What is your role, and what does a typical workday look like for you?
My official title is Associate Systems Engineer, but I am really more of an Integration Engineer/Analyst. On the client engagement side, I work with technical teams to bring hospital and post-acute provider data into the CarePort system, which involves a bit of network engineering and interface development to ensure that the data is mapped and formatted to be ingestible by our applications. Recently, I have also been diving into the Care Management side of things, working on net new implementations from an interface perspective.
What made you want to work for Allscripts, and then CarePort?
I have always had an interest in working in an industry where there was opportunity to make a difference in people’s lives, and I slowly developed a passion for healthcare while pursuing education in computer science and business. I took a class for my master’s program in healthcare management that helped me understand what I believe to be a healthcare crisis in the US. Healthcare costs here are twice those in any other country, and it just seems like there is so much room for improvement.
Because of my passion for healthcare and my technical background, it felt like a no brainer to end up in the healthcare software world. Allscripts was recruiting at my college, and I was excited for whatever job I could get. As an Associate Services Business Analyst, I worked on SOWs and quotes, and it was a terrific first job that really helped me understand our business, its products and implementations at a high-level. While at Allscripts, I worked closely with CarePort and it didn’t take long to know this was where I wanted to head next. Particularly, I wanted to become a part of the solution to the problem of fragmented information sharing in the healthcare industry. Over time and in developing relationships with the team, I was able to make that dream of moving over to CarePort and getting involved with the products a reality. I moved to Boston and have been here just over six months.
What is your favorite aspect of your job?
What’s most exciting to me about my role is that, at the core of our company and all of its applications, we’re finding ways to best present our data to hospitals and payers. Every bit of that data goes through me and into the CarePort system, and I find that – and the fact that I now work so closely to the product – pretty exciting. In my current role, I’m able to merge the technical and business aspects of a job, and I hope to continue my career in positions that allow me to do that.
The team of three that I work on also makes my job enjoyable. I work with two senior team members who I learn new things from every day and it’s a really fun dynamic. We recently traveled to Raleigh and had a fantastic time getting to know the other half of our team working on the Care Management products, and I am excited for our teams to continue merging.
What do you like to do in your spare time?
I love to ski more than anything, but I unfortunately don’t do it often. I spend a lot of my time rock climbing, mostly indoor over the last few months, but hope to do more outdoor rock climbing when the weather improves. What I love most about rock climbing is that I don’t feel like I’m just exercising while I’m doing it. 80 percent of rock climbing is solving problems, and strength can only get you so far. To me, solving problems while exercising is just more exciting than normal exercise.
Do you have any pets?
Yes, I have a two-year-old dog named Arlo that we adopted from a shelter. It’s actually been a crazy ride with Arlo, and I’ll never have an attachment to another dog like I have with him. At 9 months old, he became extremely sick and was given a 10 percent chance of living. He has a brain stem disease and has been under treatment for just over a year. For six months, he couldn’t even run. Luckily, he is doing much better now – we were recently told he can begin to taper off his medication.
What has been your favorite travel experience?
My favorite travel experience was my study abroad trip to Ghana, where I lived for four months in college. We did a lot of volunteering at a local village’s afterschool program by our university, and became very involved in an NGO there.
Many villages in Ghana have tight-knit communities based on specific ethnic groups, and act as a cohesive family unit. The village where we volunteered, however, had formed amongst several ethnic groups and never managed to form that cohesiveness. The NGO was developed to help address this issue and created a village community center. We volunteered at the center three days every week, where we tutored and developed relationships with the kids – many of whom came from difficult backgrounds. We have stayed in touch with the program managers and kids since returning home.
Ghana was a valuable, eye-opening experience for me and I hope to go back to see everyone again soon.
Thanks to Charlie for sitting down with us. If CarePort sounds like a place where you want to contribute, check out our Careers page. We’re hiring!
