Case study

    Health catalyst: Achieving talent growth and process improvement

    When data initiatives began outpacing available talent, Health Catalyst needed a rapid scale-up to keep innovation moving.

    Service

    Data and AI

    Health Catalyst faced a need for specialized data talent, and within months, 13 senior engineers were onboard and fully ramped. This accelerated their analytics roadmap and laid the foundation for a high-performing team that now exceeds 26 experts.
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    About the company

    Health Catalyst drives healthcare improvement through data and analytics technology. Their cloud-based platform, fueled by more than 100 million patient records, empowers organizations to make data-driven decisions for measurable improvements in clinical, financial, and operational outcomes.

    The challenge

    The company was looking to achieve two primary goals, including:  

    1. To bring on more talent while also offering cost-competitive solutions and services to its customers.
    2. To reorganize and improve processes to ramp talent as well as upskill current IT talent both internally and externally with contractors.

      After a couple of previous limited successes, it was especially important for Health Catalyst to select a partner who had a solid track record of delivering the right candidates in the right time frame. Due to the steep learning curve often associated with the field of healthcare data, it was also critical for Health Catalyst to select a staff augmentation partner who could deliver highly skilled technologists with the ability to get up to speed quickly.

      Health Catalyst was also looking for a partner who could provide flexible staffing models to accommodate different roles and skills-based opportunities across the organization.

      These needs were also operating against the backdrop of a highly competitive labor market and a widespread technology skills gap in the U.S

    Solution

    Within seven months, we were able to identify, screen, and onboard 13 (nearly half) of the Health Catalyst team member position openings, a very high conversion rate in comparison to other offshore and onshore vendors used by Health Catalyst.

    Referred to internally as data engineers, our talent quickly ramped up productivity in roles in the following areas:

    • Data acquisition
    • Data implementation
    • Data pipeline support
    • Analytical services
    • Software development
    • PARAMs
    • DOS platform

    For the staff augmentation solution to work, it was critical for Health Catalyst to bring on team members who were not only highly skilled from a technology perspective but also great communicators who shared similar cultural values, all while being located in current or adjacent time zones.

    Project highlights

    • Data acquisition
    • Data pipeline support
    • Data analysis
    • Software development

    Tech stack

    • Angular
    • Planning
    • Advanced Excel
    • Forecasting
    • ETL
    • .NET
    • QA
    • SQL
    • NodeJS
    • PowerBI
    • SQL
    • Server
    • SSIS
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    Winning results

    We continue working with Health Catalyst, building a team of data engineers. Since 2022, we have made significant hiring progress for specific projects and seized various opportunities within the organization, resulting in a team of over 26 experts.

    Overall benefits include:

    • Highly skilled data engineers with technical expertise and senior-level experience in the data science field who are excellent communicators, enthusiastic, and personable.
    • Collaboration across time zones backed by the best talent match model for both project-based and ongoing, evolving roles.
    • Flexible approaches focused on engaging and retaining skilled talent, supporting Health Catalyst’s track record of very low staff turnover.
    Get in touch

    In 2021, Health Catalyst initiated a large organizational effort to expand its team of technology professionals across the organization. Nortal has done an amazing job, bringing us the highest percentage of qualified talent that passes our rigorous interview and testing processes. Nortal gives Health Catalyst flexibility to recognize skills and aptitudes for roles within our company. It’s a really positive relationship. We look forward to their talent being on our team. The cultural attributes – humility, continuous learning, and hard work – are a few key things that come across in the people that Nortal brings.

     

    Lisa Yelvington | Global Company Operations

    Get in touch

    Nortal is a strategic innovation and technology company with an unparalleled track-record of delivering successful transformation projects over 20 years.