Data Scientist – Remote

Opportunities at WellMed, part of the Optum family of businesses. We believe all patients are entitled to the highest level of medical care. Here, you will join a team who shares your passion for helping people achieve better health. With opportunities for physicians, clinical staff and non-patient-facing roles, you can make a difference with us as you discover the meaning behind Caring. Connecting. Growing together.??

The Data Scientist is responsible for providing analytic support to identify and address areas of potential fraud, waste, and abuse.

Under limited supervision, they will access, analyze, and visualize administrative health care data from a variety of internal and external data sources, using the results to recommend next steps and prioritize areas of focus. This role will work closely with clinical and operational partners, translating complex analytic results into actionable insights.

This position leverages a variety of analytic programming languages, including SQL and R to query databases, build dynamic/interactive visualizations and applications, conduct statistical sampling, etc.

You’ll enjoy the flexibility to work remotely * from anywhere within the U.S. as you take on some tough challenges.

Primary Responsibilities

• Identifies and investigates areas of potential payment integrity concern, including responding to ad hoc requests for data analysis, recurring data mining and monitoring, and proactive analytic initiatives
• Designs, develops, tests, and maintains database queries and reports (SQL and Oracle)
• Leverages R for analytic visualization, time series analysis, statistical sampling, and web application development using Shiny
• Assists in statistical and machine learning functions and makes recommendations on processes, including: sample size and power calculations, sampling and extrapolation, clustering and outlier detection, and longitudinal analyses
• Assists in designing, developing, and implementing web applications and analytic tools, including Salesforce and Posit Professional Products (RStudio Connect)
• Follows best practices for documentation and code versioning using GIT
• Develops project timelines, communicates with customers to meet project deliverables and customer expectations
• Serves as a resource to operational claims and clinical staff, answering questions and assisting with department informatics, reporting and trending, and workflow/operational issues
• Supports the creation and execution of strategies to recover identified overpayments and prevent future overpayments
• Defines and develops cost avoidance measures to measure ongoing progress and ensure continued success

You’ll be rewarded and recognized for your performance in an environment that will challenge you and give you clear direction on what it takes to succeed in your role as well as provide development for other roles you may be interested in.

Required Qualifications

• 3+ years of experience in a professional (non-academic) environment accessing, manipulating, and analyzing data stored in structured databases using SQL
• 3+ years of experience in a professional (non-academic) environment using R for data cleaning, wrangling, and feature engineering.
• Professional experience using data visualization to present complex insights to technical and non-technical audiences, including senior leadership
• Expert knowledge of Excel

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with health plan or health care administration data, including the Medicare program
• Experience with Salesforce development
• Experience using GitHub to build codebases, version-control code, and collaborate
• Familiarity with program or payment integrity initiatives
• Proficient knowledge of R development, including experience with Shiny-based web application development
• Comfort with statistical and machine learning libraries
• All employees working remotely will be required to adhere to UnitedHealth Group’s Telecommuter Policy

The salary range for this role is $71,600 to $140,600 annually based on full-time employment. Pay is based on several factors including but not limited to local labor markets, education, work experience, certifications, etc. UnitedHealth Group complies with all minimum wage laws as applicable. In addition to your salary, UnitedHealth Group offers benefits such as, a comprehensive benefits package, incentive and recognition programs, equity stock purchase and 401k contribution (all benefits are subject to eligibility requirements). No matter where or when you begin a career with UnitedHealth Group, you’ll find a far-reaching choice of benefits and incentives.

Application Deadline: This will be posted for a minimum of 2 business days or until a sufficient candidate pool has been collected. Job posting may come down early due to volume of applicants.

At UnitedHealth Group, our mission is to help people live healthier lives and make the health system work better for everyone. We believe everyone-of every race, gender, sexuality, age, location and income-deserves the opportunity to live their healthiest life. Today, however, there are still far too many barriers to good health which are disproportionately experienced by people of color, historically marginalized groups and those with lower incomes. We are committed to mitigating our impact on the environment and enabling and delivering equitable care that addresses health disparities and improves health outcomes — an enterprise priority reflected in our mission.

Diversity creates a healthier atmosphere: UnitedHealth Group is an Equal Employment Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, protected veteran status, disability status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital status, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by law.

UnitedHealth Group is a drug – free workplace. Candidates are required to pass a drug test before beginning employment.