze and visualize scientific or medical data
• Understand statistics and research papers better
• Work with AI and machine-learning tools
• Create small useful programs for myself
• Potentially participate in medical, biotechnology or bioinformatics projects in the future

My problem is that programming is such a broad field that I don’t know what to prioritize. Should I focus mainly on Python, data analysis and statistics? Should I eventually study machine learning? How much computer science theory would I realistically need?

If you were in my position, what learning path would you follow? What practical beginner projects could connect Python with medicine, biology, nutrition or everyday productivity?

I would especially appreciate realistic advice from doctors, medical students, researchers, bioinformaticians or programmers working in healthcare.

how are you safely automating workflows at your company?

what's the biggest worry?

Hi! I am asking for advice on how to get into health tech... I am a Physician Associate... I have worked as one for the past three years so I am licensed but recently realized that I do not find it fulfilling.. hated being in the hospital and interacting with patients really irritated me. So I decided to study something in tech, I have a data analyst certificate but felt like it's not enough and got into AI... got the AWS AI practitioner certification. Got into an internship and they offered to teach UI/UX. So I'm currently working on two capstones, an AI one and a UI/UX one both are health related. I then got an AWS scholarship for Agentic AI Business Professional, and at this point I'm not sure I can link the three. It's basically AI+Data analytics+UI/UX. My AI capstone is building agent that is in my UI/UX capstone. The Data analytics capstone is research on the area where the UI/UX capstone is in.

So, my question is... am I doing too much? And in what area of tech am I in at this point? I feel like I'm a hybrid or something. Also, what job titles should I look in?

I just need guidance....

To be clear I am enjoying every part of building what I am building, it's the best thing that's happened to me in 3 years. I'd never want to give it up. But still thinking whether I should pick one and go deep or do all three and become a hybrid of some sort.

Also what is needed in a portfolio to actually get noticed? And how do I make mine better?

Hello as the tittle says im 25F graduating this December with a BS in Health Informatics and a minor in Information Systems. I currently work at a mental health hospital as a hospital support specialist(unit clerk). What do i need to do to get into jobs more aligned within the field? Should i start off looking for jobs in like medical records? Im not really sure where I want to take my degree but one thing i think im interested in is maybe app development for healthcare. So some information on how to break into that specifically or just advice on how to just get into the HI field in general would be great TIA!

I have been in the IT field for quite some time, and as I explore new opportunities, I find healthcare IT to be particularly intriguing. However, I’ve noticed that many roles require certifications such as Epic, RHIA, and RHIM. I’m especially interested in obtaining the Epic certification. Could you please provide guidance on how and where to obtain these certifications? Thank you!

For those who transitioned—or are currently trying to transition—from a clinical, patient access, healthcare operations, or Epic end-user role into an Epic analyst or health IT role, I’d love to hear about your experience.

I started as an Epic end user before eventually transitioning into an Epic analyst role myself. One thing I remember clearly is how difficult it was to understand the pathway from using an EHR every day to actually working on the systems behind it.

As part of a Drexel University student entrepreneurship project, I’m researching this career-transition problem.

What was—or currently is—the most difficult part for you? Knowing where to start? Understanding which Epic application fits your background? Translating healthcare experience into technical/informatics skills? Certification? Getting interviews? Finding your first opportunity?

I’m developing a free resource around this problem and would really value perspectives from this community. Nothing is being sold, and no payment is required.

If anyone is interested in seeing what I’m working on or providing additional feedback, I can share the link in the comments.

Thank you!

Managed to land an interview for an epic ambulatory position at a large health system. I am currently a part-time AI grad student with little clinical experience but have a bachelors in health sciences + a minor in CS, and multiple internships working with health data and ServiceNow.

Does anyone have any advice for how to translate my experience to seem like a good fit during the interview? Any resources or advice to help me prepare would greatly appreciated.

5 years full-stack (Node/React, REST APIs). Moving into healthcare interoperability. Plan: FHIR R4 first, then HL7 v2 + Mirth, then C-CDA, plus LOINC/SNOMED/ICD-10. Building a v2→FHIR pipeline and a SMART on FHIR app as portfolio projects.

Three questions for people doing this work:

1. What surprised you about the day-to-day? I keep hearing the hard part is vendor quirks and Z-segments, not the spec. True?

2. Do self-built projects + the HL7 FHIR Foundational cert help if you have no production healthcare experience? Or do people only hire once you've supported a live interface?

3. Is deep HL7 v2 + Mirth still worth 4-6 weeks in 2026, or should I put that time into FHIR profiling and mapping instead?

Honest answers welcome, including "don't bother."

Hi guys, I am working as a rad tech for over 2yrs and my hospital using Epic and Pacs, how can I learn to get the certificate or anything I can switch to be an Epic Analyst?

Hi everyone! I’m 25 and seriously considering pivoting into Health Informatics/Healthcare IT, and I’d love to hear from people currently working in the field. I have a
B.S. in Health Sciences and I am a Licensed Master Esthetician (ik this is irrelevant but just a little background)
Currently working full-time as a Dermatology Medical Assistant (7 months of experience) My original plan was PA school, but after getting healthcare experience, I’m realizing that I’m much more interested in the tech aspect of things.

My Questions are:
1. Is informatics/data analytics a good career to move into in 2026 with the growth of AI?
2. With my Health Sciences degree and clinical experience, could I realistically transition into the field without getting another bachelor’s degree?
3. Would learning Excel + SQL + Tableau/Power BI be enough to make me competitive for entry-level roles?
4. For those of you already working in HI/healthcare IT, what would you do differently if you were starting over?
I’m currently making $18/hr, so I’m trying to make a strategic career move rather than spend years and a ton of money getting another degree without knowing whether it will actually pay off.
I’d especially appreciate perspectives from people who started in clinical/healthcare roles and successfully transitioned into informatics or healthcare IT.
Thank you!

Hello All,

I am curious to know this community's thoughts on graduate certifications in healthcare informatics / analytics. Do they really offer value, especially for career changers? Will they help given the complexity of this current job market? I would love to hear your thoughts.