Edmond Data Science

Ross Dingyan Jiao

Internship Overview

This report summarizes my internship experience at EMR Technical Solutions (EMRTS). I joined as a Data Science Intern in May 2026 and worked on a variety of projects ranging from small Python exercises to large-scale data science and healthcare IT applications. Over the course of the internship, I gained hands-on experience in full-stack web development,

Projects Completed

Small Projects

  • State Capitals Project: Built a Python script to generate a JSON file with all 50 state capital addresses and GPS coordinates.
  • FizzBuzz Project: Classic programming exercise using loops and conditionals.
  • 4-Gallon Bucket Problem: Solved the water jug puzzle using BFS algorithm.
  • TABIND Scrabble Project: Found all valid Scrabble words from the letter combination “tabind” using a system dictionary.

Median Projects

  • Provider Lookup Project: Built a Python tool that queries the CMS NPPES NPI Registry API to search for healthcare providers by name, NPI, or location.
  • Provider Exclusion List Project: Downloaded OIG LEIE data (83,464 records), imported into SQLite, and built a Django web interface with multi-field search.
  • NASPO Catalog Project: Imported 1,015,548 product records from 4 Excel files into SQLite and built a Django search dashboard with vendor and product search.
  • Bookstore Project: Full-stack Django e-commerce platform with book search, order management, and email confirmation functionality.

Large Projects

  • Traveling Politician Project: Implemented a greedy algorithm using Haversine distance to find an efficient route visiting all 50 state capitals from Iowa to Washington, DC.
  • Medicaid Enrollment and Expenditure Forecasting Project: Used Facebook Prophet to forecast national and state-level Medicaid enrollment and spending for the next 10 years.

What I learned

Technical Skills

  • Full-stack web development with Django (models, views, templates, URL routing)
  • Database design and normalization (3NF, ERD design using dbdiagram.io)
  • SQL and database management (SQLite, PostgreSQL)
  • REST API integration (CMS NPPES NPI Registry, Open Library, OIG LEIE)
  • Time series forecasting with Facebook Prophet
  • Algorithm design (greedy algorithm, BFS, 2-opt)
  • Data processing with Pandas (ETL, data cleaning, aggregation)
  • Python programming (standard library, data structures)
  • Git and GitHub (version control, branching, pull requests)
  • Linux server access (SSH, file transfer, command line)
  • HTML/CSS for web interfaces

Healthcare Domain Knowledge

  • National Provider Identifier (NPI) and the NPPES Registry
  • OIG List of Excluded Individuals/Entities (LEIE)
  • CMS-1500 claim forms
  • ANSI X12 837P EDI format for electronic claims
  • Medicaid and Medicare systems
  • CMS-64 expenditure data
  • ICD-10 diagnosis codes and CPT/HCPCS procedure codes

Professional Skills

  • Agile development workflow (daily standups, weekly reporting)
  • GitHub collaboration (branch → commit → push → pull request → review)
  • Project management from requirements to delivery
  • Communication with project lead and team members
  • Documentation and presentation of technical work

What I Enjoyed

  • Working on real projects with practical applications in healthcare
  • Learning about Medicaid and healthcare IT systems
  • Building end-to-end applications from data import to web interface
  • The daily standup meetings and weekly reporting structure kept me accountable and on track
  • Working with a team of interns on the MMIS AI project
  • Getting hands-on experience with tools I had only studied before

What An Be Improved

  • Onboarding: A more structured introduction to the internship projects and tools would help new interns ramp up faster.
  • Healthcare IT fundamentals: An earlier introduction to X12 EDI format, CMS-1500, and MMIS concepts would have been helpful for the later projects.
  • Code reviews: More regular code reviews would help improve code quality and learning.
  • Project scope clarity: Some projects had unclear initial requirements; clearer specifications from the start would reduce back-and-forth.

Feedback on Working with Verbus

Verbus was a supportive and knowledgeable supervisor. He was always available to answer questions and provided clear, constructive feedback on my work. His extensive experience in software development and healthcare IT gave me valuable insight into how real-world systems are built and maintained. He encouraged independent problem-solving while being available when I needed guidance.

Overall Reflection

This internship has been a valuable learning experience. I came in with foundational Python knowledge and left with experience in full-stack web development, database design, healthcare data systems, and working in a professional Agile environment. I feel more confident in my technical abilities and have a clearer sense of how data science and software development apply
to healthcare. I am grateful for the opportunity to work at EMRTS and thank Verbus for his guidance throughout the internship.