Many healthcare professionals want to step away from patient care but feel stuck because they don’t know what else is out there. Many people even know from the start that they would like to work in healthcare, but NEVER work in patient care. While roles like informatics and medical device education are common suggestions, there are plenty of lesser-known, high-paying non-clinical jobs that use your healthcare experience in surprising ways. Here are five careers you might not have considered:

1. Health Economics and Outcomes Research (HEOR) Analyst

What They Do: HEOR analysts assess the cost-effectiveness of medical treatments and interventions to help hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, and policymakers make data-driven decisions. 

Why It’s Overlooked: Most healthcare workers don’t realize how valuable their clinical insights are when evaluating patient outcomes and healthcare spending.

Education Needed: Data analysis, statistics, understanding of treatment protocols, patient advocacy.

How to Get Started: A background in nursing, pharmacy, or another clinical role is helpful, but additional training in health economics, epidemiology, mathematics, actuarial science or biostatistics will be necessary. 

According to Glassdoor, HEOR Analysts can expect to earn between $99,000 and $183,000 per year. However, I was able to find many senior positions that paid over $300,000 per year.

Example of HEOR job post 

2. Medical Illustrator / Animator

What They Do: Combine art and science to create detailed medical illustrations, animations, and educational materials for textbooks, research, and patient education. Whether done free hand or through an illustration software, these images are frequently used to help interpret complicated biochemical processes in the body to increase our understanding.

Why It’s Overlooked: Many healthcare workers assume this requires an art degree, but scientific accuracy is just as important as artistic skill—and medical professionals have a big advantage there.

Transferable Skills: Anatomy knowledge, surgical or procedural understanding, patient education experience, the ability to translate complicated processes into clear, visually engaging illustrations.

How to Get Started: Programs like the Association of Medical Illustrators (AMI) offer training. Digital illustration and animation tools like Adobe Illustrator and Blender can be helpful.

According to Glassdoor, Medical Illustrators can expect to earn between $85,000 and $160,000 annually. 

Example of a Medical Illustrator job post

3. Human Factors Specialist

What They Do: Ensure that medical devices, software, and healthcare environments are designed for safety and ease of use. They work with engineers to prevent user errors and improve patient outcomes.

Why It’s Overlooked: It’s often thought of as an engineering role, but clinicians provide firsthand insight into how real users interact with technology, especially people with a background in psychology.

Transferable Skills: Patient safety, workflow optimization, medical device experience, problem-solving.

How to Get Started: Certification in human factors engineering or usability testing (e.g., through the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society) is beneficial. As a matter of fact, if this type of role is something you are considering, I would recommend taking a deeper dive through the HFES website; they have information on courses, networking, and a pretty extensive job board.

According to Glassdoor, Human Factors Specialist can expect to earn between $101,000 and $185,000 annually.

Example of a Human Factors Specialist job 

4. Clinical Risk Manager

What They Do: Identify potential risks in healthcare facilities and develop strategies to reduce errors, improve patient safety, and prevent lawsuits. You would have a significant role in improving safety while minimizing patient interactions.

Why It’s Overlooked: It’s often seen as part of hospital administration, but clinical experience makes you uniquely qualified to spot and prevent risks others might miss.

Transferable Skills: Patient safety knowledge, compliance, quality improvement, critical thinking.

How to Get Started: A background in nursing, pharmacy, or allied health helps, along with training in risk management or patient safety certifications. The American Society for Health Care Risk Management and The Risk Management Society both offer certifications in risk management. (Psst- Udemy also offers prep courses for the exams) 

According to Glassdoor, Clinical Risk Managers can expect to earn between $130,000 and $216,000 annually. 

Example of a Clinical Risk Manager job 

5. Health Tech Implementation Specialist

What They Do: Work with hospitals and clinics to implement new healthcare technology and integrate it with current technology—such as electronic health records (EHRs), AI tools, or telemedicine platforms—and train staff on how to use them effectively.

Why It’s Overlooked: Many think this is an IT role, but healthcare professionals bring essential real-world clinical insights to make implementations smoother.

Transferable Skills: Experience using hospital software, workflow optimization, training and education.

How to Get Started: Look for health tech companies hiring clinical liaisons or EHR vendors like Epic and Cerner that need implementation specialists.

I’ve previously covered similar positions in my Job Spotlight posts, but this is a job title I only recently discovered that might help expand your job search.

According to ZipRecruiter, Health Tech Implementation Specialists earn an average of $32.07/hr.

Example of a Health Tech Implementation Specialist job (scroll to the bottom of the page to see the description)

Final Thoughts

Working outside of patient care roles in healthcare does not mean that you have no role in a patient’s outcome. There are many ways to impact patient care behind the scenes—often in ways the patient may never know about, but that you might find incredibly rewarding. These overlooked careers allow you to leverage your healthcare expertise in innovative, impactful, and well-paying ways. If you’re feeling stuck in clinical work, one of these options could be the perfect fit!

Which of these jobs interests you the most? Let me know in the comments!

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