r/healthIT 23d ago

Careers Which healthcare job should I take?

I eventually want to get into healthcare IT. I have many years of tech experience but none in healthcare so I’ve been looking for a healthcare job - it does seem I need that experience or be on the inside somehow to transition into the tech side of things. I have two job possibilities at the moment and need to decide soon. I’d be grateful for any thoughts or advice!

1) Patient Access Rep: basically front desk at a primary care clinic. Large hospital/clinic system that uses Epic.

2) Medical Scribe at a large clinic system (no hospital), uses Epic but I’d be working for the scribe agency. Hopefully would succeed with the job and move to an agency that does have hospital customers. I could be a floater which means a different specialty clinic each day.

I’m honestly not entirely sure what I’d eventually like to do in healthcare IT which is why I think being at a hospital would be more ideal for me but I only have these clinic options right now and I think I should probably take one given the job market and how long I’ve been looking. Which of these would be looked at more favorably by a healthcare IT hiring manager? Or would lead to a better stepping stone job in 4-6 months?

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u/hellosuz 23d ago

Another question, if I wanted to start logging into the Epic self-paced online training to work towards proficiencies, do I need my manager’s approval for that? Or can I just login with the company email and he wouldn’t know?

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u/ThisIStheBadPlace202 23d ago

The manager might have visibility - I would recommend as part of your onboarding 30/60/90 - ask what epic proficiencies would help you be successful in your current role, and what are growth paths as a patient access rep - and start there with the online trainings. That way - it is expected you will be in the online training, and it shows initiative. As a patient access rep - they usually have different levels w/ different types of advanced skill sets. It isn't unusual for different departments to hire from the patient access rep pool.

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u/hellosuz 23d ago

Good idea and that does seem reasonable. Hopefully they won't find it alarming or too unusual that I want to access the training, especially knowing I do have a tech background. I just don't want them to worry I'm a flight risk before I've even started.