Behavioral Health Data Analyst

Career Guide
A Behavioral Health Data Analyst turns mental health and substance use data into clear insights that improve access, quality, outcomes, and cost of care. The role often supports clinical teams, care managers, program leaders, and compliance teams by building reports, tracking performance, and finding trends in patient needs and service delivery.

Key Responsibilities

  • Build and maintain recurring reports on behavioral health access, utilization, and outcomes
  • Clean, validate, and reconcile data from clinical systems, claims data, and surveys
  • Define and monitor key metrics such as appointment wait times, follow up rates, and readmissions
  • Analyze program performance for therapy, psychiatry, and substance use services
  • Identify gaps in care and opportunities to improve care coordination
  • Support quality improvement initiatives with data findings and measurement plans
  • Create dashboards and data visuals for leaders and frontline teams
  • Partner with clinicians and operations teams to translate questions into analysis
  • Document data definitions and reporting logic to ensure consistent reporting
  • Support audits and compliance reporting related to behavioral health programs

Top Skills for Success

SQL
Data Cleaning
Data Visualization
Dashboard Building
Descriptive Statistics
Data Storytelling
Stakeholder Communication
Requirements Gathering
Healthcare Data Literacy
Behavioral Health Metrics
Claims Data Analysis
Privacy Compliance

Career Progression

Can Lead To
Senior Behavioral Health Data Analyst
Behavioral Health Analytics Lead
Quality Improvement Analyst
Population Health Analyst
Clinical Informatics Analyst
Transition Opportunities
Data Scientist
Analytics Manager
Product Analyst
Health Services Research Analyst
Program Evaluation Manager

Common Skill Gaps

Often Missing Skills
Metric DefinitionData GovernanceClinical Workflow UnderstandingOutcome MeasurementData Quality ManagementPresentation Skills
Development SuggestionsAsk to shadow care managers or clinic operations to learn workflows, build a simple metric dictionary for your main reports, and practice presenting one page summaries that connect results to decisions and next steps.

Salary & Demand

Median Salary Range
Entry Level$60,000 to $80,000
Mid Level$80,000 to $105,000
Senior Level$105,000 to $135,000
Growth Trend
Growing demand driven by expanded mental health coverage, measurement based care, value based care, and increased focus on outcomes reporting.

Companies Hiring

Major Employers
UnitedHealth GroupOptumCVS HealthAetnaHumanaKaiser PermanenteTeladoc HealthLyra HealthHeadspaceTalkspaceOracle Health
Industry Sectors
Health systemsHealth insuranceBehavioral health providersTelehealth providersGovernment health agenciesNonprofit health organizationsHealthcare technology vendors

Recommended Next Steps

1
Review a few behavioral health scorecards and list the core access, quality, and outcome metrics used
2
Build a small portfolio project using de identified healthcare style data and publish a dashboard and a short written summary
3
Strengthen SQL skills for joins, window functions, and data validation checks
4
Learn common healthcare data sources such as claims, EHR encounters, and screening tools
5
Create a personal metric dictionary template and use it on your next reporting deliverable
6
Network with behavioral health operations leaders to understand their highest impact questions